Shakespeare and the Power of Performance: Stage and Page in the Elizabethan Theatre

by Robert Weimann , Douglas Bruster

• ISBN13: 9780521182836
• ISBN10: 0521182832
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-02
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Focusing on the practical means and media of Shakespeare's stage, this study envisions horizons for his achievement in the theatre. Bridging the gap between today's page- and stage-centred interpretations, two renowned Shakespeareans demonstrate the artful means by which Shakespeare responded to the competing claims of acting and writing in the Elizabethan era. They examine how the playwright explored issues of performance through the resonant trio of clown, fool and cross-dressed boy actor. Like this trio, his deepest and most captivating characters often attain their power through the highly performative mode of 'personation' - through playing the character as an open secret. Surveying the whole of the playwright's career in the theatre, Shakespeare and the Power of Performance offers not only compelling ways of approaching the relation of performance and print in Shakespeare's works, but also new models for understanding dramatic character itself.

Table of Contents

Introduction

'Moralize two meanings' in one play: contrariety on the Tudor stage

Performance, game, and representation in Richard III

Mingling vice and 'worthiness' in King John

Clowning: agencies between voice and pen

Clowning at the frontiers of representation

Cross-dressing and performance in disguise

Personation and playing: 'secretly open' role-playing

Character/actor: the deep matrix

Character: depth, dialogue, page

King Lear: representations on stage and page

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