Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1353/shb.2023.a907992
Anne-Valérie Dulac
Abstract: This article looks at several graffiti based on translated quotations from Shakespeare’s plays which appeared on the walls of Paris in the spring of 2016, during the many protests against the government’s proposed labor law. After a discussion of Shakespeare’s own sense of the importance of visual communication strategies and painterly media in times of insurrection, it then moves on to the particularly tense political context in which these French graffiti were staged on the city surfaces. Based on detailed descriptive coding of these acts of writing, this article analyzes them as a modality of radical performance, showing that these words from The Tempest or Romeo and Juliet were staged as part of a visual political theater, and thereby allowing audiences to rediscover the full affective power and scope of such graffiti. The article finally turns to a close reading of the translated quotations in order to better grasp their time/site-specificity and topical relevance. Considering the parallel occupation of Paris’s main theaters at the time, it reassesses the growing gap between theater and protest as well as between performance and drama, while trying to account for Shakespeare’s ubiquitous presence in such contemporary discussions.
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Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1353/shb.2023.a907999
Nora Frankovich
Reviewed by: As You Like It Presented by the American Shakespeare Center at the Blackfriars Theater, Staunton, VA Nora Frankovich As You Like It Presented by the American Shakespeare Center at the Blackfriars Theater, Staunton, VA. 17 February–14 May 2023. Directed by Jen Wineman. Costume design by Ashleigh Poteat. Music composed and directed by Tevin Davis. Prop design by Alaina Smith. Choreography by Summer England. With Kayla Carter (Orlando), Constance Swain (Rosalind), Kenzie Ross (Celia/Amiens/MarTex), Topher Embrey (Duke Frederick/Duke Senior/Corin), Summer England (Adam/Le Beau/Phebe/Audrey), Michael Manocchio (Touchstone/Oliver), and Annabelle Rollison (Silvius/Jaques/William/Charles). The American Shakespeare Center (ASC) presented an ambitious seven-actor production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It as a part of their 35th Anniversary Season. In alignment with the ASC’s preference for minimal props and set pieces, this small-scale production relied heavily on costumes, as well as physical and vocal adjustments by the actors, to differentiate between characters. The production was quite successful in making clear distinctions between the numerous characters its cast portrayed—some actors juggling as many as four characters within the show—but many of the choices resulted in characters being associated with stereotypes. Stereotypes are not intrinsically bad or hurtful, though they may cause an eye roll from time to time, and in this production some of the stereotypes actually fit well with the characters, adding fun and humor in ways that enhanced their portrayal and successfully avoided negative associations. However, others resulted in mockery or the reinforcement of negative associations in a way that made watching this production, at times, a very uncomfortable experience. Director Jen Wineman established a 1990s aesthetic for the production which lent itself well to the opening scenes in Duke Frederick’s court. Rosalind’s and Celia’s plaid Catholic school outfits were a clear reference to the film Clueless (1995), whose patterns were carried effectively into their Ganymede and Aliena ensembles in the Forest of Arden. Kenzie [End Page 139] Ross’s Celia spoke with a Valley girl speech pattern which connected the movie’s spoiled rich girl Cher with this duke’s daughter who has been living a pampered life in court. In the United States, a Valley girl stereotype can be negatively associated with a ditsy or naïve girl, but this Celia was assertive and clever as she wandered around the Forest of Arden with Rosalind, showing her wit as she poked fun at Orlando’s terrible verses. Celia’s Valley girl accent came out more strongly when she met Oliver at the end of the play and nervously flirted with her new love interest, but this was still a young woman who had her wits about her and was very aware of what was going on. Similarly to Celia, the character of Jaques was wonderfully enhanced by the combination of Wineman’s 90s aesthetic and
{"title":"As You Like It Presented by the American Shakespeare Center at the Blackfriars Theater, Staunton, VA (review)","authors":"Nora Frankovich","doi":"10.1353/shb.2023.a907999","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/shb.2023.a907999","url":null,"abstract":"Reviewed by: As You Like It Presented by the American Shakespeare Center at the Blackfriars Theater, Staunton, VA Nora Frankovich As You Like It Presented by the American Shakespeare Center at the Blackfriars Theater, Staunton, VA. 17 February–14 May 2023. Directed by Jen Wineman. Costume design by Ashleigh Poteat. Music composed and directed by Tevin Davis. Prop design by Alaina Smith. Choreography by Summer England. With Kayla Carter (Orlando), Constance Swain (Rosalind), Kenzie Ross (Celia/Amiens/MarTex), Topher Embrey (Duke Frederick/Duke Senior/Corin), Summer England (Adam/Le Beau/Phebe/Audrey), Michael Manocchio (Touchstone/Oliver), and Annabelle Rollison (Silvius/Jaques/William/Charles). The American Shakespeare Center (ASC) presented an ambitious seven-actor production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It as a part of their 35th Anniversary Season. In alignment with the ASC’s preference for minimal props and set pieces, this small-scale production relied heavily on costumes, as well as physical and vocal adjustments by the actors, to differentiate between characters. The production was quite successful in making clear distinctions between the numerous characters its cast portrayed—some actors juggling as many as four characters within the show—but many of the choices resulted in characters being associated with stereotypes. Stereotypes are not intrinsically bad or hurtful, though they may cause an eye roll from time to time, and in this production some of the stereotypes actually fit well with the characters, adding fun and humor in ways that enhanced their portrayal and successfully avoided negative associations. However, others resulted in mockery or the reinforcement of negative associations in a way that made watching this production, at times, a very uncomfortable experience. Director Jen Wineman established a 1990s aesthetic for the production which lent itself well to the opening scenes in Duke Frederick’s court. Rosalind’s and Celia’s plaid Catholic school outfits were a clear reference to the film Clueless (1995), whose patterns were carried effectively into their Ganymede and Aliena ensembles in the Forest of Arden. Kenzie [End Page 139] Ross’s Celia spoke with a Valley girl speech pattern which connected the movie’s spoiled rich girl Cher with this duke’s daughter who has been living a pampered life in court. In the United States, a Valley girl stereotype can be negatively associated with a ditsy or naïve girl, but this Celia was assertive and clever as she wandered around the Forest of Arden with Rosalind, showing her wit as she poked fun at Orlando’s terrible verses. Celia’s Valley girl accent came out more strongly when she met Oliver at the end of the play and nervously flirted with her new love interest, but this was still a young woman who had her wits about her and was very aware of what was going on. Similarly to Celia, the character of Jaques was wonderfully enhanced by the combination of Wineman’s 90s aesthetic and","PeriodicalId":304234,"journal":{"name":"Shakespeare Bulletin","volume":"688 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135532673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1353/shb.2023.a908002
Keolanani Kinghorn
Reviewed by: The Tempest Presented by the Utah Shakespeare Festival, in the Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, UT Keolanani Kinghorn The Tempest Presented by the Utah Shakespeare Festival, in the Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, UT. 12 July–8 October 2022. Directed by Cameron Knight. Set and projections design by Yee Eun Nam. Costume design by Raquel Adorno. Lighting design by Jaymi Lee Smith. Music and sound by Lindsay Jones. Dramaturgy by Isabel Smith-Bernstein. Voice and text instruction by Philip Thompson. Fight and intimacy choreography directed by Caitlyn Herzlinger. Stage managed by Carolyn Fast. With René Thornton, Jr. (Alonso), John Bixler (Sebastian), Arizsia Staton (Antonio), Freedom Martin (Ferdinand), Jasmine Bracey (Prospero), Amara Webb (Miranda), Sophia K. Metcalf (Ariel), Aidan O’Reilly (Caliban), Kevin Kantor (Trinculo), Anatasha Blakely (Stephano), Steven Jensen (Gonzalo), Kevin Kanto (Iris), Arizsia Staton (Juno), John Bixler (Ceres), and others. Last season, the Utah Shakespeare Festival featured Black actress Jas-mine Bracey as Belarius in Cymbeline. This year she returned to the same theater, front and center, as Prospero in an adaptation of The Tempest set in the 1990s, which came complete with a Boyz II Men song, original alt-rock music, a VHS tape, and—yes, even Walkman headphones. In this production, Prospero (Bracey) and Ariel (Sophia K. Metcalf) had a relationship that was different from any other portrayal of The Tempest I had seen before, and that was partly because, according to the production’s dramaturg Isabel Smith-Bernstein in a Q&A session, the words “slave” and “master” were removed from the text. The changes and their effect were especially apparent at the end of this production when Prospero embraced Ariel to bid her goodbye. The sadness they shared was palpable. The leads in this cast were outstanding, but there is no doubt that the success of this particular adaptation owed much to Bracey, who played Prospero as a woman, and who was a less severe and more affectionate parent-like figure. Bracey’s Prospero put up a strong front with Ferdinand and Miranda, but once they parted and Prospero was alone, that tough façade melted into giggles, showing her secret delight that the young couple was falling in love. This showed the audience that Bracey’s Prospero had motivations beyond revenge and that she could be likable; and it showcased Bracey’s range as an actress. Additionally, it highlighted the intensity of Prospero’s character in previous productions of The Tempest, which have often displayed a power-hungry and manipulative Prospero who takes advantage of everyone around him, including his family and the Indigenous islanders. [End Page 153] Instead, this production flipped the dynamics of a usually white cast and a Black Caliban (the word “Black” in conjunction with Caliban was also removed from the play according to Smith-B
评审:暴风雨由犹他州莎士比亚节呈现，在艾琳和艾伦·阿内斯工作室剧院，南犹他大学，锡达城，UT基奥拉纳尼·金霍恩犹他州莎士比亚节呈现的暴风雨，在艾琳和艾伦·阿内斯工作室剧院，南犹他大学，锡达城，UT。2022年7月12日至10月8日。卡梅隆·奈特导演。布景及投影设计:Yee Eun Nam服装设计:Raquel Adorno。灯光设计:Jaymi Lee Smith。音乐和音效由Lindsay Jones提供。伊莎贝尔·史密斯-伯恩斯坦戏剧。语音和文字教学菲利普·汤普森。打斗与亲密的舞蹈编排由凯特琳·赫茨林格执导。舞台由卡罗琳·法斯特负责。还有小雷诺·桑顿(阿朗索)、约翰·比克斯勒(塞巴斯蒂安)、阿里扎·斯顿(安东尼奥)、弗里登·马丁(费迪南德)、贾斯敏·布雷西(普洛斯罗)、阿玛拉·韦伯(米兰达)、索菲亚·k·梅特卡夫(阿里尔)、艾丹·奥莱利(卡利班)、凯文·坎特(特林库罗)、安娜塔莎·布莱克利(斯特凡诺)、史蒂文·詹森(冈萨洛)、凯文·关东(艾瑞斯)、阿里扎·斯顿(朱诺)、约翰·比克斯勒(谷神星)等人。上一季，在犹他州莎士比亚节上，黑人女演员贾斯-米恩·布雷西在《辛白林》中饰演白留斯。今年，她又回到了同一家剧院，在20世纪90年代改编的《暴风雨》中扮演普洛斯彼罗(Prospero)。这部电影配有Boyz II Men的歌曲、原创的另类摇滚音乐、一盘VHS磁带，没错，甚至还有随身听耳机。在这部作品中，普洛斯彼罗(布雷西饰)和艾瑞尔(索菲娅·k·梅特卡夫饰)的关系与我以前看过的任何其他《暴风雨》的刻画都不同，部分原因是，根据该剧的剧作家伊莎贝尔·史密斯-伯恩斯坦在问答环节中的说法，“奴隶”和“主人”这两个词从文本中删除了。这些变化及其效果在这出戏的结尾普洛斯彼罗拥抱阿里尔向她告别时尤为明显。他们共同的悲伤是显而易见的。这部剧的主角们都很出色，但毫无疑问，这一特殊改编的成功在很大程度上要归功于布雷斯，她扮演的普洛斯彼罗是一个女人，她不那么严厉，更像一个慈爱的家长。布雷西饰演的普洛斯彼罗在费迪南德和米兰达面前表现得很坚强，但一旦他们分手，普洛斯彼罗就独自一人了，那种强硬的伪装变成了笑声，显示出她对这对年轻夫妇相爱的秘密喜悦。这向观众展示了布雷西饰演的普洛斯彼罗除了复仇之外还有别的动机，她也可以是可爱的;也展示了布蕾西作为演员的能力。此外，它突出了普洛斯彼罗在《暴风雨》之前的作品中所扮演的角色的强度，在之前的作品中，普洛斯彼罗经常表现出一个渴望权力、善于操纵的人，他利用了周围的每个人，包括他的家人和土著岛民。相反，这部作品颠覆了通常由白人演员和黑人卡利班组成的动态(根据史密斯-伯恩斯坦的说法，与卡利班相关的“黑人”一词也从剧中删除了)，并自豪地以黑人为主角:弗里德·马丁饰演费迪南德，阿玛拉·韦伯饰演米兰达。这两位演员的互动很有趣。韦伯把米兰达演绎得天真无忌，当她需要做女儿的时候，她又naïve-yet大胆。我发现自己不断地被导演卡梅隆·奈特(Cameron Knight)独特的选择所吸引，包括这部电影中非典型的男主角和新发现的喜剧时刻。马丁扮演的费迪南的声音柔和而清晰，并不专横。他的举止温和而亲切。这些都是莎剧男主角令人耳目一新的选择，在很多方面都很适合他的角色。在另一端，卡利班(艾丹·奥莱利饰)身上布满了人造纹身和穿孔，在他白皙的皮肤上很显眼，他像动物一样走来走去，目不转睛地盯着观众的脸。当他走到离舞台只有几英尺远的观众旁边时，他经常出人意料地跳起来。普洛斯彼罗和卡利班之间的场景是紧张的，因为他们的眼睛从来没有离开过对方，他们的肢体语言表达了他们之前的相互不信任。卡利班对普洛斯彼罗表现得有点像一只受伤的狗，直到他被赶出去，被喝醉的迷路的旅行者斯特凡诺(安娜塔莎·布莱克利饰)找到……
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Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1353/shb.2023.a907988
Tobias Döring
Abstract: Comedy may well be the generic form most intensely tied to the contemporary. If contemporariness, as defined by Giorgio Agamben, is “that relationship with time that adheres to it through a disjunction and an anachronism,” comedy stages this relationship by making such disjunctions the prerequisite of laughter while subjecting its protagonists to confusions and anachronisms, in the words of Shakespeare’s Puck, “that befall preposterously” (3.2.121). How, then, does comedy travel through time? How may its disjunctions be displaced to very different circumstances? And how, specifically, can it be rewritten so as to contest the pastness of the past? This article sets out to explore these issues through a reading of two little known, but highly resonant and symptomatic, German stage plays that engage, in rather different ways, with A Midsummer Night’s Dream : whereas Heiner Müller’s Waldstück (1969) relocates the erotic and political entanglements of Shakespeare’s Athens to a workers’ recreation home in the German Democratic Republic, Botho Strauß’s Der Park (1983) tries to reimagine mythic characters and their magic charm under conditions of West German banality. Both merit comparison and study as their project is less directed at remembering and retrieving powerful Shakespearean legacies than marking loss and making us forget their power—comedies which, in Agamben’s sense, hold their gaze on their own time so as to perceive its darkness.
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Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1353/shb.2023.a908006
Lisa Robinson
Reviewed by: Macbeth Presented by the Longacre Theatre, New York Lisa Robinson Macbeth Presented by the Longacre Theatre, New York. 29 March–10 July 2022. Directed by Sam Gold. Scenic design by Christine Jones. Costume design by Suttirat Larlarb. Sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman. Lighting design by Jane Cox. With Daniel Craig (Macbeth), Ruth Negga (Lady Macbeth), Grantham Coleman (Macduff), Amber Gray (Banquo), Paul Lazar (Duncan), Asia Kate Dillon (Malcolm), Maria Dizzia (Lady Macduff), Phillip James Brannon (Ross), Emeka Guindo (Fleance), Michael Patrick Thornton (Lennox), Danny Wolohan (Seyton), Bobbi Mackenzie (Macduff ’s Child), Che Ayende (Ensemble), Eboni Flowers (Ensemble), and others. The inclusion of Macbeth in the 2022 Broadway season had both political and historical reverberations, as it asked a timely question: what happens to a community when power trips take their toll? Once the audience had entered the theater, the production began quietly, with actors milling about the stage. Michael Patrick Thornton, who would play the role of Lennox, entered the downstage space to address the audience directly. This pre-performance speech sought to dispel the curse of speaking “Macbeth” in a theater space, but also to situate the composition of Macbeth in its historical context. Thornton claimed that Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in direct response to King James’s hyperfixation on the danger of witches; as England lay decimated by the bubonic plague in 1603–1604, the king instead focused on his struggles with the mysticism of witchcraft. So, when I walked into a theater after two years of COVID-19’s presence in the world, this framing of Macbeth’s historical moment made the placement of its greater narrative even more prominent in a time of great American upheaval. The production seemed to ask the audience: what does one do when power acts as the main motivator and corruptor, and how does a bystander handle the violence that follows in response? Through the creation of a vivid visual statement via extensive lighting design by Jane Cox and sparse scenic design by Christine Jones, the pain of mental and physical violence was left onstage for all to see. Without overly wrought set pieces, the minimalist set design made sure that human emotion was the largest focus of this production. Oscar-nominated actress Ruth Negga and Golden Globe-nominated actor Daniel Craig brought everything to their title roles; the intensity of their representations truly highlighted this emotional toll and the unraveling of desperation in the Macbeth family. In particular, the ways in which the production depicted both characters’ falls were quite poignant. This staging did not pit the [End Page 170] married pair against one another, but instead showed how they are both victims of the power offered to them. With the other standouts of this production, Amber Gray as Banquo, Grantham Coleman as Macduff, and Asia Kate Dillon as Malcolm, the power of Macbeth filled this theater
《丽莎·罗宾逊·麦克白》由纽约朗阿克剧院演出，2022年3月29日至7月10日。导演:山姆·戈尔德。克里斯汀·琼斯设计。服装设计:Suttirat Larlarb。声音设计:Mikaal Sulaiman。Jane Cox的灯光设计。丹尼尔·克雷格(麦克白)、露丝·内加(麦克白夫人)、格兰瑟姆·科尔曼(麦克白夫人)、安布尔·格雷(班柯)、保罗·拉扎尔(邓肯)、亚莎·凯特·狄龙(马尔科姆)、玛丽亚·迪莉亚(麦克德夫夫人)、菲利普·詹姆斯·布兰农(罗斯)、埃梅卡·金多(弗朗斯)、迈克尔·帕特里克·桑顿(伦诺克斯)、丹尼·沃罗汉(塞顿)、波比·麦肯齐(麦克德夫的孩子)、切·艾恩德(合奏)、埃博尼·弗劳尔斯(合奏)等人。《麦克白》被纳入2022年百老汇演出季，在政治和历史上都产生了反响，因为它提出了一个及时的问题:当权力之争造成损失时，一个社区会发生什么?观众一进剧场，演出就悄悄地开始了，演员们在舞台上走来走去。迈克尔·帕特里克·桑顿(Michael Patrick Thornton)将扮演伦诺克斯(Lennox)，他进入后台空间，直接向观众发表讲话。这场演出前的演讲旨在消除在剧院空间里讲《麦克白》的诅咒，同时也将《麦克白》的创作置于其历史背景中。桑顿声称，莎士比亚写《麦克白》是对詹姆斯国王过分关注女巫危险的直接回应;1603年至1604年，英格兰被黑死病摧毁，国王转而专注于与巫术的神秘主义作斗争。因此，当我在2019冠状病毒病(COVID-19)肆虐两年后走进剧院时，对《麦克白》历史时刻的这种构建，使其更大叙事的位置在美国发生巨大动荡的时代变得更加突出。这部作品似乎在问观众:当权力成为主要的动力和破坏者时，一个人该怎么做?作为旁观者，他该如何应对随之而来的暴力?通过简·考克斯(Jane Cox)的灯光设计和克里斯汀·琼斯(Christine Jones)的稀疏布景设计，创造出生动的视觉陈述，将精神和身体暴力的痛苦留在舞台上，让所有人都能看到。没有过度雕琢的布景，极简主义的布景设计确保了人的情感是这部作品的最大焦点。奥斯卡提名女演员露丝·内加和金球奖提名男演员丹尼尔·克雷格为他们的角色尽了全力;他们的强烈表现真正突出了这种情感上的损失和麦克白家庭绝望的瓦解。尤其值得一提的是，剧中描写两个角色跌跤的方式相当尖锐。这个舞台并没有让这对已婚夫妇彼此对立，而是展示了他们都是给予他们的权力的受害者。这部剧的其他杰出人物，安布尔·格雷饰演班柯，格兰瑟姆·科尔曼饰演麦克德夫，艾莎·凯特·狄龙饰演马尔科姆，《麦克白》的力量让这个剧院空间充满了关于“后”流行病世界中权力的深思熟虑、情感问题。当我进入朗埃克剧院(Longacre Theatre)时，我看到的是一个光秃秃的舞台，舞台下面有一张桌子，上面放着一个看起来像热盘子的东西，上面放着一些不同的食材，舞台中央还有一盏孤零零的幽灵灯。鬼灯在戏剧文化中非常重要，因为当每个人都离开舞台时，它就会被点亮，以防止鬼魂离开。考虑到《麦克白》情节中灵魂和超自然力量的力量，我对它的存在感到震惊。在这里，鬼灯起到了双重作用，将它所要驱散的戏剧迷信与在剧院空间内说出“麦克白”的迷信联系起来。这部剧颠倒了开场的顺序，从邓肯国王的营地开始，演员们在灯光下念台词。幽灵灯本身并没有得到承认，直到一个演员抓住它，借口离开，把它拖到舞台后面，在那里他们把它甩向墙壁，好像要打破它。当预料到撞击时，一个巨大的雷声和闪光发生了，整个剧院陷入黑暗。直到那一刻，女巫们终于出现了，说出了她们的……
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Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1353/shb.2023.a908001
Katherine Hipkiss
Reviewed by: Henry VI: Rebellion; Henry VI: The Wars of the Roses; Richard III Presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon Katherine Hipkiss Henry VI: Rebellion; Henry VI: The Wars of the Roses; Richard III Presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 April–8 October 2022. Directed by Owen Horsley (Henry VIs) and Gregory Doran (Richard III). Set design by Stephen Brimson Lewis. Lighting design by Simon Spencer (Henry VIs) and Matt Daw (Richard III). Costume design by Hannah Clark (Henry VIs). Music composed and directed by Paul Englishby. With Mark Quartley (Henry VI), Minnie Gale (Margaret), Oliver Alvin-Wilson (York), Arthur Hughes (Richard III), Aaron Sidwell (Jack Cade/Son Who Killed His Father), Ashley D. Gayle (Edward IV), Daniel J. Carver (Clifford), Nicholas Karimi (Warwick), Yasmin Taheri (Elizabeth), Lucy Benjamin (Eleanor/other parts), Richard Cant (Humphrey Duke of Gloucester/other parts), Paola Dionisotti (Cardinal Beaufort/other parts), Conor Glean (Dick the Butcher/other parts), Peter Moreton (Father Who Killed his Son/other parts), Sophia Papadopoulos (Prince Edward), and others. What is a cycle of history plays? Is it simply performing plays that have a set chronology in order? Is it defined by all of the plays having the same director? By having the same company of actors and the same creative [End Page 147] team? Is a cycle of history plays defined by there being a cohesion and consistency of aesthetic choices? The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) produced Henry VI: Rebellion, Henry VI: The Wars of the Roses, and Richard III across a seven-month period from April to October 2022 with two different directors (Owen Horsely and Gregory Doran), a sometimes-consistent cast, and an occasionally cohesive aesthetic approach. These three plays formed part of the RSC’s take on the first tetralogy, with Henry VI: Part One being performed as part of an “Open Rehearsal Project,” during which a three-week rehearsal process was filmed before a final performance in the Ashcroft Rehearsal Room above the Swan Theatre in 2021. In this review, I will consider the three 2022 productions, all staged in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, as a cycle, and will focus primarily on the aspects that were consistent across the three plays. The aspects include how the productions presented the political instability caused by the domestic argument at the center of the plays; the supernatural and embodied ghosts; and the use of projection and the privileged access to the onstage (and sometimes offstage) events that technology affords. Click for larger view View full resolution Margaret (Minne Gale) and company in Henry VI: Rebellion, dir. Owen Horsley. Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), 2022. Photo by Ellie Kurttz, courtesy of the RSC. In the first two plays of this cycle (Horsley’s Henry VI: Rebellion and Henry VI: Wars of the Roses), political instability was
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Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1353/shb.2023.a907993
Rowena Hawkins
Abstract: This article explores “contemporariness” at European international Shakespeare Festivals. It begins by outlining the “disjunctions” and “anachronisms” of festival contexts, which combine highly contemporary productions with deeply commemorative practices. Through their unique temporality (“Festival Time”), festivals allow us to grasp our present moment from a crucial critical distance. To test the limits of this theory, this article considers two productions hosted on festival stages in recent years: Romeo i Julia , a Polish 3D water musical hosted by the Festiwal Szekspirowski in Gdańsk, Poland (2018), and Keresztvíz , a Hungarian production responding to the refugee crisis presented in Gyula, Hungary (2019). Situating these productions in their social, political, and climatic contexts, the article proposes that they use Shakespeare to cast what Giorgio Agamben might call an “untimely” gaze on contemporary concerns, and encourage audiences to look, with hope, towards a better future.
摘要:本文探讨了欧洲国际莎士比亚节的“当代性”。它首先概述了节日背景的“脱节”和“时代错误”，将高度当代的作品与深刻的纪念实践结合起来。通过其独特的时间性(“节日时间”)，节日允许我们从一个至关重要的临界距离把握我们的当下。为了检验这一理论的局限性，本文考虑了近年来在节日舞台上举办的两部作品:《罗密欧与朱丽叶》(Romeo i Julia)，这是一部波兰3D水上音乐剧，由sezekspirowski节日在波兰Gdańsk(2018年)举办，以及Keresztvíz，这是一部匈牙利制作，以应对匈牙利Gyula的难民危机(2019年)。文章将这些作品置于当时的社会、政治和气候背景下，提出他们利用莎士比亚对当代问题进行乔治·阿甘本(Giorgio Agamben)可能称之为“不适时”的审视，并鼓励观众满怀希望地展望更美好的未来。
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Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1353/shb.2023.a908007
Benjamin Broadribb
Reviewed by: The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Adaptation ed. by Diana E. Henderson and Stephen O’Neill Benjamin Broadribb The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Adaptation. Edited by Diana E. Henderson and Stephen O’Neill. London: Bloomsbury, 2022. Pp. xiv + 411. Hardback $175.00. E-book $157.50. In their introduction to The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Adaptation, coeditors Diana E. Henderson and Stephen O’Neill use the phrase “big tent” to describe their approach to Shakespeare adaptation studies (18). They borrow the term from the world of politics, where it denotes a political party that embraces a broad spectrum of views rather than enforcing members to toe the line of a particular dogma. “Big tent” is an apt descriptor for Henderson and O’Neill’s expansive volume, which provides a truly panoramic view of the field. It demonstrates the longstanding intertwinement of Shakespeare studies and adaptation studies, while respecting each as a distinct discipline equally worthy of independent consideration and care. Shakespeare and Adaptation is the fifth entry in Bloomsbury’s series of Arden Research Handbooks, inaugurated in 2020. It follows the blueprint of other titles in the series by dividing its chapters into three parts under the headings “Research Methods and Problems,” “Current Research and Issues,” and “New Directions.” The editors also adapt this format by further dividing part two into subsections—“Histories and Politics of Adaptation,” “Shakespeare in Parts,” and “Media Lenses and Digital Cultures”—to achieve their desired balance of “capaciousness with clarity” (18). While each chapter is written with the distinctive voice of its writer or cowriters, the collection offers a united vision that captures the inclusive, forward-thinking philosophy that Henderson and O’Neill put forward in their introduction: “Adaptation is no longer simply a facet of Shakespeare or the field of study based on his works and their afterlives but is, rather, a key driver of Shakespeare’s ongoing vitality in the contemporary world” (5). While I cannot hope to capture the wealth of far-reaching research contained within Shakespeare and Adaptation in a brief review, I will try to emulate here the volume’s balance of capaciousness and clarity. The three chapters in part one, written by Emma Smith, Douglas M. Lanier, and Julie Sanders, convincingly set out the theoretical framework upon which the subsequent chapters are based. Together, these chapters decenter “Shakespeare” from the phrase “Shakespeare [End Page 191] and Adaptation.” Smith, Lanier, and Sanders present their work in a manner that is both academically rich and comprehensively accessible, explaining complex ideas through language and tone choices that are never abstruse. Smith positions Shakespeare as a key player in the long history of adaptation. She highlights early on that “The term ‘playwright’ [. . .] follow[s] the semantic model of words like cartwright and
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Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1353/shb.2023.a908004
Gemma Miller
Reviewed by: Othello Presented at the Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre, London Gemma Miller Othello Presented at the Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre, London. 30 November 2022–21 January 2023. Directed by Clint Dyer. Set design by Chloe Lamford. Costume design by Michael Vale. Lighting design by Jai Morjaria. Sound design and composition by Pete Malkin and Benjamin Grant. With Jack Bardoe (Roderigo/System), Joe Bolland (Messenger/System), Rory Fleck Byrne (Cassio/System), Kirsty J. Curtis (Bianca/System), Peter Eastland (System), Tanya Franks (Emilia/System), Colm Gormley (Gentleman/Officer/System), Paul Hilton (Iago), Gareth Kennerley (Montano/System), Joshua Lacey (Lodovico/System), Rosy McEwan (Desdemona), Martin Marquez (Duke of Venice/System), Katie Matsell (System), Amy Newton (System), Sabi Perez (System), Steffan Rizzi (Gentleman/Senator/System), Jay Simpson (Brabantio/Gratiano/System), Giles Terera (Othello), and Ryan Whittle (Voice/System). Since its foundation in 1963, the Royal National Theatre has staged five productions of Othello, the most recent of which before this latest offering was just nine years ago—Nicholas Hytner’s well-received 2013 production starring Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear. However, times have changed, and the 2022 staging was very clearly an Othello for the post-Brexit-era, Black Lives Matter moment. National Theatre’s deputy artistic director Clint Dyer, the first Black British artist to have worked there as an actor, writer, and director, has spoken in interviews about seeing posters of Laurence Olivier as Othello in the National Theatre’s auditorium. The image of Olivier in blackface apparently “broke [his] heart,” and he was moved to scratch “Shame on you” across the whites of his eyes (Marshall). Almost twenty years later, Dyer has finally had the chance to direct his own production of Othello, and it was one that both acknowledged and consciously broke from the problematic performance history of this play. As I entered the Lyttelton auditorium, I was confronted with projections of playbills across the back wall of the stage. These were images from previous productions of Othello, from its first performance in 1604 to the most recent twenty-first-century revivals. Downstage, a janitor was mopping up a large puddle of blood, pausing every now and then to look out into the auditorium. Was he clearing up the blood from the last performance or from the past 400 years? The fact that the performance ended with blood seeping up from below the stage suggested a cyclicality that even Dyer’s production could not break. The set was a raised gray platform, flanked on three sides by steps leading upwards and lighting rigs exposed in the wings. When the lights went down, “The Moor of Venice” [End Page 161] in a typeface reminiscent of that of the First Folio scrolled across the top step. Othello’s status as an outsider, who is both “of ” and not “of ” Venice, served as a reminder to audiences that this is a play p
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Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1353/shb.2023.a907989
Ina Habermann
Abstract: This essay discusses the Royal Shakespeare Company’s virtual Dream that was streamed in March 2021, reaching over 53,000 people from more than seventy countries. Led by publicity to expect a dazzling virtual spectacle, many spectators found the experience underwhelming, feeling baffled by a Puck avatar who groped around an artificial looking nighttime wood, whipped about by a storm. This article suggests that, instead of dismissing this project too easily, it can be read as a truly contemporary rendering of the play in Giorgio Agamben’s sense. Shakespeare becomes contemporary through a dramatic exploration of obscurity, showing how characters are compelled to act, to make decisions, and to abandon themselves to a potentially dangerous environment that they do not fully understand or control. Like Shakespeare’s mechanicals, tripped up in their rehearsal process by the strange workings in the woods near Athens, the RSC’s Dream cast were groping towards an expression of their present predicament, sending out a flickering message from their COVID-19 lockdown. The production captured contemporary obscurity and anxiety caused by the challenges of climate change, the pandemic, and digital transformation.
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