Escolme, Bridget
This unique study investigates the ways in which the staging convention of direct address - talking to the audience - can construct selfhood, for Shakespeare's characters. By focusing specifically on the relationship between performer and audience, Talking to the Audience examines what happens when the audience are in the presence of a dramatic figure who knows they are there. It is a book concerned with theatrical illusion; with the pleasures and disturbances of seeing 'characters' produced in the moment of performance.
Through analysis of contemporary productions Talking to the Audience serves to demonstrate how the study of recent performance helps us to understand both Shakespeare's cultural moment and our own. Its exploration of how theory and practice can inform each other make this essential reading for all those studying Shakespeare in either a literary or theatrical context.
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Focuses on a hitherto unexplored area, that being the convention of direct address to the audience
Could prove to be controversial with Shakespeare actors as it contains an underlying critique of actor training
Provides a lively analysis of recent Shakespeare productions in Europe and the US
Will be suitable for all Shakespeare scholars across literature, theatre and performance studies.
Acknowledgments 1.Actors, Academics, Selves; 2. 'Bits and Bitterness': Politics, Performance, Troilus and Cressida 3. The Point or the Question: Text, Performance, Hamlet 4. The Theatre and the Presence Chamber: History, Performance, Richard II 5. Performing Human: The Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio Conclusion Notes Bibliography
This unique study investigates the ways in which the staging convention of direct address - talking to the audience - can construct dramatic subjectivity, or selfhood, in Shakespeare plays.
'Sharply observant, thoughtful and adventurous' - Theatre Research International
By focusing specifically on the relationship between performer and audience, this book examines what happens when the audience are in the presence of a dramatic figure who knows they are there. It serves to demonstrate how the study of performance helps us to understand both Shakespeare's cultural moment and our own.
Bridget Escolme is Senior Lecturer in Drama at Queen Mary, University of London.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Acknowledgments 1.Actors, Academics, Selves; 2. 'Bits and Bitterness': Politics, Performance, Troilus and Cressida 3. The Point or the Question: Text, Performance, Hamlet 4. The Theatre and the Presence Chamber: History, Performance, Richard II 5. Performing Human: The Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio Conclusion Notes Bibliography
