Shakespeare and the Authority of Performance
Shakespeare and the Authority of Performance
This stimulating book asks how both text and performance are construed as vessels of authority, and finds that our understanding of Shakespearean performance retains a surprising sense of the possibility of being "faithful" to Shakespearean texts, and so to "Shakespeare." After an opening theoretical chapter, Worthen examines the relationship between text and performance in three activities: directing, acting, and scholarship. The book contributes to the scholarly study of acting and directing, and to the wider discourse of performance studies.
- Reconsiders the intersection between stage and text
- Advances theory of performance, using Shakespeare as exemplar
- Documentation includes directors' and actors' writings, and first-hand experience of rehearsals
- Uses contemporary editorial theory
- Thorough reading of contemporary 'Shakespeare in performance' theory
Reviews & endorsements
"Worthen offers an important book... Shakespeare and the Authority of Performance is a superb entry in the growing bibliography of important performance studies; it is even more valuable for the conversations it will enable across different scholarly and theatrical communities that share concerns about authority which they may not yet realize are commno interests." Laurie E. Osborne, Shakespeare Quarterly
"This is a wide-ranging, exploratory book...whose project is to cross the gap between theory and performance." Essays in Theatre
Product details
October 1997Paperback
9780521558990
268 pages
216 × 139 × 16 mm
0.32kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Authority and performance
- 2. Shakespeare's auteurs: directing authority
- 3. Shakespeare's body: acting and the designs of authority
- 4. Shakespeare's page, Shakespeare's stage: performance criticism.
