Notre Dame London: Fischer Hall Library

Shakespeare in ten acts /

Shakespeare in ten acts / edited by Gordon McMullan and Zoë Wilcox. - 224 pages : color illustrations ; 28 cm

"On the occasion of the British Library exhibition 'Shakespeare in Ten Acts' 15 April - 6 September 2016. Curated by Zoë Wilcox, Tanya Kirk and Greg Buzwell"--Title page verso.

Includes blbliographical references and index.

Ch. 1 'A hit, a very palpable hit': Hamlet at the Globe, c. 1600 / 'Into something rich and strange': The Tempest at the Blackfriars Playhouse, c. 1610-11 / 'The wide world': Shakespeare across the Globe / 'Do you not know I am a woman?': The Legacy of the First Female Desdemona, 1660 / 'Tis mad idolatry': Vortigern, the Ireland Forgeries and the Birth of Bardolatry / 'Haply, for I am black': The Legacy of Ira Aldridge / 'He is return'd': The Revision and Restoration of King Lear / 'The revolution of the times': Peter Brook's A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1970 / 'The wheel is come full circle': Twelfth Night at Middle Temple Hall and Shakespeare's Globe, 2002 / 'Look here, upon this picture': Theatrofilm, the Wooster Group Hamlet and the Film Industry /

Four hundred years after Shakespeare's death, it is difficult to imagine a time when he was not considered a genius. But those 400 years have seen his plays banished and bowdlerized, faked and forged, traded and translated, re-mixed and re-cast. Shakespeare's story is not one of a steady rise to fame; it is a tale of set-backs and sea-changes that have made him the cultural icon he is today. This revealing new book accompanies an innovative exhibition at the British Library that will take readers on a journey through more than 400 years of performance. It will focus on ten moments in history that have changed the way we see Shakespeare, from the very first production of Hamlet to a digital-age deconstruction. Each performance holds up a mirror to the era in which it was performed. The first stage appearance by a woman in 1660 and a black actor playing Othello in 1825 were landmarks for society as well as for Shakespeare's reputation. The book will also explore productions as diverse as Peter Brook's legendary A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mark Rylance's 'Original Practices' Twelfth Night, and a Shakespeare forgery staged at Drury Lane in 1796, among many others. Over 100 illustrations include the only surviving playscript in Shakespeare's hand, an authentic Shakespeare signature, and rare printed editions including the First Folio. These - and other treasures from the British Library's manuscript and rare book collections - feature alongside film stills, costumes, paintings and production photographs.

9780712356329 0712356320 9780712356312 0712356312

9780712356312


Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 --Stage history--Exhibitions.

PR2933 .B75 / S53 2016

822.3/3