Shakespeare in Performance: Castings and Metamorphoses

These studies of Shakespeare in performance take stage history as a means of knowing the play. Half of these studies deal with casting - doubling, chorus and the crowd, the star of "Hamlet" and "Measure for Measure". The transformations of "The Tempest" and dramatis personae are analyzed. Audience control is studied in "King Lear", through Cordelia's asides, in "Richard II" with its subversive laughter and in "Henry IV" with its scenic alternation of pleasure and duty. Performance is the realization of identity. The book draws on major productions as recent as 1991/92. By the author of "On Directing Shakespeare", "Shakespeare and Social Class" and "Changing Styles in Shakespeare".