Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Plays & playwrights > 16th to 18th centuries > Shakespeare studies & criticism
|
Buy Now
This Wide and Universal Theater (Paperback)
Loot Price: R826
Discovery Miles 8 260
|
|
This Wide and Universal Theater (Paperback)
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
|
For generations, most readers have first encountered Shakespeare's
plays in books, rather than onstage. In schools, his works are
primarily taught by professors of English, many of whom know little
about the theater. Yet Shakespeare was through and through a man of
the stage. So what is lost when we leave Shakespeare the dramatist
behind, and what can we learn by taking his plays seriously as
dramas to be performed?
David Bevington answers these questions with "This Wide and
Universal Theater," which explores productions of Shakespeare both
in his own time and in the succeeding centuries. Making use of
contemporary documents and the play scripts themselves, Bevington
brings Shakespeare's original staging to life. He explains how the
Elizabethan playhouse, lacking scenery, conveyed a sense of place,
from the Forest of Arden in "As You Like It" to the tavern in
"Henry IV, Part I," And through close attention to Shakespeare's
texts, he reveals the surprising ways that early production
decisions continue to affect our understanding of the plays: for
example, the word "balcony," despite its indelible association with
"Romeo and Juliet," appears nowhere in the play itself. Moving
beyond Shakespeare's lifetime, Bevington shows the prodigious
lengths to which eighteenth- and nineteenth-century companies went
to produce spectacular effects, from flying witches in "Macbeth" to
terrifying storms punctuating "King Lear," Considerations of recent
productions on both stage and screen bring the book into the
present, when character and language have taken precedence over
spectacle.
Bringing a lifetime of study to bear on a remarkably
underappreciated aspect of Shakespeare's art, DavidBevington has
crafted a book that will entertain and illuminate anyone who has
thrilled to the Bard on page or in performance.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.