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Curated from the first four volumes of Peter Lang's Playing
Shakespeare's Characters series, this omnibus edition selects the
most practical essays for actors and directors wanting to play and
produce Shakespeare's plays. The dozen contributors in this volume
explore ways to play Shakespeare's lovers, villains, monarch,
madmen, rebels, and tyrants. It gives critical guidance for
directors and producers wanting to stage Shakespeare in the age of
Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. The book is a valuable companion for
students, actors, directors, and designers who want insight into
playing Shakespeare today.
Playing Shakespeare's Rebels and Tyrants is the fourth volume in
the Peter Lang series, Playing Shakespeare's Characters. As in the
previous volumes, a broad range of contributors (actors, directors,
scholars, educators, etc.) analyze the concepts of rebellion,
tyranny, leadership, empathy with not only references to
Elizabethan and Jacobean studies, but also to Donald Trump, the
social justice movement, and the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
Shakespeare's rebels occupy space in both the personal and
political, and often quickly turn from rebel to tyrant once in
power. How can Shakespeare's text inform current conversations
about race, equity, representation, rebellion and tyranny? Who gets
to define the power dynamics in Shakespeare's plays? This volume
looks at the Henrys, Hotspurs, Richards, Lears, Brutuses and
Caesars, as well as the Juliets, Rosalinds and Cordelias who make
up the panoply of Shakespeares rebels and tyrants.
In an era of Twitter and televised therapy, it may seem that
classic theatre has little place in contemporary society.
Accustomed to the indulgences of a celebrity-driven culture, how
can modern audiences understand and interpret classic works of
drama? In Tragedy in the Age of Oprah: Essays on Five Great Plays,
Louis Fantasia provides a provocative examination of the
relationship between popular culture and classical tragedy. Making
a persuasive argument for the lessons tragedy has to offer today's
audiences, Fantasia examines five enduring works of theatre:
Euripides' Medea, William Shakespeare's King Lear, Jean Racine's
Phedre, Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart, and Eugene O'Neill's Long
Day's Journey into Night. Fantasia discusses in detail each of
these plays, framing them in a contemporary context that explores
the suffering, responsibility, and identity that tragedy advocates.
Each play is presented as an engaging, powerful encounter for the
reader, recreating as closely as possible the impact of a great
performance. A unique look at the role classical theatre can and
should play in contemporary society, these essays reveal the
lessons great plays have to teach us about ourselves. Directed
toward theatre professionals and students, Tragedy in the Age of
Oprah will also resonate with anyone interested in theatre,
literature, and cultural studies.
Talking Shakespeare is a collection of essays on Shakespeare's
plays and politics and their impact in the world today. Originally
given as provocative talks on Shakespeare at some of the most
prestigious universities, conferences, and theatres around the
world, they reflect on the author's more than thirty-year career as
a producer, director and educator. The essays provide a unique and
personal look into multiple aspects of Shakespeare's world-and
ours.
Fantasia has developed a pragmatic and American performance
technique. Instant Shakespeare should allow performers, directors
and teachers of all cultures and levels of experience to demystify
Shakespeare and perform his texts in ways that are clear, fresh and
unpretentious.
The essays in Playing Shakespeare's Villains trouble our
assumptions of what-and who-constitutes "villainy" in Shakespeare's
works, through probing and provocative analyses of the murky moral
logics at play in the Bard's oeuvre. Shakespeare spreads before us
a panoply of evil, villainy, and amorality-of characters doing bad
things for good reasons, bad things for bad reasons, and bad things
for no reason at all. How does Shakespeare handle culpability and
consequence? How much does he justify his villains' actions? How
much do we enjoy watching people get away with murder and mayhem?
What are we to make of the moral universe that Shakesperare
presents: a universe in which some villains are punished and others
seem to be rewarded; where mischief can quickly turn violent; and
where an entire world can be brought down by someone's willful
insistence on having one's way? Questions like these animate the
discussions in this lively volume, the second in the Playing
Shakespeare's Characters series.
Playing Shakespeare's Lovers examines Shakespeare's romantic
characters from multiple perspectives. Contributing actors,
directors, educators and scholars bring diverse and wide-ranging
insights into the motives, context, history and challenges of
performing Shakespeare's "infinite variety" of lovers. The volume
begins with an introductory essay, followed by brief essays and
interviews, on various characters within the world of Shakespeare's
lovers.
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