1st Edition

Talking to the Audience Shakespeare, Performance, Self

By Bridget Escolme Copyright 2005
    208 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    204 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This unique study investigates the ways in which the staging convention of direct address - talking to the audience - can construct selfhood, for Shakespeare's characters. By focusing specifically on the relationship between performer and audience, Talking to the Audience examines what happens when the audience are in the presence of a dramatic figure who knows they are there. It is a book concerned with theatrical illusion; with the pleasures and disturbances of seeing 'characters' produced in the moment of performance.
    Through analysis of contemporary productions Talking to the Audience serves to demonstrate how the study of recent performance helps us to understand both Shakespeare's cultural moment and our own. Its exploration of how theory and practice can inform each other make this essential reading for all those studying Shakespeare in either a literary or theatrical context.

    Acknowledgments 1.Actors, Academics, Selves; 2. 'Bits and Bitterness': Politics, Performance, Troilus and Cressida 3. The Point or the Question: Text, Performance, Hamlet 4. The Theatre and the Presence Chamber: History, Performance, Richard II 5. Performing Human: The Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio Conclusion Notes Bibliography

    Biography

    Escolme, Bridget

    'Sharply observant, thoughtful and adventurous' - Theatre Research International