The Spectacular in and Around Shakespeare (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781443811057)

This volume addresses the economy of the spectacular in and around Shakespeare's plays, both in early modern England and in late-twentieth/twenty-first-century adaptations and appropriations. Apart from addressing issues such as (im)plausibility, tours de force arousing amazement, and excess for the sake of entertainment, it raises the question of intentionality-what is behind the spectacular? Is there always a manipulative purpose? How far-reaching are the political and ideological stakes? The contributors to this volume investigate a broad spectrum of particular phenomena: the spectacular sound effects and pyrotechnics displayed for the opening of the Globe theatre with Julius Caesar on performance; George Gascoigne's lavish 1575 pageant commissioned by the Earl of Leicester for the queen at Kenilworth (The Princely Pleasures); the relationship between the spectacular and scientific discoveries, as well as their dialectics of appropriation; the impact of Mannerist art on The Winter's Tale; Coriolanus' resistance to ostentation and political shows; the anti-spectacular counter-current running through Timon of Athens; Julia Pascal's innovative 2007 stage production of The Merchant of Venice; apocalyptic screen adaptations of turn-of-the-century Jacobean tragedies, and Richard III's potential to be graphically interpreted in 2008 as political satire and as a danse macabre.

Author: Pascale Drouet
ISBN-10: 144381105X
ISBN-13: 9781443811057
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Language: English
Published: 06/08/2009
Pages: 199
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.88lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.80w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2010 pg. 277