Shakespeare in Performance: Castings and Metamorphoses

by Ralph Berry

These studies of Shakespeare in performance take stage history as a means of knowing the play. Half of the studies deal with casting, the immediate 'how' of doubling, Chorus and the crowd, the star of Hamlet and Measure for Measure. The transformations of Dramatis Personae are analysed, and The Tempest is viewed through the changing relationships of Prospero, Ariel and Caliban. Some of Shakespeare's most original strategies for controlling the audience are analysed. Cordelia, through her two early soliloquies, tells us what to think. The audience of Richard II is encouraged, through its subversive laughter, to take another view of the action. The scenic alternation of pleasure and duty is the basic programming of Henry IV. Performance is the realization of identity.

171 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993