Shakespeare and the 'Live' Theatre Broadcast Experience

by Bloomsbury Publishing

Overview

This ground breaking collection of essays is the first to examine the phenomenon of how, in the twenty-first century, Shakespeare has been experienced as a 'live' or 'as-live' theatre broadcast by audiences around the world. Shakespeare and the 'Live' Theatre Broadcast Experience explores the precursors of this phenomenon and its role in Shakespeare's continuing globalization. It considers some of the most important companies that have produced such broadcasts since 2009, including NT Live, Globe on Screen, RSC Live from Stratford-upon-Avon, Stratford Festival HD, Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company Live, and Cheek by Jowl, and examines the impact these broadcasts have had on branding, ideology, style and access to Shakespeare for international audiences. Contributors from around the world reflect on how broadcasts impact on actors' performances, changing viewing practices, local and international Shakespearean fan cultures and the use of social media by audience members for whom “liveness” is increasingly tied up in the experience economy.

The book tackles vexing questions regarding the 'presentness' and 'liveness' of performance in the 21st century, the reception of Shakespeare in a globally-connected environment, the challenges of sustaining an audience for stage Shakespeare, and the ideological implications of consuming theatre on screen. It will be crucial reading for scholars of the 'live' theatre broadcast, and enormously helpful for scholars of Shakespeare on screen and in performance more broadly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350030473
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	07/26/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Pascale Aebischer is Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Performance Studies at the University of Exeter. She specialises in the history of the performance of early modern drama (including Shakespeare), with an emphasis on 1580s-1700 and 1980s-present. She has a particular interest in bodies and performance technologies (from candlelight through social media to 'live' theatre broadcast), as well as in the connection between the reconstruction of early modern playhouses and urban regeneration. These interests are reflected in her teaching, which focuses on early modern - Restoration theatrical cultures and performance practices, Shakespeare, and present-day performance on stages and screens.

Susanne Greenhalgh is currently Principal Lecturer in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Roehampton, UK. Her current research interests centre on reception studies and the relationship between theatre and screen media, especially in relation to Shakespeare's circulation, adaptation and citation in different periods and settings, including the home, theatre and mass media.

Laurie Osborne, is Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Colby College, USA. She teaches Shakespeare, film theory, literary theory, adaptation studies and composition. Her most recent scholarship focuses on "Shakespeare and Popular Culture."
PASCALE AEBISCHER is Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Studies at the University of Exeter, UK.
Susanne Greenhalgh is currently Principal Lecturer in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Roehampton, UK. Her current research interests centre on reception studies and the relationship between theatre and screen media, especially in relation to Shakespeare's circulation, adaptation and citation in different periods and settings, including the home, theatre and mass media.

Table of Contents

Illustrations viii
List of Contributors ix
Acknowledgements x
Note on the text xi
List of Abbreviations xii
Introduction 1
Pascale Aebischer and Susanne Greenhalgh

Part One: Wide Angle
1 The Remains of the Stage: Revivifying Shakespearean
Theatre on Screen, 1964–2016 19
Susanne Greenhalgh
2 Shakespeare's New Marketplace: the Places of Event
Cinema 41
Susan Bennett
3 The Audience is Present: Aliveness, Social Media, and the
Theatre Broadcast Experience 59
Erin Sullivan, University of Birmingham, UK
4 Understanding New Encounters with Shakespeare: Hybrid
Media and Emerging Audience Behaviours 77
Rachael Nicholas

Part Two: In the Theatre
5 A View from the Stage: Interviews with Performers 95
Beth Sharrock
6 A View from the Stalls: The Audience's Experience in the
Theatre During the RSC Live from Stratford-upon-
Avon
Broadcasts 103
Julie Raby

Part Three: Close-Ups
7 South Bank Shakespeare Goes Global: Broadcasting from
Shakespeare's Globe and the National Theatre 113
Pascale Aebischer
8 The Stratford Festival of Canada: Mental Tricks and
Archival Documents in the Age of NTLive 133
Margaret Jane Kidnie
9 Talawa and Black Theatre Live: 'Creating the Ira Aldridges
That Are Remembered' – Live Theatre Broadcast and the
Historical Record 147
Jami Rogers
10 Cheek by Jowl: Reframing Complicity in Web-Streams of
Measure for Measure 161
Peter Kirwan

Part Four: Reaction Shots
11 The Curious Incident of Shakespeare Fans in NTLive:
Public Screenings and Fan Culture in Japan 177
Kitamura Sae
12 Shakespeare and the Theatre Broadcast Experience: A
View from Hong Kong 185
Michael Ingham
13 Very Like a Film: Hamlet Live in Bologna 193
Keir Elam
14 Shakespeare at a Theatre Near You: Student Engagement
in Northeast Ohio 199
Ann M. Martinez
15 Shakespeare from the House of Molière:
The Comédie-Française/Pathé Live Roméo et
Juliette (2016) 207
Pascale Aebischer
Epilogue: Revisiting Liveness 215
Laurie E. Osborne
Appendix: Digital Theatre Broadcasts of Shakespeare,
2003–17 227
Rachael Nicholas
Index 243