Shakespeare and Feminist Performance

<p>How do performances of Shakespeare change the meanings of the plays?<br> In this controversial new book Sarah Werner argues that the text of a Shakespeare play is only one of the many factors that give a performance its meaning. By focusing on The Royal Shakespeare Company Werner demonstrates how actor training company management and gender politics fundamentally affect both how a production is created and the interpretations it can suggest.<br> Werner concentrates particularly on:<br> The influential training methods of Cicely Berry and Patsy Rodenburg<br> The history of the RSC Women's Group<br> Gale Edwards' production of <em>The Taming of the Shrew</em><br> She reveals that no performance of Shakespeare is able to bring the plays to life or to realise the playwright's intentions without shaping them to mirror our own assumptions.<br> By examining the ideological implications of performance practices this book will help all interested in Shakespeare's plays to explore what it means to study them in performance.</p>