Shakespeare in Performance

<p>These studies take stage history as a means of knowing the play. Half of the studies deal with casting - doubling chorus and the crowd the star of <i>Hamlet </i>and <i>Measure for Measure</i>. Then the transformations of dramatis personae are analyzed and <i>The Tempest</i> is viewed through the changing relationships of Prospero Ariel and Caliban. Some of Shakespeare’s most original strategies for audience control are studied such as Cordelia's asides in <i>King Lear</i> <i>Richard II</i>’s subversive laughter and the scenic alternation of pleasure and duty in <i>Henry IV</i>. Performance is the realization of identity. The book draws on major productions up to 1992 just before the book was originally published.</p>