Studying Shakespeare in Performance

JOHN RUSSELL BROWN is an Honorary Visiting Professor at University College London, and has held chairs of English and Theatre in both England and the USA. He has directed renaissance and contemporary plays in student and professional theatres: for twelve years he was an Associate Director of the Royal National Theatre. He is series editor for The Shakespeare Handbooks and Theatres of the World and has edited and contributed to the Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre. Among his previous publications are Shakespeare: The Tragedies, Shakespeare and the Theatrical Event and Shakespeare Dancing, all published by Palgrave Macmillan.

'John Russell Brown almost single-handedly created the discipline of Shakespeare performance studies, as well as being directly involved in production during an important period. This will be a very useful book for students of Shakespeare performance and criticism, as well as the history of that discipline.' - James Loehlin, Associate Professor of English, University of Texas at Austin, USA 'For those who enjoy a scholarly study of Shakespearean performances, for theatre practitioners, and for those who only partake as an audience, this book will give the reader much to agree and disagree with and should be a very rewarding study.' -Speaking English

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPART I: STUDYTheatrical Study and Edition of the PlaysResearch in the Service of TheatreWriting about Plays in PerformancePART II: WORDS AND ACTIONSThe Nature of Speech in the PlaysActing in the PlaysUnspoken Thoughts and Subtextual MeaningsUsing SpacePART III: PRODUCTIONSFree ShakespeareRepresenting SexualityViolence and SensationalismPART IV: DIRECTORSFranco Zeffirelli's Romeo and JulietThree Kinds of ShakespearePART V: AUDIENCESPlaygoing and ParticipationAsian Theatres and European ShakespearesConclusion: Anyone's ShakespeareIndex.