The Ethical Implications of Shakespeare in Performance and Appropriation
By (Author) Louise Geddes
Edited by Kathryn Vomero Santos
Edited by Geoffrey Way
Edinburgh University Press
Edinburgh University Press
10th March 2026
United Kingdom
Non Fiction
Literary studies: c 1400 to c 1600
Literary studies: plays and playwrights
Paperback
224
Width 156mm, Height 234mm
Bringing together the discrete fields of appropriation and performance studies, this collection explores pivotal intersections between the two approaches to consider the ethical implications of decisions made when artists and scholars appropriate Shakespeare. The essays in this book, written by established and emerging scholars in subfields such as premodern critical race studies, gender and sexuality studies, queer theory, performance studies, adaptation/appropriation studies and fan studies, demonstrate how remaking the plays across time, cultures or media changes the nature both of what Shakespeare promises and the expectations of those promised Shakespeare. Using examples such as rap music, popular television, theatre history and twentieth-century poetry, this collection argues that understanding Shakespeare at different intersections between performance and appropriation requires continuously negotiating what is signified through Shakespeare to the communities that use and consumehim.