Shakespeare: Actors and Audiences

(Paperback)

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Description

Shakespeare: Actors and Audiences brings together the voices of those who make productions of Shakespeare come to life. It shines a spotlight on the relationship between actors and audiences and explores the interplay that makes each performance unique. We know much about theatre in Shakespeare's time but very little about the audiences who attended his plays. Even today the audience's voice remains largely ignored. This volume places the role of the audience at the centre of how we understand Shakespeare in performance. Part One offers an overview of the best current audience research and provides a critical framework for the interviews and testimony of leading actors, theatre makers and audience members that follow in Part Two, including Juliet Stevenson and Emma Rice. Shakespeare: Actors and Audiences offers a fascinating insight into the world of theatre production and of the relationship between actor and audience that lies at the heart of theatre-making.

Reviews

This release in The Arden Shakespeare series looks at the audience as an essential and collaborative partner in the performance space of the theater. Using as examples British Shakespeare productions, the contributors offer perspectives on this unique actor-to-audience relationship. Banks explains that research in spectatorship has grown over the last 30 years, and has lead to a deeper engagement with Shakespeare's plays. Summing Up: Highly recommended. * CHOICE *
The shared experience between performers and audiences is at the heart of theatre. This rich mix of audience voices and scholarly comment, provides brilliant insights into how we relate differently to Shakespeare. -- Professor Jonothan Neelands, Academic Director Cultural Partnerships, University of Warwick, UK

Author Bio

Fiona Banks is Senior Advisor: Creative Programmes at Shakespeares Globe, London, UK. She created Globe Education's wide variety of training offered to students and teachers from Early Years up to A Level and is author of Creative Shakespeare: The Globe Education Guide to Practical Shakespeare (2013).