The Spectacular in and Around Shakespeare
Résumé
This volume addresses the economy of the spectacular in and around Shakespeare's plays, both in early modern England and in late-twentieth/twenty-first-century adaptations and appropriations. Apart from addressing issues such as (im)plausibility, tours de force arousing amazement, and excess for the sake of entertainment, it raises the question of intentionality - what is behind the spectacular? Is there always a manipulative purpose? How far-reaching are the political and ideological stakes? The contributors to this volume investigate a broad spectrum of particular phenomena: the spectacular sound effects and pyrotechnics displayed for the opening of the Globe theatre with Julius Caesar on performance; George Gascoigne's lavish 1575 pageant commissioned by the Earl of Leicester for the queen at Kenilworth ('The Princely Pleasures'); the relationship between the spectacular and scientific discoveries, as well as their dialectics of appropriation; the impact of Mannerist art on 'The Winter's Tale'; Coriolanus' resistance to ostentation and political shows; the anti-spectacular counter-current running through Timon of Athens; Julia Pascal's innovative 2007 stage production of 'The Merchant of Venice'; and, apocalyptic screen adaptations of turn-of-the-century 'Jacobean' tragedies, and Richard III's potential to be graphically interpreted in 2008 as political satire and as a dance macabre.