Shakespeare and the Authority of Performance

by William B. Worthen

Overview

This stimulating book asks how both text and performance are construed as vessels of authority, and finds that our understanding of Shakespearean performance retains a surprising sense of the possibility of being "faithful" to Shakespearean texts, and so to "Shakespeare." After an opening theoretical chapter, Worthen examines the relationship between text and performance in three activities: directing, acting, and scholarship. The book contributes to the scholarly study of acting and directing, and to the wider discourse of performance studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521558990
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/25/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	268
Product dimensions:	5.47(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

1. Authority and performance; 2. Shakespeare's auteurs: directing authority; 3. Shakespeare's body: acting and the designs of authority; 4. Shakespeare's page, Shakespeare's stage: performance criticism.

Editorial Reviews

"Worthen offers an important book... Shakespeare and the Authority of Performance is a superb entry in the growing bibliography of important performance studies; it is even more valuable for the conversations it will enable across different scholarly and theatrical communities that share concerns about authority which they may not yet realize are commno interests." Laurie E. Osborne, Shakespeare Quarterly

"This is a wide-ranging, exploratory book...whose project is to cross the gap between theory and performance." Essays in Theatre

From the Publisher