Shakespeare and the Authority of Performance

How do our ideas about Shakespeare inform our understanding of the limits of performance? This stimulating book asks how both text and performance are construed as vessels of authority. The author 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 directing, acting, and scholarship. He considers how some prominent theatre directors articulate their role as régisseur under the sign of Shakespeare. Next he looks at how actors read Shakespeare’s plays, and in the final chapter he inspects performance-oriented criticism of Shakespeare since the 1960s. This undogmatic and exploratory book contributes to the scholarly study of acting and directing, and to the wider discourse of performance studies.

• Reconsiders the intersection between stage and text • Advances theory of performance, using Shakespeare as exemplar • Documentation includes directors’ and actors’ writings, and first-hand experience of rehearsals • Uses contemporary editorial theory • Thorough reading of contemporary ‘Shakespeare in performance’ theory

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.

‘… a unique exploration in the field of performance criticism of Shakespeare and is recommended for anyone interested in performance studies.’ Scenaria

‘A provocative and provoking book.’ Studies in Theatre Production

‘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 …’. Shakespeare Quarterly 50

‘This is an eloquent, rewarding book, a stunning contribution to theatre and performance studies.’ Barbara Hodgdon, Theatre Journal