Table Of ContentPERFORMING EARLY MODERN DRAMA TODAY
While much attention has been devoted to performances of
Shakespeare’splaystoday,littlehasbeenfocusedonmodernproduc-
tions of the plays of his contemporaries, such as Marlowe, Webster
andJonson.PerformingEarlyModernDramaTodayoffersanoverview
ofearlymodernperformance,featuringchaptersbyacademics,teach-
ersandpractitioners,incorporatingavarietyofapproaches.Thebook
examines modern performances in both Britain and America and
includesinterviewswithinfluentialdirectors,closeanalysisofpartic-
ular stage and screen adaptations and detailed appendices of profes-
sional and amateur productions. Chapters examine intellectual and
practical opportunities to analyse what is at stake when the plays
of Shakespeare’s contemporaries are performed by ours. Whether
experimenting with original performance practices or contemporary
theatrical and cinematic ones, productions of early modern drama
offer an inspiring, sometimesunusual,always interestingperspective
ontheplaystheyinterpretformodernaudiences.
pascaleaebischerisSeniorLecturerinRenaissanceStudiesatthe
UniversityofExeter.Herpassionforteachingearlymoderndramahas
resulted in the publication of Jacobean Drama (2010), a book dedi-
cated toher students, who voted her ‘Lecturer ofthe Year 2009/10’.
She is the co-editor of Remaking Shakespeare: Performance Across
Media, Genre and Cultures (2003). Her book Shakespeare’s Violated
Bodies: Stage and Screen Performance (2004) was followed by a wide
rangeofarticlesinbooksandleadingjournals,includingShakespeare
Quarterly, Shakespeare Bulletin and Shakespeare Survey. Her current
interest infilmadaptations ofearlymodern plays, thesubjectof her
next book, is evident in her recent contributions to The Cambridge
Companionto English Renaissance Tragedy(2010),ThomasMiddleton
inContext(2011)andChristopherMarloweinContext(2012).
kathryn prince isatheatrehistorianattheUniversityofOttawa.
Her project Shakespeare and Theatrical Space, funded by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, will be
published as a book and has generated the practice-based creative
projectMeasuredSpace,whichexperimentswithMeasureforMeasure
in light of the contemporary theories and practices in disciplines
ranging from architecture to zoo-keeping. Early modern plays per-
formedoutoftheirownperiodwerealsothefocusofherfirstbook,
ShakespeareintheVictorianPeriodicals(2008)aswellashersecond,a
forthcomingperformancehistoryofMuchAdoAboutNothing,along
withbookchaptersinShakespeareintheEighteenthCentury(2012)and
Shakespeare in the Nineteenth Century (2012), The Working-Class
Intellectual in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain (2009),
andtwovolumesoftheDictionaryofLiteraryBiography.
PERFORMING EARLY
MODERN DRAMA
TODAY
edited by
PASCALE AEBISCHER
and
KATHRYN PRINCE
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,SãoPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecb28ru,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521193351
©CambridgeUniversityPress2012
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2012
PrintedandboundintheUnitedKingdombytheMPGBooksGroup
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Performingearlymoderndramatoday/editedbyPascaleAebischerandKathrynPrince.
p. cm.
1. Theater–GreatBritain–21stcentury. 2. Theater–UnitedStates–21stcentury. 3. English
drama–EarlymodernandElizabethan,1500–1600–Historyandcriticism. 4. Englishdrama–17th
century–Historyandcriticism. I. Aebischer,Pascale,1970– II. Prince,Kathryn,1973–
pn2595.132p47 2012
792.0941090511–dc23
2012020548
isbn978-0-521-19335-1Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
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Contents
Listofillustrations page vii
Notesoncontributors viii
Acknowledgements xii
1 Introduction
pascale aebischer and kathryn prince 1
2 Theearlymodernrepertoryandtheperformanceof
Shakespeare’scontemporariestoday
lucy munro 17
3 Theseedsoftime:studenttheatreandthedramaof
Shakespeare’scontemporaries
jeremy lopez 35
4 TheperformanceofearlymoderndramaatShakespeare’sGlobe
farah karim-cooper 53
5 Shakespeare’scontemporariesattheRoyalShakespeare
Company
coen heijes 70
6 TheActors’RenaissanceSeasonattheBlackfriarsPlayhouse
jacquelyn bessell 85
7 Dido,QueenofCarthage:site-specificMarlowe
rebecca mccutcheon and sarah thom 104
8 ‘Afreshlycreepyreality’:Jacobeantragedyandrealistactingon
thecontemporarystage
roberta barker 121
v
vi Contents
9 Earlymoderndramaonscreen
pascale aebischer 142
10 Lettingthedeadcomeouttodance:anembodiedandspatial
approachtoteachingearlymoderndrama
jonathan heron, nicholas monk and paul prescott 162
Appendices
1 ProfessionalproductionsofearlymoderndramaintheUKandUSA,
1960–2010
karin brown 178
2 Performancesofearlymoderndramaatacademicinstitutions
since1909
jeremy lopez 218
3 Performancesofearlymodernplaysbyamateurandstudentgroups
since1887
jeremy lopez 225
Selectbibliography 228
Index 240
Illustrations
1 MartinRowson’scaricatureof‘TheRoyalBeaumontand
FletcherCompany’,fromtheIndependentonSunday,23April
2003.Reproducedbypermissionoftheartist. page18
2 GordonRainsford’sproductionstillofSarahThomasDido
inthe2008angelsinthearchitectureproductionofDido,
QueenofCarthageatKensingtonPalace.Reproducedby
permissionofangelsinthearchitecture. 110
3 Dido’sroutethroughangelsinthearchitecture’s2008
site-specificproductionofDido,QueenofCarthageat
KensingtonPalace.Reproducedbypermissionofangelsin
thearchitecture. 112
4 SimonAnnand’sproductionstillfromtheNational’s2010
productionofWomenBewareWomen,withLaurenO’Neilas
BiancaandRichardLinternastheDuke.Reproducedby
permissionofthephotographer. 122
5 AscreenshotfromtheDVDofFrancisPerrin’s2001filmed
versionofVolpone,withBernardHallerasVolponeand
ThibautLorinasLadyWould-Be. 155
vii
Notes on contributors
pascale aebischer is Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Studies at the
UniversityofExeter.SheistheauthorofShakespeare’sViolatedBodies:Stage
and Screen Performance (2004) and Jacobean Drama (2010). She has co-
editedRemakingShakespeare:PerformanceacrossMedia,GenresandCultures
(2003)andhasguesteditedanissueofShakespeareBulletin(Winter2011)on
filmadaptationsofearlymoderndrama,hercurrentresearchinterest.Her
work in this area has been published in Shakespeare Quarterly (2009), The
Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Tragedy (2010) and Thomas
Middleton in Context (2011). From 2013, she will be General Editor of
ShakespeareBulletin.
roberta barker isAssociateProfessorofTheatreatDalhousieUniversity
and the University of King’s College, Halifax. She is the author of Early
Modern Tragedy, Gender and Performance, 1984–2000: The Destined Livery
(2007),editorofCommonConditions(2004)andco-editorwithKimSolgaof
New Canadian Realisms: Eight Plays and New Canadian Realisms: Essays on
CanadianTheatre,Volume2(2012).Herworkonearlymodernandmodern
drama in performance has appeared in Shakespeare Survey, Shakespeare
Quarterly, Modern Drama, Early Theatre, Literature Compass and Canadian
TheatreReview.From2013,shewillbeTheatreReviewsEditorforShakespeare
Bulletin.
jacquelyn bessell is a theatre practitioner and academic at the
Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham. She has worked as a
dramaturg, acting teacher and stage director, as Head of Research at
Shakespeare’s Globe, and as a director and academic at the American
Shakespeare Center and Mary Baldwin College. Her directing credits
include Antony and Cleopatra, Love’s Labour’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, and her
most recent publications include ‘The Early Modern Physical Theatre’ in
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