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Staging Shakespeare at the new Globe / Pauline Kiernan.

By: Kiernan, PaulineMaterial type: TextTextSeries: Early modern literature in history: Publisher: New York : St. Martin's Press, 1999Description: xiv, 175 p. : ill. ; 23 cmISBN: 0312222742; 9780312222741; 0333662725; 9780333662724; 0333662733 (pbk.); 9780333662731 (pbk.)Subject(s): Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stage history -- England -- London | Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Dramatic production | Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stage history -- 1950- | Henry V, King of England, 1387-1422 -- In literature | Theater -- England -- London -- History -- 20th century | Globe Theatre (London, England : 1996- ) | Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Henry VDDC classification: 792.9/5/09421 LOC classification: PR3106 | .K53 1999Other classification: 18.05 | 24.12
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Includes bibliographical references (166-172) and index.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In 1995, Sam Wanamaker's dream of a reconstructed Globe Theater as close as possible to Shakespeare's in location and design became a reality. Kiernan, research fellow during the Globe's first three seasons, has chronicled the discoveries made by actors and directors using the kind of playhouse that had inspired the finest drama in English but was abandoned for the proscenium arch 350 years ago. Paradoxically, the new stage (44' across, 25' deep) feels vast, yet the entire space intimate: none of the 1,500 spectators is more than 50 feet away. The shared space and natural light empowers the audience, especially those standing in the pit, to participate in the action, which in turn energizes the actors. Listening becomes more essential than looking, with the cast performing as storytellers. Traditional blocking is replaced by long diagonals and frequent movement. Most authentic stage features proved workable and effective, but the rushes underfoot impeded movement and the stage pillars hampered sight lines. Despite Kiernan's somewhat turgid style and unnecessary repetition, the substance of the book will fascinate all theatergoers and scholars who have wondered what a play would be like in Shakespeare's "wooden O." Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. J. Ellis; Mount Holyoke College

Author notes provided by Syndetics

PAULINE KIERNAN taught at University College, Oxford before being appointed, in 1995, the Leverhulme Research Fellow to study Shakespeare in Performance at Shakespeare's Globe, Bankside. She is author of Shakespeare's Theory of Drama, Shakespeare chapters in Year's Work in English Studies and several articles on Shakespeare. She is currently working on a new edition of Middleton's Chaste Maid in Cheapside, and essays on Shakespeare and Ovid. She is also a playwright and was winner of a Special Prize in the prestigious 1994 Mobil/Royal Exchange Theatre Playwriting Competition for her play on politics and the theatre at the Elizabethan court called Actors.

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