Shakespeare's contested nations : race, gender, and multicultural Britain in performances of the history plays /

Shakespeare's Contested Nations argues that performances of Shakespearean history at British institutional venues between 2000 and 2016 manifest a post-imperial nostalgia that fails to tell the nation's story in ways that account for the agential impact of women and people of color, thus f...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Pittman, L. Monique, 1969- (Author)
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	London ; New York : Routledge, [2022].
Series:	Routledge advances in theatre and performance studies.
Subjects:	Shakespeare, William, > 1564-1616 > Dramatic production. Shakespeare, William, > 1564-1616 > Stage history. Shakespeare, William, > 1564-1616 > Film adaptations. Shakespeare, William, > 1564-1616 > Television adaptations. Shakespeare, William, > 1564-1616 > Histories. National characteristics, British, in literature. Theater > Casting. Race in literature. Sex role in literature. Literature and history > Great Britain. Great Britain > History > 1066-1687 > Historiography.

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Summary:	Shakespeare's Contested Nations argues that performances of Shakespearean history at British institutional venues between 2000 and 2016 manifest a post-imperial nostalgia that fails to tell the nation's story in ways that account for the agential impact of women and people of color, thus foreclosing promising opportunities to reexamine the nation's multicultural past, present and future in more intentional, self-critical and truly progressive ways. A cluster of interconnected stage and televisual performances and adaptations of the history play canon illustrate the function Shakespeare's narratives of incipient "British" identities fulfill for the postcolonial United Kingdom. The book analyzes treatments of the plays in a range of styles-staged performances directed by Michael Boyd with the Royal Shakespeare Company (2000-2001) and Nicholas Hytner at the National Theatre (2003, 2005), the BBC's Hollow Crown series (2012, 2016), the RSC and BBC adaptations of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (2013, 2015) and a contemporary reinterpretation of the canon, Mike Bartlett's King Charles III (2014, 2017). This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of Shakespeare, theater and politics.
Physical Description:	xi, 248 pages ; 25 cm.
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references (pages [221]-237) and index.
ISBN:	9780367488314 0367488310 9781032252483 1032252480