Book Description

This is the only modern stage-history of its kind, and a book for every Shakespeare-lover. It tells the story of the plays on the English stage - four hundred years of dramatic history, from the vital, competitive theatre of Shakespeare's own lifetime to the wealth of interpretations, classical to experimental, of the present day. It is a story of constant rediscovery, as the fashions, intuitions, and politics of each age reinterpreted the plays' meanings - and often even their plots. Actresses stepped into the female roles written originally for boy-actors; and the theatre evolved, from open-air Elizabethan stages like the Rose and Globe to the proscenium theatre, grand spectacle, and the whole panoply of modern lighting and staging equipment. Written by a team of experts, this book illuminates both the plays and the men and women who staged, adapted, and performed them: Burbage, who was Shakespeare's Richard III, Henry V, and Hamlet; Mary Betterton, in 1664 the first woman to play Lady Macbeth; Garrick, whose lifelong championing of Shakespeare is largely responsible for his elevation to the status of National Poet; and the famous actor-managers who produced the plays on an increasingly grand scale throughout the nineteenth century - Kemble, Kean, Macready, Irving. Generous space is given to the great figures of twentieth-century theatre - Donald Wolfit, Lilian Baylis, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Peggy Ashcroft, Ralph Richardson, Tyrone Guthrie, Peter Brook - and to the companies and actor - directors of today, from Cheek by Jowl and the Royal Shakespeare Company to Michael Bogdanov and Kenneth Branagh. A special chapter by Dame Judi Dench provides a unique actor's perspective; and the book comes right up to date with accounts of contemporary directors' theatre, including productions by Michael Bogdanov, Deborah Warner, and Sam Mendes. Over a hundred illustrations, and a large cast of actors, audiences, andreviewers, bring to life the key productions and developments described in each chapter, in a dramatic story which is at once history, tragedy, and comedy!