Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth : Amateurism, Domesticity, and the Anglophone Audience for Shakespeare, 1607-2007
Part of : Γράμμα : περιοδικό θεωρίας και κριτικής ; Vol.15, No.1, 2007, pages 27-45
Issue:
Pages:
27-45
Author:
Abstract:
This essay probes the established history of how Shakespeare developeda worldwide audience by placing it alongside the hitherto neglected historyof how his works have been performed by non-professional groups.It singles out three key dates in the received history of Shakespeare’s reception―1623 (which saw the publication of the Folio), 1774 (which sawthe publication of the first fully academic monograph about Shakespeare)and 1932 (which saw the opening of the Folger Shakespeare Libraryin Washington DC and of the rebuilt Shakespeare MemorialTheatre in Stratford)―and considers how our sense of their importancemight be altered by the consideration of less widely-studied firsts fromthe same years, namely the first recorded non-professional production ofa Shakespeare play on British soil (at Surrenden in Kent), the first recordedall-female production of a Shakespeare play (in the Cathedral Close inSalisbury), and the opening of the first Shakespearean theater to be designed,owned and built by a woman (at Minack in Cornwall).
Subject:
Subject (LC):
Keywords:
Shakespeare, audience, amateur performance
