Table Of ContentPopular Shakespeare
Simulation and Subversion on the Modern Stage
Stephen Purcell
Popular Shakespeare
Palgrave Shakespeare Studies
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Palgrave Shakespeare Studies takes Shakespeare as its focus but strives to understand the sig-
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Titles include:
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REMAKING SHAKESPEARE
Performance across Media, Genres and Cultures
Mark Thornton Burnett
FILMING SHAKESPEARE IN THE GLOBAL MARKETPLACE
David Hillman
SHAKESPEARE’S ENTRAILS
Belief, Scepticism and the Interior of the Body
Jane Kingsley-Smith
SHAKESPEARE’S DRAMA OF EXILE
Stephen Purcell
POPULAR SHAKESPEARE
Simulation and Subversion on the Modern Stage
Paul Yachnin and Jessica Slights
SHAKESPEARE AND CHARACTER
Theory, History, Performance, and Theatrical Persons
Forthcoming titles:
Timothy Billings
GLOSSING SHAKESPEARE
Erica Sheen
SHAKESPEARE AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE THEATRE
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Popular Shakespeare
Simulation and Subversion
on the Modern Stage
Stephen Purcell
© Stephen Purcell 2009
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-57703-9
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2009 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-36687-3 ISBN 978-0-230-23422-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230234222
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Contents
List of Figures vi
Preface vii
Acknowledgements viii
Personal Narrative 1 Ambiguous Applause 1
1 Popular Shakespeares 4
Personal Narrative 2 Stand-up Shakespeare 27
2 Text and Metatext: Shakespeare and Anachronism 30
Personal Narrative 3 Jeffrey Archer: The One
that Got Away 56
3 ‘A Play Extempore’: Interpolation, Improvisation,
and Unofficial Speech 60
Personal Narrative 4 A Bit Sexist 93
4 ‘It’s like a Shakespeare play!’: Parodic Appropriations
of Shakespeare 95
Personal Narrative 5 Blasphemy 139
5 Shakespeare’s Popular Audience: Reconstructions
and Deconstructions 142
Personal Narrative 6 Alternative Endings 172
6 Shakespeare, Space, and the ‘Popular’ 174
Personal Narrative 7 ‘It’s the famous bit!’: Fragments
of Romeo and Juliet 206
7 Shakespearean ‘Samples’ 211
Personal Narrative 8 Rough Magic 222
Notes 225
Bibliography 234
Index 249
v
Figures
2.1 Víkingur Kristjánsson as Peter in Vesturport’s
Romeo and Juliet (2003), directed by Gísli Örn
Gardarsson. Photograph by Eddi. Reproduced
by kind permission of Artbox/Vesturport. 53
3.1 The Sticking Place – The London team at Shall
We Shog?, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, 2005.
With permission from The Sticking Place. 83
4.1 The Reduced Shakespeare Company performing
at the 1987 Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Novato,
California. Photograph by Garth Hagerman. 117
4.2 Mike Shepherd as ‘Joan Puttock’ in Kneehigh’s
Cymbeline (2007). Photograph by Steve Tanner. 127
5.1 Company of Tim Supple and Dash Arts’
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2006). Photograph
by Tristram Kenton. 147
6.1 The view from the circle at The Rose Theatre,
Kingston. Photograph by Chris Pearsall. 195
vi
Preface
Around halfway through my research for this project, I presented some
of my findings to a small audience of students and academics at the
University of Kent. Immediately afterwards, a debate arose between
many of the parties present as to the effectiveness and indeed the veri-
similitude of the way in which I had theorised and presented my experi-
ences as a playgoer. In my eagerness to adopt a suitably ‘scholarly’ tone,
I had, argued some, neglected the more phenomenological aspects of
theatregoing, attempting to categorise neatly, something which, by its
subjective nature, cannot be fully expressed in rational, scientific terms.
It was suggested to me by way of illustration that while a psychologist
could accurately describe the process of falling in love in a detached and
systematic manner, it would never be as full or as complete a description
as might be found in a sonnet.
While I am sure my colleague did not want me to write this book
in rhyming pentameter, I took her suggestion very seriously. I had
long been grappling with ways in which to synthesise my subjective
experience (both as a playgoer and as a maker of theatre) with the more
formal registers of academic writing; phrases like ‘I felt’ and ‘it seemed’
sat ill at ease beside a more strictly analytical mode of writing, and the
conclusions I drew were inevitably very personal and utterly unverifi-
able. I soon realised, however, that my mistake had been to attempt any
kind of synthesis at all.
This book, as will become apparent, is concerned throughout with
the conflicting registers of performance which often exist unreconciled
within the same theatrical event, and with the tension between identi-
fication and critical detachment that this instils within its audience. It
seems logical that form should echo content, and as such I have woven
in between the more conventionally ‘scholarly’ chapters a thread of
unashamedly subjective narratives, largely untheorised, and employing
a wider range of writing registers. I am unapologetic that I have made no
attempt to make these disparate elements cohere; they will, I hope, bring
at least a measure of theatre’s plurality of meaning to the book itself.
If not, you can always skip straight to the next scholarly bit.
vii
Acknowledgements
The author and publisher wish to thank the following for permission to
reproduce copyright material:
• Artbox/Vestuport for the image from Romeo and Juliet (2003);
• Adam Meggido and The Sticking Place (www.thestickingplace.com)
for the image from Shall We Shog? (2005);
• Garth Hagerman and Daniel Singer for the image of the Reduced
Shakespeare Company (1987);
• Steve Tanner and Kneehigh Theatre for the image from Cymbeline
(2007);
• Dash Arts and The Corner Shop PR for the image from A Midsummer
Night’s Dream (2006);
• The Rose Theatre, Kingston, for the image of the theatre (2007).
Every effort has been made to trace rights holders, but if any have been
inadvertently overlooked, the publishers would be pleased to make the
necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.
Thanks are also due to the many theatre practitioners who gave
up their time to discuss their ideas with me, including John Russell
Brown, Annie Castledine, James Garnon, Scott Handy, Richard Henders,
Marcello Magni, Malcolm Rennie, Toby Sedgwick, and Pete Talbot. The
ideas which form the basis of this book owe much to the innumerable
discussions I have had over the years with delegates at the annual British
Graduate Shakespeare Conference, Stratford-upon-Avon; I should also
like to express my gratitude to all the staff and students of the Drama
department at the University of Kent – particularly those who partici-
pated in my exploratory workshops, and all those who took part in the
various debates about performance documentation which proved so
influential in determining the eventual shape and form of this book.
I should particularly like to thank Professors Robert Shaughnessy
and Russell Jackson for their warm and encouraging responses to the
project, and Paula Kennedy and Steven Hall at Palgrave Macmillan for
their swift and enthusiastic work in bringing the book to print. I must
also thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council, without whose
financial support this project would have been very difficult.
viii
Acknowledgements ix
I am enormously grateful to the actors (and friends) with whom
I have been lucky enough to work over the last few years: Sarah Norton,
Martin Gibbons, Caitlin Storey, Mark Hayward, Dominic Conway, Oli
Seadon, Dave Hughes, Daisy Orton, Nina Satterley, Clare Beresford, Tom
Hughes, Bethan Morgan, Holly Hawkins, Iain Tessier, Ian McKee, Sam
Pay, James Groom, and Haydn Pryce-Jenkins. Without their creativity,
enthusiasm, imagination, and willingness to experiment, this book
would have remained untouched by the many insights generated by
our practical work together.
Lastly, I’d like to offer special thanks to Oliver Double, for his guid-
ance and friendship; to Kasia Ladds, for her inexhaustible patience and
encouragement; to Anna Purcell, for her keen intelligence and close
critical eye; and to my parents, John and Jan Purcell, for their unwavering
support.
