Shakespeare and the Force of Modern Performance

284 Pages·2012·1.898 MB·English

by  W. B. Worthen

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SHAKESPEARE AND THE FORCE OF
MODERN PERFORMANCE
ShakespeareandtheForceofModernPerformanceasksacentral
theoretical question in the study of drama: what is the rela-
tionship between the dramatic text and the meanings of per-
formance?Developingthenotionof“performativity”explored
byJ.L.Austin,JudithButler,andothers,Worthenarguesthat
the text cannot govern the force of its performance. Instead
the text becomes significant only as embodied in the chang-
ingconventionsofitsperformance.Worthenexploresthisun-
derstandingofdramaticperformativitybyinterrogatingseveral
contemporarysitesofShakespeareproduction.Heanalyzeshow
Shakespeareisrecreatedinhistoricalperformance,exemplified
by the Globe Theatre on Bankside; by international and in-
tercultural performance; by film; and by the appearance of
Shakespeareontheinternet.Thebookincludesdetaileddiscus-
sionsofrecentfilmsandstageproductions,andsetsShakespeare
performancealongsideotherworksofcontemporarydramaand
theatre.
w. b. worthen isProfessorandChairoftheDepartmentof
Theater,Dance,andPerformanceStudiesattheUniversityof
California,Berkeley.HeistheauthorofTheIdeaoftheActor:
DramaandtheEthicsofPerformance(1984),ModernDramaand
theRhetoricofTheater (1992),ShakespeareandtheAuthorityof
Performance(Cambridge,1997),andofawiderangeofarticles
ondramaandperformanceinmajorjournals.

SHAKESPEARE AND THE
FORCE OF MODERN
PERFORMANCE
W. B. WORTHEN
UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley
         
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain
Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa
http://www.cambridge.org
©W. B. Worthen 2004
First published in printed format 2003
ISBN 0-511-02970-5 eBook (Adobe Reader)
ISBN 0-521-81030-2 hardback
ISBN 0-521-00800-X paperback
Contents
Acknowledgments pagevi
Introduction:dramaticperformativityandtheforce
ofperformance 1
1 Performinghistory 28
2 Globeperformativity 79
3 Shakespeareangeographies 117
4 Cyber-Shakespeare 169
Notes 216
Workscited 238
Index 262
v
Acknowledgments
Writingthisbook,Ihavebeenblessedtohavesuperbreaders,whose
ownworkhasoftenbeenachasteningexampleofhowtodoitright:
JoelAltman,MichaelBristol,UnaChaudhuri,PeteDonaldson,Tony
Dawson,BarbaraHodgdon,PeterHolland,RomanaHuk,Shannon
Jackson, Caren Kaplan, Ric Knowles, Jeffrey Masten, Gail Kern
Paster,PeggyPhelan,CarolRutter,EricSmoodin,JoanneTompkins,
Wendy Wall, Robert Weimann, and Frank Whigham have read, re-
sponded to, or discussed various parts of this project with me, and
manyhaveprovidedextraordinaryhospitalityaswell.Ihavedelivered
nearlyallofthisbookatannualsessionsoftheInternationalCentre
for Advanced Theatre Studies, sponsored by Pirkko Koski and the
University of Helsinki, and I should particularly like to thank the
faculty–PirkkoKoski,BruceMcConachie,JanelleReinelt,Freddie
Rokem,andSteveWilmer–andourstudentstherefortheirkeencrit-
icismandpatientforbearancewithwritingusuallyfarremovedfrom
their own interests. I should also like to thank Barbara Hodgdon,
Dennis Kennedy, David Kastan, and Joanne Tompkins for mak-
ing unpublished writing available to me, and Peter Lichtenfels,
Lynette C. Hunter, and Christopher Peak for answering a nearly
endless stream of niggling questions about their production (and
edition)ofRomeoandJuliet,andfortheprivilegeofdiscussingtheir
work with them. I am grateful to Verna Foster (Loyola University),
Margaret Knapp (Arizona State University), Michal Kobialka
(University of Minnesota), Linda Morris (University of California,
Davis), Celeste di Nucci (University of Pennsylvania), and Robert
Weimann(UniversityofCalifornia,Irvine)forinvitingmetospeak
about my work; and to audiences at the American Society for
TheatreResearch,theModernLanguageAssociation,theShakespeare
vi
Acknowledgments vii
AssociationofAmerica,andtheShakespeareInstitutefortheiratten-
tionandcomments.Myspecificindebtednesstoseveralextraordinary
studentsisexpressedbelow,butIshouldliketoexpressmygratitude
to Elizabeth Deitchman, Kathleen Gough, Katie Kalpin, Johanna
Schmitz, and Don Weingust for what I have had the privilege of
learning from them; I should also like to thank Johanna Schmitz,
SharonPressburgBraden,TateDavis,andJohnRaePerigoeformuch-
needed research assistance. William Rachelson generously answered
myrudimentaryquestionsaboutelectronictechnology,andIamsure
IgotbetterthanIgavefromsharingworkonelectronictechnologies
with Jillana Enteen. Cle´lia Francesca Donovan provided indispens-
able translations of work on Grupo Galpa˜o, and I am thankful to
Grupo Galpa˜o for providing me with materials documenting their
extraordinarywork.Ihavealsogreatlybenefitedfromtheadviceand
supportofthestaffofCambridgeUniversityPress,particularlySarah
StantonandJackieWarren.ShannonSteendivertedtimeawayfrom
more important work to read and discuss this project with me; in
this,asinmanyotherthings,Iamimmeasurablythericher.
Iamgratefultothefollowingforpermissiontousepreviouslypub-
lished material here in much-revised form. I first worked out some
concernswiththe“performative”in“Drama,Performativity,andPer-
formance,” as well as some initial thoughts on William Shakespeare’s
Romeo + Juliet that appear here in chapter 3, in PMLA 113 (1998):
1093–107. Portions of the introduction and first chapter originally
appearedas“ShakespeareanPerformativity,”inShakespeareandMod-
ern Theatre: The Performance of Modernity, ed. Michael Bristol and
KathleenMcLuskie,withChristopherHolmes(London:Routledge,
2001):117–41;anearlierversionofmydiscussionoftheGlobeThe-
atreinchapter2appearedas“ReconstructingtheGlobe,Constructing
Ourselves,” Shakespeare Survey 52 (1999): 33–45; and parts of chap-
ter 4 were published as “Hyper-Shakespeare,” Performance Research
7.1 (2002): 7–21. Finally, I would like to thank the Committee on
Research and the University of California, Davis, and the Commit-
teeonResearchandtheCollegeofLettersandSciences,Universityof
California,Berkeley,forseveralresearchgrants,andfortheHuman-
itiesResearchFellowshipthatenabledmetocompletetheproject.