Theatre and Ghosts: Materiality, Performance and Modernity

237 Pages·2014·1.42 MB·English

by  Mary Luckhurst, Emilie Morin (eds.)

Theatre and Ghosts
Also by Mary Luckhurst
DRAMATURGY: A Revolution in Theatre
THEATRE AND CELEBRITY IN BRITAIN, 1660–2000
ON ACTING
ON DIRECTING
THE BLACKWELL COMPANION TO BRITISH AND IRISH DRAMA, 1880–2005
THE BLACKWELL COMPANION TO CONTEMPORARY BRITISH AND IRISH
DRAMA
PLAYING FOR REAL: Actors on Playing Real People
CARYL CHURCHILL
Also by Emilie Morin
SAMUEL BECKETT AND THE PROBLEM OF IRISHNESS
Theatre and Ghosts
Materiality, Performance and Modernity
Edited by
Mary Luckhurst and Emilie Morin
University of Melbourne, Australia, and University of York, UK
Selection, introduction and editorial matter © Mary Luckhurst and Emilie
Morin 2014
Individual chapters © Contributors 2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-34506-6
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2014 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-46631-3 ISBN 978-1-137-34507-3 (eBook)
DOI. 10.1057/9781137345073
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
For Roger
and
For Henriette
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgements xi
Notes on Contributors xii
Introduction: Theatre and Spectrality 1
Mary Luckhurst and Emilie Morin
Part I Ghosts, Stage Adaptation and Technology
1 Charles Dickens and the Invention of
the Modern Stage Ghost 27
Marvin Carlson
2 Gothic Adaptation and the Stage Ghost 46
Nathalie Wolfram
Part II Spectral Economies
3 Apprehending the Spectral: Hauntology and Precarity
in Caryl Churchill’s Plays 65
Rachel Clements
4 Heritage, Capital and Culture: The Ghost
of ‘Sarah’ at the Bristol Old Vic 82
Catherine Hindson
5 Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?:
American Ghost Shows of the Twentieth Century 96
Beth A. Kattelman
Part III Modernity, Gender and Ghost Aesthetics
6 Masculinity, Haunting and Twentieth-Century
American Realism 113
Paul D. Streufert
7 ‘Pretty Ghost, a Duet’: On Dying While
You Still Look Good 128
Joseph Roach
vii
viii Contents
Part IV Acting, Absence and Rematerialization
8 A Restoration Vanishing Act: The Case
of Thomas Betterton’s Groin 143
Michael Cordner
9 Giving Up the Ghost: The Actor’s Body as Haunted House 163
Mary Luckhurst
10 Michael Chekhov: The Spiritual Realm and
the Invisible Body 178
Tom Cornford
11 Haunting Shakespeare, or King Lear Meets Alice 197
Peter Holland
Select Bibliography 217
Index 223
List of Figures
1.1 John Tenniel, Frontispiece to Charles Dickens,
The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain:
A Fancy for Christmas-Time (London: Bradbury
and Evans, 1848). Reproduced by permission
of Leeds University Library. 30
1.2 John Leech, ‘Redlaw and the Phantom,’ in
Charles Dickens, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s
Bargain: A Fancy for Christmas-Time (London: Bradbury
and Evans, 1848), 34. Reproduced by permission of
Leeds University Library. 33
1.3 ‘Comment on produit les spectres.’ Illustration
in Marion Fulgence, L’Optique (Paris: Hachette, 1867),
fig. 73, 377. HCL Widener Library KPD 4211.
Reproduced by permission of the Widener Library,
Harvard College Library. 39
2.1 Robert Thew, Illustration for Hamlet. Act I. Scene IV,
1793. Etching, 50.2 (cid:2) 63.7 cm. Courtesy of the Lewis
Walpole Library, Yale University. 54
5.1 Generic Spook Show Poster, designed and printed
by Triangle Poster Co., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
USA, circa 1950. Image © Triangle Poster Company.
Reproduced by permission of Triangle Poster
Company. 103
7.1 William Holland, The Castle Spectre and her Ernest Admirer!,
1798. Etching, 36 (cid:2) 39.8 cm. Printed by William Holland,
No. 50 Oxford Street. Courtesy of the Lewis Walpole
Library, Farmington, Connecticut. 134
11.1 Julia Margaret Cameron, ‘King Lear Allotting
his Kingdom to his Three Daughters,’ 1872. Photograph;
albumen print, 34.5 (cid:2) 28.5 cm. National Media Museum,
Bradford. 10454515 © Royal Photographic Society/NMEM/
SSPL. Reproduced by permission of the National Media
Museum, Bradford. 198
ix