Watching Shakespeare : A Playgoers' Guide

Here is a book written primarily for playgoers. Looking closely at eighteen plays, Anthony Dawson examines key decisions that actors and directors have to make, and shows how different interpretations flow from these decisions. His aim is to make audiences more aware of the multiple possibilities that a Shakespearean text provides, and hence better able to assess particular productions. Using frequent and extensive illustration from the modern theatre, he argues that contradiction and creative inconsistency are marks of Shakespeare's plays and that productions usually work best when they embrace opposition and strive for balance, rather than when they adopt one-sided readings or suppress elements that don't fit a particular concept. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-13 A Midsummer Night’s Dream....Pages 15-25 The Merchant of Venice....Pages 26-38 As You Like It....Pages 39-50 Twelfth Night....Pages 51-62 Measure for Measure....Pages 63-76 Richard II....Pages 77-87 Henry IV, Part 1....Pages 88-102 Henry IV, Part 2....Pages 103-114 Henry V....Pages 115-128 Romeo and Juliet....Pages 129-140 Julius Caesar....Pages 141-151 Hamlet....Pages 152-167 Othello....Pages 168-179 King Lear....Pages 180-193 Macbeth....Pages 194-205 Coriolanus....Pages 206-218 The Winter’s Tale....Pages 219-230 The Tempest....Pages 231-241 Back Matter....Pages 242-260