Viral Shakespeare: Performance in the Time of Pandemic

Pascale Aebischer

ISBN 10: 1108947964 / ISBN 13: 9781108947961

Published by Cambridge University Press, 2022

New copy - Usually dispatched within 3 working days. Seller Inventory # B9781108947961

Synopsis:

This Element offers a first-person phenomenological history of watching productions of Shakespeare during the pandemic year of 2020. The first section of the Element explores how Shakespeare 'went viral' during the first lockdown of 2020 and considers how the archival recordings of Shakespeare productions made freely available by theatres across Europe and North America impacted on modes of spectatorship and viewing practices, with a particular focus on the effect of binge-watching Hamlet in lockdown. The Element's second section documents two made-for-digital productions of Shakespeare by Oxford-based Creation Theatre and Northern Irish Big Telly, two companies who became leaders in digital theatre during the pandemic. It investigates how their productions of The Tempest and Macbeth modelled new platform-specific ways of engaging with audiences and creating communities of viewing at a time when, in the UK, government policies were excluding most non-building-based theatre companies and freelancers from pandemic relief packages.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Viral Shakespeare: Performance in the Time ...
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: 2022
Binding: Paperback / softback
Condition: New