King John and Henry VIII

ISBN-13: 9780230361928 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 376 str.

William Shakespeare

Opis

From the Royal Shakespeare Company -- a fresh new edition of two of Shakespeare's most unusual and provocative histories This book includes: * Illuminating introductions to King John and Henry VIII by award-winning scholar Jonathan Bate * The two plays -- with clear explanatory notes on each page * Helpful scene-by-scene analyses and key facts about both plays * An introduction to Shakespeare's career and the Elizabethan theatre * Rich explorations of approaches to staging both plays featuring photographs of key productions of each The most enjoyable way to understand a Shakespeare play is to see it or participate in it. This book presents a historical overview of two of Shakespeare's classical plays King John and Henry VIII in performance, recommends film versions, takes a detailed look at specific productions and includes interviews with three leading Directors -- Gregory Doran, Josie Rourke and Gregory Thompson -- so that we may get a sense of the extraordinary variety of interpretations that are possible - a variety that gives Shakespeare his unique capacity to be reinvented and made 'our contemporary' four centuries after his death.

Spis treści

Introduction.- King John.- Henry VIII.- About the Text.- Key Facts: King John.- The Life and Death of King John.- Textual Notes.- Scene-by-Scene Analysis.- King John in Performance: The RSC and Beyond.- Four Centuries of King John: An Overview.- At the RSC.- The Director's Cut: Interviews with Gregory Doran and Josie Rourke.- Key Facts: Henry VIII.- The Life of King Henry the Eighth.- Textual Notes.- Scene-by-Scene Analysis.- King Henry VIII in Performance.- The RSC and Beyond.- Four Centuries of King Henry VIII: An Overview.- At the RSC.- The Director's Cut: Interviews with Gregory Doran and Gregory Thompson.- Shakespeare's Career in the Theatre.- Beginnings.- Playhouses.- The Ensemble at Work.- The King's Man.- Shakespeare's Works: A Chronology.- Kings and Queens of England: From the History Plays to Shakespeare's Lifetime.- King John Family Tree.- The History Behind the Histories: A Chronology.- Further Reading and Viewing.- References.- Acknowledgements and Picture Credits

O autorze

JONATHAN BATE Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature, University of Warwick, UK, and the editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He has held visiting posts at Harvard, Yale and UCLA and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College, Cambridge, and a Governor and Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. A prominent critic, award-winning biographer and broadcaster, he is the author of several books on Shakespeare, including The Genius of Shakespeare (Picador), which was praised by Sir Peter Hall, founder of the RSC, as 'the best modern book on Shakespeare.' In June 2006 he was awarded a CBE by HM The Queen 'for services to Higher Education'.
ERIC RASMUSSEN Professor of English at the University of Nevada, USA, and the Textual Editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He is co-editor of the Norton Anthology of English Renaissance Drama and has edited volumes in both the Arden Shakespeare and Oxford World's Classics series. He is the General Textual Editor of the Internet Shakespeare Editions project - one of the most visited Shakespeare websites in the world. For over nine years he has written the annual review of editions and textual studies for the Shakespeare Survey.