Weathering Shakespeare: Audiences and Open-Air Performance

Description

From The Pastoral Players 1884 performance of As You Like It to contemporary productions in Londons Regents Park, there is a rich history of open air performances of Shakespeares plays. Weathering Shakespeare reveals how new insights from the environmental humanities can transform our understanding of this popular performance practice. Drawing on audience accounts of outdoor productions of those plays most commonly chosen for open air performance including A Midsummer Nights Dream and The Tempest the book examines how performers and audiences alike have reacted to unpredictable natural environments. Weathering Shakespeare goes on to explore the ways in which contemporary concerns about the environment have informed new and emerging performance practices. Cover Contents List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction Part One 1 Performing Pastoral: A New Form of Poetic Representation 2 “Light them at the fiery glow-worm’s eyes”: Max Reinhardt’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre Part Two 3 Shakespeare-Inspired Nature-Theaters: Minack and the Willow Globe 4 Wandering in Woods: The Natural Place for the Play Part Three 5 Green Atmospheres: Nature Playing (Along, Sometimes) 6 Shakespeare for a Changing Climate Afterword Bibliography Index