A midsummer night's dream / Jay L. Halio.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Halio, Jay L.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Shakespeare in performance

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Midsummer night's dream.

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Film adaptations.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Stage history.

Genre:

Film adaptations.

Physical Description:

xii, 208 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York, NY : Manchester University Press ; New York : Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 2003.

Summary:

A Midsummer Night's Dream is Shakespeare's most enchanting comedy, and has become one of his most popular plays. It contains some of Shakespeare's loveliest poetry and is one of his most complex and effective dramatic structures. After a historical survey of the Dream from Shakespeare's time through to the nineteenth century, Jay Halio focuses primarily on twentieth-century productions and adaptations, for film and television as well as for the stage. Chapters are devoted to productions by Max Reinhardt, Peter Hall, Robert Lepage, and especially to Peter Brook's landmark production in 1970 and the reactions to it. Using a wealth of personal experience, as well as original promptbooks and critical reviews, Halio shows how differently but still very effectively the play may be staged, as the wide variety of presentations he records demonstrates. This second, enlarged edition contains three new chapters on Adrian Noble's RSC production and film, Michael Hoffman's film, and the Dream in China. Written in clear, jargon-free language, this is the most detailed study yet of major twentieth-century productions of the Dream in their historical context.

Contents:

Prologue: Dreams and vision 1

I The first three centuries 9

II From Beerbohm Tree to Peter Hall 31

III Peter Brook's Dream 49

IV Reactions to Brook: the Dreams of Barton, Daniels, and Alexander 72

V Two Dreams on film: Reinhardt-Dieterle's (1935) and Peter Hall's (1968) 85

VI Two Dreams on television: the BBC's (1981) and Joseph Papp's (1982) 106

VII A new watershed? Lepage's 'Mudsummer' Night's Dream 122

VIII Adrian Noble and the RSC: stage and screen 134

IX Michael Hoffman's Dream 151

X Dreaming in Chinese 173

Epilogue: dreaming on 184

Appendix I Some significant twentieth-century productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream 192

Appendix II Major actors and staff for the twentieth-century productions discussed 193.

Notes:

Previous ed.: 1995.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 198-202) and index.

ISBN:

0719062209

0719062217

OCLC:

51965610