Shakespeare's double plays : dramatic economy on the Early Modern stage / Brett Gamboa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gamboa, Brett, author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Dramatic production.

Physical Description:

ix, 291 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Summary:

"Presenting the first comprehensive study of how Shakespeare designed his plays to suit his playing company, Brett Gamboa demonstrates how Shakespeare turned his limitations to creative advantage, and how doubling roles suited his unique sense of the dramatic. By attending closely to their dramaturgical structures, Gamboa analyses casting requirements for all the plays Shakespeare wrote for the company between 1594-1610, and describes how using the embedded casting patterns can enhance their thematic and theatrical potential. Drawing on historical records, dramatic theory and contemporary performance this innovative work questions received ideas about early modern staging and provides scholars and contemporary theatre practitioners with a valuable guide to understanding how casting can be exploited to facilitate audience engagement. Supported by an appendix of speculative doubling charts for plays, illustrations and online resources, this is a major contribution to the understanding of Shakespeare's dramatic craft"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

'Improbable fictions': Shakespeare's plays without the plays

Versatility and verisimilitude on sixteenth-century stages

Doubling in The Winter's Tale

Dramaturgical directives and Shakespeare's cast size

Doubling in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet

'What, are they children?': Reconsidering Shakespeare's 'boy' actors

Doubling in Twelfth Night and Othello

Epilogue: Ragozine and Shakespearean substitution

Appendix: Doubling roles in Shakespeare's plays.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781108417433

1108417434

OCLC:

1006312898