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Title:
"Constructing Inessential Shakespeare in the United States" 
Author:
Bayer, Mark.
Type:
Journal Article
Year:
2024
Publication Information:
Shakespeare (British Shakespeare Association) 20, no. 4 (2024): 527–40.
Annotation:

Explores how two editors shaped American ideas of "essential Shakespeare": Henry Norman Hudson, whose Plays of Shakespeare Selected and Prepared for Use in Schools, Clubs, Classes, and Families (1875) dictated which plays to study in American schools; and Richard Grant White, editor of The Riverside Edition (1883), who recommended a reading order for the plays, starting with Tempest. Contends that as editors, Hudson and White "functioned as gatekeepers and set the parameters for Shakespeare studies as a recognisable academic discipline." English summary, 540.

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Title:
"Accruing Gravitas, or Why There Isn't a Latino King Lear (Yet)"
Author:
Della Gatta, Carla.
Type:
Journal Article
Year:
2024
Publication Information:
Shakespeare (British Shakespeare Association) 20, no. 4 (2024): 580–595.
Annotation:

"Details a theatrical and filmic history of Latinx actors and adaptations of King Lear to illustrate that in order to play King Lear, the Latino actor must be associated with the perception of having accrued gravitas, a capacious characteristic that functions in contrast to mainstream U.S. perceptions of Latinx." Considers gravitas in terms of vocalization an authority. Concludes by "examin[ing] the career of Hector Elizondo, the Latinx actor who comes closest to portraying a Lear-like role on the U.S. stage." English summary, 580.

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Title:
"William Shakeshafte, Player" 
Author:
Steggle, Matthew.
Type:
Journal Article
Year:
2024
Publication Information:
Shakespeare (British Shakespeare Association) 20, no. 3 (2024): 433–58.
Annotation:

Suggests that "William Shakeshaft of Preston and Cadley (fl.1562–1609)" is the fellow named in Alexander Hoghton's 1581 will, countering existing scholarship that has assumed Hoghton referred to Shakespeare the playwright. Proposes that Shakeshaft "could have been involved in" drama, specifically the presentation of "the Preston mystery plays." English summary, 433.

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Title:
"Introduction: Shakespeare in Action"
Author:
Rycroft, Eleanor; Shmygol, Maria.
Type:
Journal Article
Year:
2024
Publication Information:
Shakespeare (British Shakespeare Association) 20, no. 2 (2024): 159–68.
Annotation:

Introduces key questions for special issue: "how do we, how can we, and how should we ‘suit’ the action of a given performance to the word, or word to the action? How does our understanding of ‘action’ as a concept and as a process change across different media, spaces, modes, and eras of performance?"

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Title:
"Taking Shakespeare in Stride: Lady Macbeth at the American Repertory Theatre" 
Author:
Sincox, Bailey.
Type:
Journal Article
Year:
2024
Publication Information:
Shakespeare (British Shakespeare Association) 20, no. 2 (2024): 281–300.
Annotation:

Describes Whitney White's Macbeth in Stride (premiered Cambridge, MA, 2021), "an assemblage of original dialogue, R&B, gospel, and rock music, and ‘Shakespeare fragments’ to put Lady Macbeth into action as a figure of Black feminine desire and ambition." Argues that "Macbeth in Stride turned a reading of Lady Macbeth as monstrous on its head, revealing the dominant tendency to read Black women in this way." English summary, 281.

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Title:
"Hamlet at the Himalayan Border: Frontier Imaginaries in Hu Xuehua's Prince of the Himalayas and Vishal Bhardwaj's Haider
Author:
Lee, Jason Eng Hun.
Type:
Journal Article
Year:
2024
Publication Information:
Shakespeare (British Shakespeare Association) 20, no. 2 (2024): 301–25.
Annotation:

"Discusses Hu Xuehua’s Prince of the Himalayas (2006) and Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider (2014) across overlapping local, regional and (inter)national imaginaries of Tibet and Kashmir, and considers the possibilities of rendering the story and circumstances of Hamlet legible within these borderland contact zones." Notes that "Shakespeare’s continuing popularity in India, and his reputation as an exemplary Western playwright in the Chinese context, have enabled film directors to use him as a cultural tool to empower subaltern voices, albeit asymmetrically." English summary, 301.

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Title:
"Polychronic Actants: Modern Promptbooks as Anticipated Acts, Unanticipated Acts, and Ideal Assemblages" 
Author:
Kaethler, Mark; Malone, Toby; Roberts-Smith, Jennifer.
Type:
Journal Article
Year:
2024
Publication Information:
Shakespeare (British Shakespeare Association) 20, no. 2 (2024): 326–50.
Annotation:

Theorizes the study of modern promptbooks as a way of engaging with past theatre productions. Contends that while promptbooks are not "perfect and complete theatrical artefacts" they can be "idealised polychronic assemblages" that offer valuable evidence of "anticipated acts" and responses to the unexpected. Uses promptbooks from the Stratford Festival of Canada's 2005 production of Tempest (dir. Monette, q.v.) as case study. English summary, 326.

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Title:
"Dogs Urinating on the 1623 Folio: The Jaggard Press's Dionysus Ornament in Context" 
Author:
Boeckeler, Erika Mary.
Type:
Journal Article
Year:
2024
Publication Information:
Shakespeare (British Shakespeare Association) 20, no. 1 (2024): 56–74.
Annotation:

Explores significance of a printer's ornament in the 1623 first folio: the "striking headpiece featuring Dionysus, urinating dogs, the torsos of archers, long-plumed birds of paradise, and rabbits amidst lush vegetation." Suggests that this headpiece places folio in classical tradition while emphasizing importance of drama. Shows how the Jaggard press reworked existing ornaments and traces additional uses of this printer's ornament across early print, including in second folio. English summary, 56.

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Title:
"Industrial Nature: The Unrealised King Lear of Norman Bel Geddes" 
Author:
Graham, Roger.
Type:
Journal Article
Year:
2025
Publication Information:
Shakespeare (British Shakespeare Association) 21, no. 1 (2025): 1–32.
Annotation:

Describes Norman Bel Geddes' planned production of King Lear (1916) for Theatre Six (a proposed "diagonal-axis theater" in New York) as part of early-twentieth-century New Stagecraft movement. Describes Adolphe Appia's and Hiram Moderwell's influences on Bel Geddes. Considers planned Lear production in terms of design, theater technology, script, and in the context of the first World War. English summary, 1.

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Title:
"The End(s) of The Tempest in Post-apartheid South Africa" 
Author:
de Waal, Marguerite.
Type:
Journal Article
Year:
2025
Publication Information:
Shakespeare (British Shakespeare Association) 21, no. 1 (2025): 157–72.
Annotation:

Offers history of post-apartheid South African performances of Tempest, turning to productions at Maynardville Open Air Theatre, Cape Town (1994, dir. Roy Sargeant, q.v.); Rhodes University, Makhanda (1994, dir. Andrew Buckland); Durban University of Technology (2003, dir. Brian Pearce); University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (2004, dir. Malcolm Purkey, q.v.); and Baxter Theatre (2009, dir. Janice Honeyman, q.v.). Considers productions in term of casting, race, language, and politics. Suggests that these productions "reveal a need for something other than The Tempest to give voice to contemporary concerns." English summary, 157.

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