Shakespeare in Elizabethan costume : 'period dress' in twenty-first-century performance /

"The meanings originally communicated by Elizabethan and Jacobean dress have long been confined to history. Why, then, have doublets, hose, ruffs and farthingales featured in many Shakespeare productions staged since the turn of the 21st century? This book scrutinizes the popular practice of co...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hawkins, Ella
Published: The Arden Shakespeare,
Publisher Address: London :
Publication Dates: 2022.
Literature type: Book
Language: English
Subjects:
Summary: "The meanings originally communicated by Elizabethan and Jacobean dress have long been confined to history. Why, then, have doublets, hose, ruffs and farthingales featured in many Shakespeare productions staged since the turn of the 21st century? This book scrutinizes the popular practice of costuming Shakespeare's plays in Elizabethan and Jacobean dress. It considers why this approach to design appeals to contemporary directors, designers and audiences, and how it has shaped the meaning of Shakespeare's works in specific performance contexts. Informed by original interviews with several prominent theatre practitioners, including Emma Rice, Gregory Doran, Jenny Tiramani, Simon Godwin, Stephen Brimson Lewis and Tom Piper, Shakespeare in Elizabethan Costume explores how various 21st-century Shakespeare productions have drawn on myths and desires associated with early modern clothing. Its discussions range from the practicalities of historical reconstruction to the appeal of early modern sartorial culture as an embodiment of wonder, spectacle and the supernatural. Productions discussed include Shakespeare's Globe's production of Henry V (1997), the National Theatre's Twelfth Night (2017) and the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Tempest (2016). Ella Hawkins examines the minutiae of modern design -- how seams are sewn, whence fabrics are sourced -- as well as the widespread cultural movements that have produced our modern relationship with the period of Shakespeare's lifetime. This is the first book to explore fully the significance of Elizabethan-inspired design in contemporary Shakespearean performance. Shakespeare in Elizabethan Costume reframes so-called 'period' costuming as a dynamic collection of practices capable of refashioning textual meanings, reflecting present-day political and societal shifts and confronting contemporary injustices"--
Carrier Form: xi, 270 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages [256]-265) and index.
ISBN: 9781350234420
1350234427
9781350234451
1350234451
Index Number: PR3100
CLC: J809.561
Call Number: J809.561/H393
Contents: 'Original Practices' Costume Design at Shakespeare's Globe: Practice as Experiment and Research -- Tradition, Nostalgia, and Tourism: Jacobethan-Inspired Costuming and the Shakespeare Institution -- Displaced/Repurposed Elizabethan Icons -- Fantastical Imaginings -- The Time is Out of Joint.