Abstract
This chapter suggests that while Shakespeare’s cultural significance, educational value, and national heritage make a strong case for his inclusion in a range of applied theatre projects, there remain criticisms relative to his relevance, accessibility, universality, and cultural bias. The chapter suggests combining historicisation and new historicism, as a literary framework, alongside Brecht’s verfremdungseffekt as a theatrical framework as a method of subverting the universalisation of Shakespeare’s plays and overcoming some of the culturally biased challenges found in combining Shakespeare’s work with applied theatre formats.
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Notes
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Ko, Y. J. (2014) Macbeth Behind Bars in Jensen, M. P. What Service is here? Borrower and Lenders article: http://www.borrowers.uga.edu/ (Accessed: 04/04/18).
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Brecht, B. & Willett, J. (1992) Brecht on theatre: The development of an aesthetic. New York: Hill and Wang. p. 190.
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Ibid. p. 190.
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Martin, C., & Bial, H. (2000) Brecht Sourcebook. Worlds of Performance. London: Routledge. p. 26.
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Heinemann, M. (1985) ‘How Brecht read Shakespeare’, in Dollimore, J. & Sinfield, A (ed.) Political Shakespeare: New Essays in Cultural Imperialism, Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 226–251. p. 132.
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Read Greenblatt, S. (2000) Practicing New Historicism. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.
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Smith, C. (2000) ‘Healthy Prisons’: A Contradiction in Terms? The Howard Journal, 4 (39), pp.339–553: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-2311.00174 (Accessed 26/02/19). p.57.
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Cochrane, C. (2015) Theatre history and historiography: Ethics, Evidence and Truth. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 5.
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Bratton, J. (2003) New Readings in theatre history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 14.
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See Barry, P. (2017) Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Brannigan, J. (1996) New Historicism and Cultural Materialism: A Reader. Hampshire: Macmillan International. p. 3.
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Harpham, G, G. (1991) Foucault and the New Historicism. American Literary History, Volume 3, Issue 2, 1 July 1991, Pages 360–375: https://doi.org/10.1093/alh/3.2.360 (Accessed 20/03/19). p. 360.
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See Bates, L. (2015) Can Shakespeare help prisoners reform?: https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/can-shakespeare-help-reform-prisoners (Accessed: 07/12/17).
Scott-Douglass, A. (2007) Shakespeare inside: The Bard behind bars. London: Continuum books.
Trounstine, J. (2007) Shakespeare behind bars: One Teacher’s story of the power of drama in a women’s prison. USA: The University of Michigan Press.
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Hulsmeier, A. (2024). Subverting a Universally and Culturally Biased Shakespeare. In: Applied Shakespeare. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45414-1_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45414-1_5
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