Findlay, Alison Gail (2018) Shakespeare Ceremony and the Public Sphere of Performance. Shakespeare, 14 (1). pp. 26-37. ISSN 1745-0918
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Abstract
The Globe’s experiments with audience involvement have introduced novel methods of rendering spectators aware of their presence within any performance. Most of this is catered for and rehearsed, but – performance by performance – there is the opportunity for spontaneous gestures and responses. This essay focuses on this self-awareness in the Globe’s 2010 productions of Merry Wives of Windsor, The Taming of the Shrew and All is True (Henry VIII), where the ceremony of distance between on- and offstage and between spectating and participating is questioned. As a result of this, some of Habermas’ assumptions as to what a cultural “Public Sphere” might be are extended to include the theatrical potential both as a result of external factors such as expected conventions before the performance and internal nuances that bring surprise and challenge such traditions.
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