Popular Shakespeare

by Stephen Purcell

"In recent years, the 'Popular Shakespeare' phenomenon has become ever more pervasive: whether in fringe productions, mainstream theatre, or the mass media, Shakespeare is increasingly constructed as an authentic part of popular culture." "Naturally, these attempts to bring one of the most iconic symbols of high art into the realm of the popular have their problems. 'Popular Shakespeares' will frequently attempt to re-write the past or ignore cultural difference, postulating a universal appeal which transcends the barriers of class, nationality, and even history. Others, however, will poke fun at Shakespeare's cultural authority, parodying and appropriating the texts in a more subversive fashion. Very often, these contradictory attitudes will be found existing side-by-side and inconsistently within one piece of work." "A vivid and wide-ranging account of Shakespearean performance in Britain since the 1990s, this book examines an interrelated set of shifts in what the name 'Shakespeare'