Shakespeare, Soccer, and Spin-Doctors: Staging a Contemporary "Henry V"; "Henry V" at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Wales, UK, November 2002

Taken as a whole, the history plays are the most neglected of Shakespeare's dramatic works, not least because their animation of "real" history is perceived as potentially alienating for a contemporary audience. In "Henry V", however, we find a play that is a thrilling theat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	College literature 2004-10, Vol.31 (4), p.60-71
Main Author:	Hand, Richard J.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	1564-1616 Drama Dramatic production English language Historical text analysis History History plays Ideology Language history Literary criticism Management Methods Nationalism Physicians Political debate Political rhetoric Politics Production and direction Prologues Rehearsal Resistance (Psychology) Riots Rugby Set design Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, William (1564-1616) Soccer Stage adaptations Theater Theaters Theatrical production War Welsh
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Summary:	Taken as a whole, the history plays are the most neglected of Shakespeare's dramatic works, not least because their animation of "real" history is perceived as potentially alienating for a contemporary audience. In "Henry V", however, we find a play that is a thrilling theatrical journey and the use of the play in production from the Elizabethan period to our own time presents fascinating examples of the use of Shakespeare for purposes of propaganda or satire. The University of Glamorgan "Henry V" attempted to be a production for the twenty-first century, and used Shakespeare's text to explore contemporary ideological issues and political anxieties. The production design utilized the iconography of sport and familiar images from the news media to develop and explore the regional, national, and global concerns that the script of Shakespeare, himself the greatest adapter in the history of English theater, seems able to facilitate.
ISSN:	0093-3139 1542-4286 1542-4286