The Influence Of The Audience On Shakespeare S Drama

This book, first published in 1985, explores the consciousness and the experience of Shakespeare’s audience. First describing the stage’s physical impact, Ralph Berry then goes on to explore the social or tribal consciousness of the audience in certain plays. The title finishes by examining the masque – the salient form of the Jacobean theatre. This title will be of interest to students of literature and theatre studies.

In the course of exploring the theatrical cultures of South and East Asia, eminent Shakespeareanist John Russell Brown developed some remarkable theories about the nature of performance, the state of Western 'Theatre' today, and the future potential of Shakespeare's plays. In New Sites for Shakespeare he outlines his passionate belief in the power of theatre to reach mass audiences, based on his experiences of popular Asian performances. It is a personal polemic, but it is also a carefully argued and brilliantly persuasive study of the kind of theatrical experience Shakespeare's own contemporaries enjoyed. This is a book which cannot be ignored by anyone who cares about the live performing arts today. Separate chapters consider staging, acting, improvisation, ceremonies and ritual, and an analysis of the experience of the audience is paramount throughout.

A presentation of the effect of Shakespeare's work on Jacobean dramatists.