The Ethical Implications of Shakespeare in Performance and Appropriation

This collection explores the ethical implications of decisions made when artists and scholars appropriate Shakespeare by bringing together appropriation and performance studies. It demonstrates how remaking the plays across time, cultures, or media changes the nature of what Shakespeare promises and the expectations of those promised Shakespeare, using examples such as rap music, popular television, theatre history, and twentieth-century poetry.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 30 April 2024
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

This collection, a groundbreaking exploration of the intersections between appropriation and performance studies, delves into the ethical implications of artistic and scholarly decisions when engaging with Shakespeare. Written by esteemed and emerging scholars from diverse subfields such as premodern critical race studies, gender and sexuality studies, queer theory, performance studies, adaptation/appropriation studies, and fan studies, the essays showcased herein shed light on how remaking Shakespeare's plays across different time periods, cultures, or media shapes the nature of both the promises and expectations held by those who engage with him. Through compelling examples such as rap music, popular television, theatre history, and twentieth-century poetry, this collection argues that understanding Shakespeare at the various intersections between performance and appropriation necessitates ongoing negotiations regarding the meanings attributed to him by the communities that utilize and consume him. By examining these critical junctures, the collection offers valuable insights into the complex and multifaceted ethical considerations inherent in the appropriation and performance of Shakespearean works.

Weight: 494g
Dimension: 234 x 156 x 14 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399524919