Finding Romance under Constraint

Three Late Plays

Authors

  • Alice Dailey Villanova University

Abstract

This essay considers stage productions of The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline, and The Tempest mounted in Fall 2008 by three diverse professional theater companies. Each production introduced practical constraints that challenge the terms by which we conventionally define Shakespearean romance. By either reducing the number of actors, diminishing the spectacular elements of the play, or both, these companies stripped away the usual features of romance to expose the tension between erotic deferral and fulfillment that animates the form.

Author Biography

Alice Dailey, Villanova University

Alice Dailey is Assistant Professor of English at Villanova University. Her principal research interests are Shakespeare and devotional, hagiographic, and martyrological literature. She has just completed her first monograph, The English Martyr from Reformation to Revolution, and her published work includes articles on Foxe's Acts and Monuments, the execution of Father Edmund Campion, and Chapman's The Widow's Tears. She has an article on Shakespeare's history plays forthcoming in Shakespeare Survey.

ssue Cover text: B&L, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2009. Image: Two dancers from a still from The Banquet pose with their faces close together.

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Published

2009-05-01

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2009): Spring/Summer

Section

Appropriations in Performance Reviews