Shakespeare and Everyman go to the Philly Fringe

Authors

Alice Dailey Villanova University

Abstract

The offerings at this year's Philadelphia Fringe Festival are proof that Shakespeare is alive in contemporary American culture. But he is perhaps not as well as his non-academic fans might hope. The two Shakespearean adaptations staged during this three-week-long live arts festival could not have been more different: the one an abstract, heady meditation on Hamlet geared toward intellectuals and fans of conceptual theater, and the other a rollicking satire on Shakespearean tragedy pitched toward a rowdy, largely college-aged audience. Both manage to arrive at the same conclusion: that Shakespeare has nothing intelligible to say to those outside the cultural elite.

Author Biography

Alice Dailey, Villanova University

Alice Dailey is Assistant Professor of English at Villanova University. The focus of her research is devotional, hagiographic, and martyrological literature, particularly passion drama and martyr narratives. Her book-in-progress, The Structure of Suffering: Martyrdom and the English Reformation, studies the interplay between Reformation history and the structures of martyrological discourse. Additionally, she is co-editing, with Lowell Gallagher, a volume of essays on Mel Gibson's film, The Passion of the Christ. Her publications include articles on John Foxe's Book of Martyrs and George Chapman's The Widow's Tears.