Cross-gender casting of tragedies by William Shakespeare
| Thesis title in Czech: | Cross-genderové obsazení tragédií Williama Shakespeara |
|---|---|
| Thesis title in English: | Cross-gender casting of tragedies by William Shakespeare |
| Key words: | cross-genderové obsazení, pouze mužské obsazení, pouze ženské obsazení, travesty, cross-dressing, Shakespeare, renesanční drama, Hamlet, Král Lear, Romeo a Julie |
| English key words: | cross-gender casting, same-sex casting, travesty, cross-dressing, Shakespeare, Renaissance drama, Hamlet, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2014/2015 |
| Thesis type: | diploma thesis |
| Thesis language: | angličtina |
| Department: | Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK) |
| Supervisor: | PhDr. Soňa Nováková, CSc. |
| Author: | hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept. |
| Date of registration: | 25.06.2015 |
| Date of assignment: | 25.06.2015 |
| Administrator's approval: | not processed yet |
| Confirmed by Study dept. on: | 26.06.2015 |
| Date and time of defence: | 06.09.2016 09:00 |
| Date of electronic submission: | 12.08.2016 |
| Date of proceeded defence: | 06.09.2016 |
| Submitted/finalized: | committed by student and finalized |
| Opponents: | doc. MgA. Jan Hančil |
| Guidelines |
| In her 1990 book Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity Judith Butler has established that gender as well as sex are socially constructed categories. Thus what we perceive as masculine or feminine is rather flexible and bound to change in relation to the contemporary standards. Theatre, due to its very essence, must very often deal with anachronistic interpretations of gender-related issues, because every production needs to reflect the society at that point in time and that specific location. The older the text is, the trickier this process may be. In my MA thesis I would like to examine 20th and 21st century Anglophone productions (stage and film) of tragedies by William Shakespeare that employed cross-gender casting; not when it was suggested by cross-dressing in the text, but when it was based mainly on the different perception of the categories of masculinity and femininity. I decided to concentrate solely on tragedies, as, even though there is a great deal of fascinating examples of cross-gender casting in comedies such as Helen Mirren’s Prospera from The Tempest, the approach to gender related issues can alter dramatically when used in comedies, where the motivation of such casting may not be motivated solely by innovative interpretation of the play, but can be employed for comedic effect (mainly in the male to female domain). There are great examples of cross-gender casting in history plays, for instance Fiona Shaw's Richard II, but, as the thesis concentrates on both Czech and Anglophone stages, the plays should be staged in both areas, which is, with the exception of Richard III, not the case when it comes to Czech stages and Shakespeare's histories. Exemplary part for cross-gender casting is Hamlet – a young royal, whose character traits have been interpreted as effeminate. Tellingly, the first Hamlet to appear on the then new medium – film – was Sarah Bernhardt in 1900[1]. But even King Lear was portrayed by a woman – most significantly in a production performed in Frankfurt, yet created by the legendary American director Robert Wilson, with Marianne Hoppe in the main part[2]. A specific approach is also casting one actor into two parts, one of which may be cross-gendered. This happens in King Lear as well, where the actress playing Cordelia plays the part of Fool as well. The tradition of such casting stems from the theory that on the Shakespearean stage the parts were portrayed by the same young boy[3], as well as taking into consideration the “opening words of Lear’s final speech, ʻAnd my poor fool is hangedʼ”[4]. This approach was taken for instance in the 2013 production Globe theatre production, where the two parts were played by Bethan Cullinane.[5] And the furthest one may go with cross-gender casting is a cast consisting solely of men, or solely of women. Example of such casting would be the all-female production of Julius Caesar performed in Donmar Warehouse, London, directed by Phyllida Lloyd in 2012.[6] Structurally, after a brief theoretical introduction to the issue, the thesis should analyze three significant instances of plays that have been frequently cross-gender casted, namely Hamlet, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet. After an analysis of the text, the cross-casted performances from both, Anglophone and Czech stages will be analyzed. These analyses will be based on video materials, provided there are any. If not, then I will base my arguments on reviews and reflections in literature. Information about Czech productions can be found at the Theatre Institute. This overview will be followed by a closer analysis of a particular production from either Anglophone or Czech theatre, observing more closely the effects of a cross-casted performance. The aim of the thesis is to show, that after a careful analysis a simple change of gender of the actor can make a great difference in the perception of the character all together. As this process is dramaturgically very demanding, it is interesting to look for the motivation of such interpretative innovation in different times, because it shows the diverse approaches to gender of various decades. This is fascinating especially in the 20th century, when the perspectives on gender and sex changed dramatically within relatively short periods of time. The thesis should prove that cross-gender casting can have a variety of functions that should not be reduced and simplified. With a detailed analysis and interpretation, such a reading can create an entirely different map of relationships (a great example of which is the previously mentioned casting of Cordelia and Fool by the same actress), which can give a new answer to questions which often exceeds the realm of gender. [1]Tony Howard: Women as Hamlet: Performance and Interpretation in Theatre, Film and Fiction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) 1. [2]Lesley Ferris: „Introduction,“ ed. Lesley Ferris: Crossing the Stage: Controversies on Cross-Dressing (London: Routledge, 2005) 3. [3]Sophie Alatorre: „King Lear, Tragedy of Subversion?“ ed. François Laroque, Pierre Iselin, Sophie Alatorre: "And that’s true too": New Essays on King Lear (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009) 80. [4]Michael J. Collins: „Teaching King Lear,“ ed. Ronald E. Salomone & Jamed E. Davis: Teaching Shakespeare: Into the Twenty-first Century (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997) 169. [5] "Cordelia /Lear's Fool Played by Bethan Cullinane," Shakespeare's Globe, 9 June 2015. [6]Pamela Bickley & Jenny Stevens: Essential Shakespeare: The Arden Guide to Text and Interpretation (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013) 231. |
| References |
| Bickley, Pamela & Jenny Stevens. Essential Shakespeare: The Arden Guide to Text and Interpretation. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.
ed. Bulman, James C. Shakespeare Re-dressed: Cross-gender Casting in Contemporary Performance. Cranbury: Associated University Presses, 2008. Butler, Judith. Bodies that Matter. London: Routledge, 2014. Ferris, Lesley. Crossing the Stage: Controversies on Cross-Dressing. London: Routledge, 2005. Howard, Tony. Women as Hamlet: Performance and Interpretation in Theatre, Film and Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Klett, Elizabeth. Cross-Gender Shakespeare and English National Identity. Basingstok: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. ed. Laroque, François & Pierre Iselin, Sophie Alatorre. "And that’s true too": New Essays on King Lear. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009. Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Between Men. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. ed. Cooper, Farah Karim & Tiffany Stern: Shakespeare‘s Theatres and the Effects of Performance. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014. Senelick, Laurence. The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre. New York: Psychology Press, 2000. |