This week Sony have relaunched the original Playstation, a game console first released in 1994. The Playstation entered a busy market for such consoles, dominated by the Nintendo-Sega duopoly, a market the Playstation changed forever by its experiments with technology, storytelling and a potential new demographic for gaming. But the Playstation is important for our … Continue reading Performing words #8: playhouse
Performing Words
Performing words #7: permanent
I'm afraid this blog post will seem especially pedantic and churlish, because it is about the unexpected embedding of a strange word in conversations about early modern theatre history: the word 'permanent'. Theatre history tends to distinguish between playhouses it considers permanent, and those it considers impermanent, despite the fact that no Elizabethan, Jacobean or … Continue reading Performing words #7: permanent
Performing words #6: matter
what’s the matter? This post follows up some of the points raised by Andy in his discussion of “story” and early modern theatre as part of his Performing Words series. Here, I suggest that the term “matter” might afford a more historically nuanced—and appropriate—vocabulary for thinking about the intersection of “story,” words, and performance. the … Continue reading Performing words #6: matter
Performing words #5: story
This post is part of a series on theatrical words. For an introduction to the series, see Performing words: introduction to a new thread on theatre and language. How much do we think about stories when we read, perform, produce, watch or study early modern plays? How aware are we of the decisions being made by … Continue reading Performing words #5: story
Performing words #4: gender
This post is part of a series on theatrical words. For an introduction to the series, see Performing words: introduction to a new thread on theatre and language. A short post from me today, but I hope an engaging and topical one as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the right to vote for some women … Continue reading Performing words #4: gender
Performing words #3: thus and thus
This post is part of a series on theatrical words. For an introduction to the series, see Performing words: introduction to a new thread on theatre and language. This particular post makes available Andy Kesson's paper for Miranda Fay Thomas and Evelyn Tribble's Shakespeare Association of America seminar on gesture. Andy would like to thank his seminar … Continue reading Performing words #3: thus and thus
Performing words #2: No room in the inns?
This post is part of a series on theatrical words. For an introduction to the series, see Performing words: introduction to a new thread on theatre and language. It's nearly Christmas, and I'm writing to ask if there might be room for the inns in our accounts of early London playing spaces. When we think of … Continue reading Performing words #2: No room in the inns?
Performing words #1: what is an actor?
This post is part of a series on theatrical words. For an introduction to the series, see Performing words: introduction to a new thread on theatre and language. Do actors act? And what would it mean if they did? The current post concerns the word 'actor' and its surprisingly untheatrical history. It asks why and when … Continue reading Performing words #1: what is an actor?
Performing words: introduction to a new thread on theatre and language
This series of posts explores some of the issues raised in our first project publication, the Forum in Shakespeare Studies 45 (2017) devoted to 1580s drama. We are grateful to Diana Henderson and James Siemon for allowing us the opportunity to publish these essays in their journal. See below for links to the full series. When … Continue reading Performing words: introduction to a new thread on theatre and language
Before Shakespeare 