Shakespeare and Costume - (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Inspired by new approaches in performance studies, theatre history, research in material culture and dress history, a rich discussion of the many aspects of costume in Shakespearean performance has begun. Shakespeare and Costume furthers this research, bringing together varied and stimulating essays by leading scholars that consider costume from literary, dramatic, design, performative and theatrical perspectives, as well as interviews with renowned theatre practitioners Jane Greenwood and Robert Morgan. The volume amply demonstrates how an analysis of the meaning of costume enriches our understanding of Shakespeare's plays.

Beginning with an overview of the stage history of Shakespeare and costume, the volume looks at the historical context of clothing in the plays, considering topics such as royal self-fashioning, festive livery practices, and conceptions of race and gender exhibited in clothing choice, as well as costume in performance. Drawing on documentary evidence in designers' renderings, illustrations in periodicals, paintings, photographs, newspaper reviews and actors' memoirs, the volume also explores costume designs in specific Shakespeare productions from the re-opening of the London theatres in 1660 to the present day.

Review Quotes

"The collection is strongest on early modern material ... [and] essays on more modern sumptuary topics are enjoyably well informed" --Times Literary Supplement

"A rich resource for the study of what turns out to be frippery in the best sense." --Aoife Monks, Queen Mary University of London, UK, Around the Globe

"Featured in" --NYU Arts Digest

"[A] rich resource for the study of what turns out to be frippery in the best sense." --Aoife Monks, Around the Globe

"Mining playtexts, archives, and clothing materials, contributors in Shakespeare and Costume explore what actors wore throughout past centuries, how they used clothing in their performances, and what meaning costumes conveyed. ... The essays in this volume give these costumes a voice and students and stage practitioners an ear to understand a lost language through which materially based visual codes once spoke." --Renaissance Quarterly

"Shakespeare and Costume embodies the diversity of work on dress's interaction with early modern theatre and culture in a series of essays and interviews by an interdisciplinary array of authors ... Addressing past, present, and future explorations, editors Patricia Lennox and Bella Mirabella ensure readers gain useful historical context on trends in Shakespearean costume and its analysis, experience multiple analytical perspectives of current research, and also see new avenues for investigation ... It encourages a new approach to oft-discussed topics in Shakespeare and theatre studies-race, royalty, festive customs, production design, gender, early modern morality, and so on-through attention to costume. Novices will benefit from a complete read, but seasoned experts will more likely turn to specific essays that pertain to their particular interests. In terms of the field, this book is a welcome garment in an already quite full closet. It asks that when we attend to early modern costume, we look not only at an entire outfit, but also think about the implications of a fabric, a lone headpiece, a single shoe-letting the encompassing nature of "costume" stimulate new avenues of research." --Theatre Survey

About the Author

Patricia Lennox is Global Lecturer at New York University, USA.

Bella Mirabella is Associate Professor at NYU Gallatin, USA. She specializes in Renaissance studies, with a focus on drama, theater, performance and gender.