Shakespeare and the Live Theatre Broadcast Experience

This ground breaking collection of essays is the first to examine the phenomenon of how, in the twenty-first century, Shakespeare has been experienced as a 'live' or 'as-live' theatre broadcast by audiences around the world. Shakespeare and the 'Live' Theatre Broadcast Experience explores the precursors of this phenomenon and its role in Shakespeare's continuing globalization. It considers some of the most important companies that have produced such broadcasts since 2009, including NT Live, Globe on Screen, RSC Live from Stratford-upon-Avon, Stratford Festival HD, Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company Live, and Cheek by Jowl, and examines the impact these broadcasts have had on branding, ideology, style and access to Shakespeare for international audiences. Contributors from around the world reflect on how broadcasts impact on actors' performances, changing viewing practices, local and international Shakespearean fan cultures and the use of social media by audience members for whom “liveness” is increasingly tied up in the experience economy.

The book tackles vexing questions regarding the 'presentness' and 'liveness' of performance in the 21st century, the reception of Shakespeare in a globally-connected environment, the challenges of sustaining an audience for stage Shakespeare, and the ideological implications of consuming theatre on screen. It will be crucial reading for scholars of the 'live' theatre broadcast, and enormously helpful for scholars of Shakespeare on screen and in performance more broadly.

Pascale Aebischer is Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Performance Studies at the University of Exeter. She specialises in the history of the performance of early modern drama (including Shakespeare), with an emphasis on 1580s-1700 and 1980s-present. She has a particular interest in bodies and performance technologies (from candlelight through social media to 'live' theatre broadcast), as well as in the connection between the reconstruction of early modern playhouses and urban regeneration. These interests are reflected in her teaching, which focuses on early modern - Restoration theatrical cultures and performance practices, Shakespeare, and present-day performance on stages and screens.

Susanne Greenhalgh is currently Principal Lecturer in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Roehampton, UK. Her current research interests centre on reception studies and the relationship between theatre and screen media, especially in relation to Shakespeare's circulation, adaptation and citation in different periods and settings, including the home, theatre and mass media.

Laurie Osborne, is Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Colby College, USA. She teaches Shakespeare, film theory, literary theory, adaptation studies and composition. Her most recent scholarship focuses on "Shakespeare and Popular Culture."