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This book presents a scholarly edition of five of the first adaptations of Shakespeare from the eighteenth century, the period when Shakespeare became "Shakespeare." Written by men influential in early Augustan cultural spheres, these adaptations demonstrate how contemporary literary principles and contemporary politics were applied to Shakespeare's texts. In these adaptations of Henry V, Richard II, Coriolanus, 2 Henry VI and 3 Henry VI, we see the various ways that eighteenth-century authors "righted" Shakespeare's "wrongs": through the addition and alteration of female characters and romantic sub-plots, the introduction of new scenes, the use of the unities of time and place, and the inclusion of overt moral and political arguments.
The critical introduction contextualizes the five adaptations through its discussion of early eighteenth-century theatre and politics. First providing an overview of the state of the theatre at the beginning of the Augustan age, the introduction then examines the multiple political conspiracies that rocked the first years of George I's reign and that provide the backdrop to these adaptations. Furthermore, the introduction draws particular attention to the importance of the actress in the early eighteenth century, highlighting how Shakespeare's adaptors drew on actresses' cultural capital to alter Shakespeare's texts. Finally, the edition provides a critical introduction to each of the plays. Extensive explanatory notes are provided, which situate further these plays in their contemporary context. In its introduction and explanatory notes, Shakespeare Adaptations supplies an important critical apparatus to five plays which are often noted in the annals of Shakespearean theatrical history with derision. However, this edition reveals how these plays documented their own time and helped shape Shakespeare into the most recognizable literary icon in the Western canon.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
Neoclassicism, Eighteenth-Century Drama, and the Making of Shakespeare
The London Stage, 1714-1725
The Theatre Season
Dramatic Production and the Changing Space of the Theatres
The Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Lincoln's Inn Fields
Theatre Royal Haymarket-The King's Theatre
The Little Theatre at Haymarket
The Political Context of the Theater: Crisis and Stability, 1714-1725
The Hanoverian Succession and the 1715 Jacobite Rising
The South Sea Crisis
The Atterbury Plot
Women in and of the Adaptations
The Adaptations
Note on the Texts
The Invader of his Country, or The Fatal Resentment
The Tragedy of King Richard II
Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester
An Historical Tragedy of the Civil Wars in the Reign of King Henry VI
Henry V, or The Invasion of France by the English
Explanatory Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Editor
About the author
Edited by Kristine Johanson
