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.

A timely, unique and internationally relevant book.

Illustrations viiiList of Contributors ixAcknowledgements xNote on the text xiList of Abbreviations xiiIntroduction 1Pascale Aebischer and Susanne GreenhalghPart One: Wide Angle1 The Remains of the Stage: Revivifying ShakespeareanTheatre on Screen, 1964-2016 19Susanne Greenhalgh2 Shakespeare's New Marketplace: the Places of EventCinema 41Susan Bennett3 The Audience is Present: Aliveness, Social Media, and theTheatre Broadcast Experience 59Erin Sullivan, University of Birmingham, UK4 Understanding New Encounters with Shakespeare: HybridMedia and Emerging Audience Behaviours 77Rachael NicholasPart Two: In the Theatre5 A View from the Stage: Interviews with Performers 95Beth Sharrock6 A View from the Stalls: The Audience's Experience in theTheatre During the RSC Live from Stratford-uponAvonBroadcasts 103Julie RabyPart Three: Close-Ups7 South Bank Shakespeare Goes Global: Broadcasting fromShakespeare's Globe and the National Theatre 113Pascale Aebischer8 The Stratford Festival of Canada: Mental Tricks andArchival Documents in the Age of NTLive 133Margaret Jane Kidnie9 Talawa and Black Theatre Live: 'Creating the Ira AldridgesThat Are Remembered' - Live Theatre Broadcast and theHistorical Record 147Jami Rogers10 Cheek by Jowl: Reframing Complicity in Web-Streams ofMeasure for Measure 161Peter KirwanPart Four: Reaction Shots11 The Curious Incident of Shakespeare Fans in NTLive:Public Screenings and Fan Culture in Japan 177Kitamura Sae12 Shakespeare and the Theatre Broadcast Experience: AView from Hong Kong 185Michael Ingham13 Very Like a Film: Hamlet Live in Bologna 193Keir Elam14 Shakespeare at a Theatre Near You: Student Engagementin Northeast Ohio 199Ann M. Martinez15 Shakespeare from the House of Molière:The Comédie-Française/Pathé Live Roméo etJuliette (2016) 207Pascale AebischerEpilogue: Revisiting Liveness 215Laurie E. OsborneAppendix: Digital Theatre Broadcasts of Shakespeare2003-17 227Rachael NicholasIndex 243