Theatrum Mundi and site in four television Shakespeare films. Issue 1 (July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Huertas Martín, Victor
• Other Names: Kapitaniak Pierre guest-editor.; Sakowska Aleksandra guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Cahiers élisabéthains. Volume 99:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 76
• Page End: 88
• Publication Date: 2019-07
• Subjects: Metatheatre -- site specificity -- self-referentiality -- self-consciousness -- metalepsis; Métathéâtre -- theatre in situ -- autoréférentialité -- autoréflexivité -- métalepse; English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism -- Book reviews -- Periodicals; 820.9003
• DOI: 10.1177/0184767819837548
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0184-7678

Abstract

This article explores metatheatricality and site specificity in four Shakespeare television films produced by Illuminations Media: Gregory Doran's Macbeth (2001), Hamlet (2009) and Julius Caesar (2012), and Rupert Goold's Macbeth (2010). Drawing on metatheatrical theory applied to the screen and recent criticism on site-specific theatre, I explore the films as self-referential and self-conscious works embedded in environments that oppose the artifice of drama to the 'reality' of normative television film. Shakespeare's aesthetic metaphor, presented in self-contained theatrical worlds, does not depict autonomous fictions but is disrupted by outside 'reality'.