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Journal article 940 views 196 downloads

Modernizing Metatheatre in the RSC's A Mad World My Masters

Eoin Price Orcid Logo

Shakespeare Bulletin, Volume: 36, Issue: 1, Pages: 131 - 139

Swansea University Author: Eoin Price Orcid Logo

DOI (Published version): 10.1353/shb.2018.0008

Abstract

This review considers Sean Foley’s RSC production of Thomas Middleton’s 1605 city comedy A Mad World, My Masters, which opened at the RSC’s Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2013 ahead of a national tour which finished two years later at the Barbican, in London. The production, based on a text...

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Published in: Shakespeare Bulletin
Published: 2018
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa39335
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first_indexed 2018-04-07T04:35:32Z
last_indexed 2018-04-23T13:59:11Z
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spelling 2018-04-23T09:27:39.7741261 v2 39335 2018-04-06 Modernizing Metatheatre in the RSC's A Mad World My Masters 5eede959b07e4a7b96cab66816cd8a8f 0000-0001-9546-9183 Eoin Price Eoin Price true false 2018-04-06 AELC This review considers Sean Foley’s RSC production of Thomas Middleton’s 1605 city comedy A Mad World, My Masters, which opened at the RSC’s Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2013 ahead of a national tour which finished two years later at the Barbican, in London. The production, based on a text adapted by Foley and Phil Porter, transferred the action from early seventeenth-century London to Soho in 1956. In doing so, it chose to keep some of the specific, topical references to Jacobean theatre companies, but also used a number of modern, metatheatrical interpolations. Are these self-conscious updates playfully affectionate testimonies to the continued vitality of Middleton’s play, or are they indices of anxiety, attesting to the production’s distrust of Middleton’s language? This review will consider the range of interpretive possibilities opened up by several of the production’s metatheatrical moments. Journal Article Shakespeare Bulletin 36 1 131 139 Thomas Middleton, RSC, performance history, metatheatre 26 3 2018 2018-03-26 10.1353/shb.2018.0008 COLLEGE NANME English Literature COLLEGE CODE AELC Swansea University 2018-04-23T09:27:39.7741261 2018-04-06T23:01:50.0373745 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing Eoin Price 0000-0001-9546-9183 1 0039335-23042018092447.pdf 39335.pdf 2018-04-23T09:24:47.3130000 Output 477413 application/pdf Accepted Manuscript true 2018-04-23T00:00:00.0000000 true eng
title Modernizing Metatheatre in the RSC's A Mad World My Masters
spellingShingle Modernizing Metatheatre in the RSC's A Mad World My Masters
Eoin Price
title_short Modernizing Metatheatre in the RSC's A Mad World My Masters
title_full Modernizing Metatheatre in the RSC's A Mad World My Masters
title_fullStr Modernizing Metatheatre in the RSC's A Mad World My Masters
title_full_unstemmed Modernizing Metatheatre in the RSC's A Mad World My Masters
title_sort Modernizing Metatheatre in the RSC's A Mad World My Masters
author_id_str_mv 5eede959b07e4a7b96cab66816cd8a8f
author_id_fullname_str_mv 5eede959b07e4a7b96cab66816cd8a8f_***_Eoin Price
author Eoin Price
author2 Eoin Price
format Journal article
container_title Shakespeare Bulletin
container_volume 36
container_issue 1
container_start_page 131
publishDate 2018
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.1353/shb.2018.0008
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing
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description This review considers Sean Foley’s RSC production of Thomas Middleton’s 1605 city comedy A Mad World, My Masters, which opened at the RSC’s Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2013 ahead of a national tour which finished two years later at the Barbican, in London. The production, based on a text adapted by Foley and Phil Porter, transferred the action from early seventeenth-century London to Soho in 1956. In doing so, it chose to keep some of the specific, topical references to Jacobean theatre companies, but also used a number of modern, metatheatrical interpolations. Are these self-conscious updates playfully affectionate testimonies to the continued vitality of Middleton’s play, or are they indices of anxiety, attesting to the production’s distrust of Middleton’s language? This review will consider the range of interpretive possibilities opened up by several of the production’s metatheatrical moments.
published_date 2018-03-26T03:49:56Z
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score 11.016235

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