Margreta de Grazia
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780226785196
- eISBN:
- 9780226785363
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226785363.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Shakespeare Studies
In the only picture we have of a Shakespearean play from Shakespeare’s lifetime, periodization is moot. In the Longleat drawing (ca. 1598) of Titus Andronicus, only Titus’s costume belongs to the ...
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In the only picture we have of a Shakespearean play from Shakespeare’s lifetime, periodization is moot. In the Longleat drawing (ca. 1598) of Titus Andronicus, only Titus’s costume belongs to the play’s ancient setting; the attire and weaponry of the other characters are variously modern. Not until around 1800 was a Shakespearean play performed “in period”: John Philip Kemble famously staged Coriolanus with costumes, props, and scenery in sync with the play’s early Roman setting, notionally based on historical and archaeological research. While period drama marked a radical break with past productions, indifferent to historical accuracy and coherence, it was perfectly in keeping with other emergent forms of representation: the historical novel and historical painting, as well as the Kantian world picture that for Heidegger is itself the defining and exclusive feature of the modern epoch.Less
In the only picture we have of a Shakespearean play from Shakespeare’s lifetime, periodization is moot. In the Longleat drawing (ca. 1598) of Titus Andronicus, only Titus’s costume belongs to the play’s ancient setting; the attire and weaponry of the other characters are variously modern. Not until around 1800 was a Shakespearean play performed “in period”: John Philip Kemble famously staged Coriolanus with costumes, props, and scenery in sync with the play’s early Roman setting, notionally based on historical and archaeological research. While period drama marked a radical break with past productions, indifferent to historical accuracy and coherence, it was perfectly in keeping with other emergent forms of representation: the historical novel and historical painting, as well as the Kantian world picture that for Heidegger is itself the defining and exclusive feature of the modern epoch.
