9. Unusual Representations of Shakespeare Performances, Etc.

This section juxtaposes distinctive images, some not included in the previous sections (e.g. imaginative stagings by artists; non-English-speaking performers; media versions; etc.). Pictures are grouped in ways encouraging critical comparison and analysis. The main groupings, in order, are: Macbeth, and King Lear; Richard III and Henry VIII with historical costuming; Fools, including Falstaff; developments in women's roles; elaborate stagings such as Reinhardt's M. N. Dream, and other film and television versions; a series by John Gilbert illustrating the Henry VI plays for John Staunton's edition (1859); 3 versions of a Titus scene; Hamlets; personalities relevant to Shakespeare's works, etc. Where known to be applicable, copyright coverage is identified in the description of each item, unless held by the Shakespeare Program. Images are intended for educational purposes only.

10: Shakespeare's Settings and Societies[in progress]

This developing Gallery seeks to illustrate how the exact naming of the location of Shakespeare's plots may have been culturally significant. Such details often jar with the radical displacements routinely pursued by modern directors and designers, but when the UCB Shakespeare Program staged his comedies in appropriately Renaissance style we were congratulated on our daring originality. This selection of images suggests what impressions and interpretations might be customary in Shakespeare's world in imagining the environments and societies he explicitly chose to stage. Though Elizabethan theatre did not pursue historical realism very thoroughly in costuming, images or ideas similar to the following ones may have plausibly inspired the content and appearance of their productions, or certainly some later ones. Some of the images are in the public domain, some the U.C.B. Shakespeare Program's, others courtesy of the Yorck Project, but all are offered here for educational not commercial purposes.

11. Shakespeare's European Precedents

This experimental Gallery is devoted to relevant images of the European models to whom Shakespeare is indebted for essential elements of his plays: plots, characters, ideas. They include Ovid, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Castiglione, Marguerite de Navarre, Rabelais, Ronsard, Montaigne, Lope de Vega, etc. Their influence served to define many of the principal elements of Elizabethan culture as well as stage effects in its drama. Several of the illustrations and descriptions are derived from the UCB Shakespeare Program collection, photographed by Velma Bourgeois Richmond, and are available for educational purposes only. Others are more generally available from the Yorck Project, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (Wikipedia).

12. Shakespeare Context in English Literature

This new Gallery seeks to explore Shakespeare's visual continuity with his English literary context, through relevant images about Chaucer, Marlowe, Jonson, Donne, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Wordsworth, Keats, Dickens, and Shaw. Several of the illustrations and descriptions are from the UCB Shakespeare Program collection, photographed by Velma Bourgeois Richmond, and are available for educational purposes only. Others are more generally available, derived from the Yorck Project, under Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License (Wikipedia).

13. Develop Your Insights into Images of Shakespeare Performance!

The last three Galleries 13, 14, and 15 are currently being developed to illustrate various uses of the materials in the earlier twelve galleries for critical and educational purposes. Possible topics include these following, 1 to 6, on this page (for which the relevant sets of illustrations appear on this gallery's corresponding page numbers: 1 to 6).

The last section of this Gallery, on p.7, contains two main items: Sub Gallery 10.7.A has a series of provocative questions about the Elizabethan stage (with several clues attached), followed by 10.7.B. with plausible answers, scoring up to ten points.

DISCUSSION TOPICS:

Page 1. Taking a series of illustrations of the play "Richard III" in order to discuss the concepts of Richard's character which they may reflect, in terms of settings, costumes, postures, and expressions.

Page 2. Using a selection of images of Cleopatra to display differing views of women's roles and any progressions that they may demonstrate from Shakespeare's own times to the present day.

Page 3. Selecting several images of clowns/fools to show how their appearance, whether traditional or contemporary, objectifies their functions both in comedies and in tragedies.

Page 4. Exploring social structures and attitudes which govern the visual presentations of characters in the courtly or other group scenes seen in this series of images to see if they show any divergencies.

Page 5. To what extent can these different images of Hamlet be reconciled to give a coherent interpretation of the part as it evolves in the play?

Page 6.Using images of "Much Ado About Nothing" to reveal the relationship of Beatrice and Benedick and show how such relationships are treated in the various periods of the performances. Only the images offered for this last Topic 6 are currently accompanied by brief commentaries suggesting the kind of ways in which the various earlier themes in Gallery 10 might also be covered.

Page 7. On this page, beneath each image contained in the first Sub-Gallery 13.7.A is a provocative question about the Elizabethan stage under each enlarged image, with answers given in the second Sub-Gallery, 13.7.B. by enlarging the masquer's image.

14: Much Ado: Researching a Production History

This Album continues our experimental sequence by creating a research model based on this site's data. It will show how to consolidate the range of data throughout the site by focus on a single play's performance history: in this case Much Ado About Nothing. Most of the following images were collected in about an hour, using the site's Galleries; and the remainder took scarcely longer, exploring recommended links (with similar educational purposes only). They illustrate the extraordinary range of characterizations, costumes, and settings which the play has evoked over the centuries, from Holbein's 16th c. Hampton Court to the British India of Queen Victoria. One use of these images might be to define the range of expressions of Beatrice and Benedick when paired, and to try to co-ordinate them in a sequence of feelings. Another might be to use the costuming of Benedick as a source of clues to his characterization. Alternatively: to what extent do the settings of the action suggest the play is a critique of high society? Remember that there are also three video clips (#9,10,11) of scenes from Much Ado in our Video Gallery. More to come!

15. Performing King Lear: Researching a Plot Sequence.

This next experimental Gallery 15 uses previous materials to show how they can be redeployed following the sequence of scenes in a single script. As our most recent data shows that site visits for "King Lear" are the most numerous, that play is used as the example. The images were collected in an hour or two from the Galleries and listed Relevant Sites. The narrative ordering used in this Gallery helps evaluation of how effective the images of settings and related costumes are in illuminating our understanding of key scenes. For example, this Gallery's second page applies material from Gallery 10.f.7-8 to a major reinterpretation of the play's ending, thus concluding the website with an issue for ongoing discussion! All images here are intended for educational use.

16. Performing Romeo and Juliet

As the bibliography of Romeo and Juliet is one of the most popular on this site it seems appropriate to illustrate the kind of further resources which can be gathered from its Galleries. This album is still undergoing development.