Action: Anthropology in the Company of ShakespeareThis book is an anthropological study of play-acting. Acting on the stage is seen as an example of social action in general. The focus is on the playing of Shakespeare, and on the players' use of and reflections upon time, space, plot, and acting. In her new book, Kirsten Hastrup aims at a renewed understanding of action and motivation within any social setting. By listening to such experts of action as the players of Shakespeare, we achieve a comprehensive reappraisal of current notions of human agency. In the process, we are offered a set of methodological tools and analytical concepts that may enrich future anthropological analysis of individual actions in their social context. The work is an unprecedented approach to action and acting. For anthropologists and other social or cultural scientists, Hastrup offers a fresh perspective on performance, and on the construction of the analytical object. For theatre historians and dramatists, the combination of detailed (ethnographic) analys |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 12
Page 248
Anthropology in the Company of Shakespeare Kirsten Hastrup. The mask The discussion of the chorus leads directly on to an investigation into the use of masks , and more broadly the typecasting of characters in drama . Wearing a mask is ...
Anthropology in the Company of Shakespeare Kirsten Hastrup. The mask The discussion of the chorus leads directly on to an investigation into the use of masks , and more broadly the typecasting of characters in drama . Wearing a mask is ...
Page 249
... mask , not the other way round ; indeed , the person is the mask . In classical Athens , the human being was metonymically associated with the head and notably the eyes , an association that was used dramati- cally by Sophocles in this ...
... mask , not the other way round ; indeed , the person is the mask . In classical Athens , the human being was metonymically associated with the head and notably the eyes , an association that was used dramati- cally by Sophocles in this ...
Page 250
... mask that ' in essence isn't a " mask " at all , because it is an image of the essential nature . In other words , a traditional mask is a portrait of a man without a mask ' ( Brook 1989 : 218 ) . Brook's example is that of the Balinese ...
... mask that ' in essence isn't a " mask " at all , because it is an image of the essential nature . In other words , a traditional mask is a portrait of a man without a mask ' ( Brook 1989 : 218 ) . Brook's example is that of the Balinese ...
Contents
Preface and acknowledgements | 7 |
Companion Shakespeare | 13 |
The plot | 36 |
Copyright | |
7 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acting actor Simon Callow actress agency agents ambiguity audience Barba become character character's Cicely Berry context created cultural desire direct director Peter drama Elizabethan emotions event experience expression feeling Fiona Shaw Gielgud Granville-Barker Hamlet human illusion imagination individual intention Jane Lapotaire Juliet Stevenson Kermode language liminal listen living lyric magic mask meaning metaphor Michael Pennington Michael Redgrave mimesis motive nature Nicholas Woodeson notion Ophelia particular passion performance person Peter Brook players and directors players of Shakespeare playwright plot poetic poetry present production reality reflects rehearsal Renaissance rhythm Rosalind Royal Shakespeare Company says scene seems sense Shakespeare's plays Shakespeare's theatre shared Simon Callow Simon Russell Beale simply social space soliloquy speak spectator speech stage Stanislavski story suggested T.S. Eliot theatre of action theatrical thing tragedy Troilus and Cressida truth understanding voice whole words world of theatre