"These signs forerun the death or fall of kings": Renegotiating masculinities and centrality in Shakespeare's second tetralogy through adaptation, direction and performance (PhD thesis) - Appendices

This collection contains media files comprising the practice-based components and included as appendices to the thesis “These signs forerun the death or fall of kings”: Renegotiating masculinities and centrality in Shakespeare’s Second Tetralogy through adaptation, direction and performance, by doctoral candidate CJ Turner-McMullan. All works, unless otherwise stated, were created by CJ Turner-McMullan. The thesis is linked in the reference field below.

Abstract: 

Fall of Kings, Between the Armies and The Breach comprised a practice-based project exploring how adaptation, direction and performance may renegotiate the dramatugrical centrality of Shakespeare's kings to disrupt hegemonic representations of gender and gendered power in post-1980's performances of the second tetralogy.  Fall of Kings (Burdall’s Yard, Bath, March 2018) is an adaptation of Richard II; Between the Armies (The Rondo Theatre, Bath, September 2018) is adapted from Henry IV Part 1 and Henry IV Part 2; and The Breach (The Rondo Theatre, Bath, The Cotswold Playhouse, Stroud, and The Alma Tavern, Bristol, July 2019) is adapted from Henry V. The productions were developed in collaboration with three professional companies of artists and staged before public audiences. Reflecting on this practice, the thesis draws on sociological theories of gender to investigate the operation of power through the adaptation, direction and performance of Shakespeare in the rehearsal room and in performance. The study poses that narrative and embodied centrality may be refocused through adaptation and direction, remaining flexible and responsive to actor experiences of social power, feeling and identity, and contributing to a trauma-informed approach to directorial intervention.