Shakespeare: Staging the World

For any lover of Shakespeare, the thought of time-traveling back to London to see one of his plays at the Globe represents the ultimate theatrical fantasy. The look and feel of Shakespeare's London, the streets, shops, and churches the poet would have visited; the bookstalls where he found source material; the objects that appeared on his stages or sparked his imagination--what were they like?

Shakespeare: Staging the World presents an extraordinary collection of objects that evoke London in 1612, bringing to life not only Shakespeare the man, but also the characters, places, and events--real and imagined--featured in his plays. Jonathan Bate and Dora Thornton give readers a visual tour of Renaissance London, letting us glimpse the time and place through a series of objects that speak volumes about Shakespeare's day. Simon Forman's diary of 1611 provides a vivid account of attending a contemporary performance of A Winter's Tale; a dagger fished from the Thames gives new resonance to the gang violence of Romeo and Juliet; Henry V's saddle, helm, and shield--medieval relics that would have been a familiar sight in Westminster Abbey to Shakespeare's fellow Londoners--recall the history plays and their examination of the nature and conduct of war; and Guy Fawkes's lantern illustrates the Catholic counterculture revealed through the failed Gunpowder Plot, which later provided the inspiration for Macbeth.

Authoritative, evocative, and filled with surprises, Shakespeare: Staging the World offers a completely new approach to one of the most creative imaginations in history and opens a window onto a fascinating moment in London's past.

"This lovely and informative book presents the London of 1612 through a historical and anthropological lens, using scores of artifacts to demonstrate what may have influenced Shakespeare — and his many characters — in their own time. Combining catalogue text (to accompany an exhibition at the British Museum) and literary criticism, coauthors Bate (Soul of the Age), provost of Oxford's Worcester College, and Thornton (The Scholar in His Study), curator of Renaissance collections at the British Museum, aim to 'create a dialogue between Shakespeare's imaginary worlds and the material objects of the real world of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.' The first chapter depicts Shakespeare's London through diaries of locals and visitors to the 'world city,' suggesting a parallel to modern day London as it prepares for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympics. The book further illuminates the changing monarchy and the growth from England to 'Great Britain' with flags and coins, and shows the longstanding influence of the Roman Empire over the burgeoning British Empire's sculptures and paintings. Though the book can feel disjointed due to the numerous artifacts and rather dry prose, there is a hearty dappling of Shakespeare quotations among the photographs and words to draw the objects together and more directly into the Bard's world. (June)" Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Jonathan Bate is Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature, University of Warwick. His many books include Soul of the