Filming Metatheatre in Gregory Doran’s Macbeth: Refracting Theatrical Crises at the Turn of the Century
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.28914/Atlantis-2018-40.2.06Abstract
This article contends that Gregory Doran’s production of Macbeth (2001) was, when translated to television, transformed into a metaplay. Although various previous analyses of Shakespeare’s Macbeth have explored its metatheatricality, this artistic concept has not been tackled with respect to this production in particular. In this work I am examining Doran’s laying bare of the film’s theatrical apparatus as well as its refractions of the crises occurring at the Royal Shakespeare Company while the film and the stage production were in process. I will address the status of the main characters as players in a theatricalized microcosm, explore the film’s backstage-onstage dynamics and discuss how the production’s visual meanings illuminate the company’s institutional crisis at the turn of the century.
Keywords: Gregory Doran; Macbeth; Royal Shakespeare Company; metatheatre; backstage-onstage; ensemble
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