Orson Welles on Shakespeare
Subtitle: the W.P.A. and Mercury Theatre playscripts
By: edited with an introduction by Richard France ; foreword by Simon Callow.
Contributors: France, Richard, 1938-; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.; Welles, Orson, 1915-
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2001
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 297
Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Adaptations; Welles, Orson, 1915- -- Criticism and interpretation; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stage history -- 1800-1950; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stage history -- New York (State) -- New York; United States. Works Projects Administration; Mercury Theatre on the air (Radio program); Theater -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 20th century
Genres: Adaptations.
Description: "Orson Welles's theatrical productions of Shakespearean plays for the W.P.A.'s Federal Theatre Project and Welles's own Mercury Theatre represent a unique blending of high art and the politicized popular culture of the 1930s. This volume is the only publication available of the fully annotated playscripts of these adaptations - the "Voodoo" Macbeth, the modern-dress Julius Caesar, and Welles's compilation of the history plays, Five Kings.

Richard Frances' general introduction provides invaluable background information that relates the three plays and their productions to the contemporary social, historical, political, and economic climate from which they emerged. Additionally, each script is presented with relevant information on the productions, interview material from those on the scene, and Welles's own directorial marginalia."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [295]-297).
Includes adaptations of Shakespeare's Macbeth and Julius Caesar, and Welles's Five kings, adapted from Shakespeare and based on Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland.