Playing Shakespeare's Beautiful People

Playing Shakespeares Beautiful People is an in-depth, comprehensive look at the concepts and standards of "beauty" found in Shakespeares plays and poems, both in staged performances and in critical literary analyses. Issues as challenging as race, gender, sex, and power come into play when discussing who or what is "beautiful" in Shakespeare and who gets to make that determination. How do we address or perform "beauty" today in a manner that is both consistent with 21st century conceptions of diversity and equity, while still honoring the integrity of Shakespeares texts, even as we interrogate them? In this volume, the fifth in the series of Playing Shakespeares Characters, ten distinguished contributors, including Shakespearean scholars, art historians, playwrights, actors, philosophers, visual artists, and educators, bring their unique and provocative responses to Shakespeares challenge for us to "look on beauty."