Screening the Royal Shakespeare Company: A Critical History [Hardcover]

No theatre company has been involved in such a broad range of adaptations for television and cinema as the Royal Shakespeare Company. Starting withRichard IIIfilmed in the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre before World War One, the RSC's accomplishments continue today with highly successful live cinema broadcasts.The Wars of the Roses(BBC, 1965), Peter Brook's film ofKing Lear(1971), Channel 4's epic version ofNicholas Nickleby(1982) andHamletwith David Tennant (BBC, 2009) are among their most iconic adaptations. Many other RSC productions live on as extracts in documentaries, as archival recordings, in trailers and in other fragmentary forms.

Screening the Royal Shakespeare Companyexplores this remarkable history of collaborations between stage and screen and considers key questions about adaptation that concern all those involved in theatre, film and television. John Wyver is a broadcasting historian and the producer of RSC Live from Stratford-upon-Avon, and is uniquely well-placed to provide a vivid account of the company's television and film productions. He contributes an award-winning practitioner's insight into screen adaptation's numerous challenges and rich potential.

John Wyveris an independent scholar and a writer and producer and Director, Screen Productions at the Royal Shakespeare Company.Wyver (Univ. of Westminster, UK) provides an insiders look at how the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has navigated the often-turbulent world of broadcasting productions of Shakespeare. He provides a historical account of the recording and broadcasting of productions by the RSC that covers ten decades & Though one can find myriad resources on the adaptation of Shakespeare to film, Wyver focuses specifically on how the RSC adapts live Shakespearean productions for television and film; he keeps in mind both the integrity of the stage and an audiences expectation of more than a static, single camera recording. Tl#4