Shakespeare's Accents Voicing Identity in Performance

Voices and accents are increasingly perceived as central markers of identity in Shakespearean performance. This book presents a history of the reception of Shakespeare on the English stage with a focus on the vocal dimensions of theatrical performance. The chapters identify key moments when English accents have caused controversy, if not public outrage. Sonia Massai examines the cultural connotations associated with different accents and how accents have catalysed concerns about national, regional and social identities that are (re)constituted in and through Shakespearean performance. She argues that theatre makers and reformers, elocutionists and historical linguists, as well as directors, actors and producers have all had a major impact on how accents have evolved and changed on the Shakespearean stage over the last four hundred years. This fascinating book offers a rich historical survey alongside close performance analysis.

1. 'Accents yet unknown': the changing soundscape of Shakespeare in contemporary performance; 2. 'Lend me your Ears': experiments with original pronunciation; 3. David Garrick's 'sonic revolution': hegemony and protest, 1737–1843; 4. 'Usual speech' and 'barbarous dialects' on the early modern stage.

Sonia Massai is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at King's College London and has published widely on the history of the transmission of Shakespeare on the stage and on the page. Her publications include World-Wide Shakespeares: Local Appropriations in Film and Performance (2005), Shakespeare and the Rise of the Editor (Cambridge, 2007), collections of essays on Ivo van Hove: From Shakespeare to David Bowie (2018), Shakespeare and Textual Studies (Cambridge, 2015) and critical editions of John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (2011) and The Paratexts in English Printed Drama to 1642 (Cambridge, 2014).