Stage Appropriations of Shakespeare’s Major Tragedies, 1979-2010

This dissertation examines appropriations of five of Shakespeare’s tragedies (King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet), written for the stage between 1979 and 2010 and set in Shakespeare’s playworlds. The aim of the study is to investigate how these appropriations are used as a strategy for discussing issues that are central both to Shakespeare’s plays and to the present gender-political climate, with particular focus on the depiction of women and familial relationships.Appropriations of Shakespeare’s major tragedies, especially feminist re-visions, from the decades around the turn of the millennium often treat Shakespeare’s tragedies as domestic drama, which brings out the gender- and family- related issues in them; and there is a parallel tendency in productions of Shakespeare’s tragedies from the same time period. Feminist re-visions sometimes draw on perceived inherent feminism in Shakespeare’s plays and sometimes challenge perceived patriarchal values reproduced in them; the same tension can be found in feminist criticism and performance of Shakespeare.I introduce the concept of ‘the appropriative impulse’, which I argue often stems from unanswered questions and unsatisfying solutions in Shakespeare’s plays. These are often connected to gender issues and resonate with appropriators owing to the connections to contemporary concerns. The appropriations in turn often introduce a new condition that could have an impact on spectators’/readers’ future perception of Shakespeare’s plays.The study is divided into seven chapters: five chapters on the five Shakespearean tragedies and their appropriations, preceded by a chapter putting Shakespeare appropriation into the context of the relation between Shakespeare and gender in today’s theatre and followed by a chapter on the strategies employed in feminist re-visions