Social Inequity in Memories of Shakespeare: the Fetishizing Power of the Globe Theatre
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 5-2021 Social Inequity in Memories of Shakespeare: The Fetishizing Power of the Globe Theatre Reagan A Yessler [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Human Geography Commons Recommended Citation Yessler, Reagan A, "Social Inequity in Memories of Shakespeare: The Fetishizing Power of the Globe Theatre. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2021. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/6199 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Reagan A Yessler entitled "Social Inequity in Memories of Shakespeare: The Fetishizing Power of the Globe Theatre." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Geography. Derek Alderman, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Ron Foresta, Stefanie Banjamin Accepted for the Council: Dixie L. Thompson Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Social Inequity in Memories of Shakespeare: The Fetishizing Power of the Globe Theatre A Thesis Presented for the Master of Science Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Reagan Yessler May 2021 ii Abstract William Shakespeare’s works are widely regarded as the pillar of English literature in Western society. An understanding of Shakespearean literature is a form of symbolic or cultural capital, and a lack thereof signals that a person is uncultured, uneducated. However, in his own time, Shakespeare was not so highly regarded. To fully understand the evolution that Shakespeare and his works have undergone, one must consider the modern memory politics that reify the contemporary interpretation of Shakespeare in the Western world at lieux de memoire (places of memory), which are shaped by the tumultuous sequence of historical movements that formed Shakespeare’s image. The Globe Theatre is a powerful place where the writer’s memory is actively curated to cement his legacy into a cohesive narrative. This narrative is selective by nature, unable to include all aspects of Shakespeare’s history. To fetishize means that a person, idea, or narrative, is first objectified, then given power as a fixed object of fascination. This fetishization also solidifies its reputational politics. As a fetishized object, any nuance is stripped away, and we are discouraged from understanding the inner workings of how it is reified and normalized. Because of this fetishization, a simple, unproblematic narrative is created. My main research question concerns the fetishization of Shakespeare, and the role that the Globe Theater plays in retelling, performing, and normalizing this fetish. What aspects of the Globe allow this fetishization to take place? How and to what extent does The Globe fetishize Shakespeare to create one narrative? To what degree is the modern Western gender and sexuality binary– the strict division of male versus female based on genitalia, and the attraction to the ‘opposite’ gender– upheld or critiqued? How is race and class portrayed at The Globe? I address these questions in a discourse analysis that explores how the Globe’s Research Bulletins, Such Stuff podcast, YouTube channel, and social media work to create and spread this fetish, as well iii as how this fetish both critiques and upholds ideas of gender identity, sexuality, class stereotypes, and racial biases. I conclude this thesis with suggestions on how the Globe might move forward to incorporate more diverse views to leverage this fetish as a means of social progression rather than repression. iv Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 2: The Dominance and Hegemony of Shakespeare…………………………………….13 Chapter 3: Methodology…………………………………………………………………………41 Chapter 4: The Globe Site: Performance Space, Experimental Space, or Museum Space?……………………………………………………………………………………………60 Chapter 5: Analysis of Class and Racial Portrayals at the Globe…………………………………………………………………………………..…………89 Chapter 6: Analysis of Gender and Sexuality at the Globe…………………………………….116 Chapter 7: Reflections on the COVID-19 Pandemic’s Research Implications, Concluding Thoughts, and the Globe’s Future………………………………………………………………149 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………….166 Vita…………………………………………………………………………………………...…174 v List of Figures Figure 1: The cycle of fetishization and marginalized group repression via Shakespeare…….….7 Figure 2: A diagram of Shakespeare’s Globe, courtesy of Shakespearean Theatres, 2020….….18 Figure 3: A chart depicting and explaining the main themes of my research and the number of references binned under each theme……………………………………………………………..53 Figure 4: A chart depicting and explaining the 4 themes that have sub-themes in my research, as well as how many references are binned under each sub-theme………….……………………..54 Figure 5: The overlapping roles of the Globe as a performance, experimental, and museum space…….......................................................................................................................................63 Figure 6: The 2014 Performance of Twelfth Night, courtesy of New York Times Theatre Review……………………………………………………………………………………………69 Figure 7: The 2001 performance of Zulu Macbeth Umbatha, courtesy of Helen Cooper at The Guardian…………………………………………………………………………………………77 Figure 8: Male Ophelia in the 2018 production of Hamlet, courtesy of Claire Allfree at Metro News…………………………………………………………………………………………...…77 Figure 9: Figure 1 repeated; the cycle of fetishization and marginalized group repression via Shakespeare……………………………………………………………………………………..102 Figure 10: The advertisements for the Such Stuff Podcast, future catalogues of interviews, and albums of music from the Wanamaker Playhouse, courtesy of Shakespeare’s Globe: Discover & Listen……………………………………………………………………………………...….....104 vi Figure 11: The advertisements for the Such Stuff Podcast, courtesy of twitter.com/the_globe…………………………………………………………………….…….104 Figure 12: The Globe’s Diversity Data release, courtesy of the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre………………………………………………………………………………….....…....113 Figure 13: Mark Rylance as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, courtesy of Donald Cooper, AHDS Performing Arts……………………………………………………….....……………...121 Figure 14: Ekow Quartey as Macbeth, courtesy of Al-Hassan at Broadway World, UK………………………………………………………………………………………...…….124 Figure 15: Amanda Wright as Ross, courtesy of https://twitter.com/The_Globe/status/1259909612553359360/photo/2......................................124 Figure 16: The three witches in Macbeth, courtesy of https://twitter.com/The_Globe/status/1259908940701327363/photo/1......................................126 Figure 17: Fairies played by actors of color raise up fairy queen Titania, courtesy of John Haynes………………………………………………………………………………………..…128 Figure 18: Lord and Lady Macbeth, courtesy of Ross at Front Mezz Junkies………..………..134 Figure 19: Oberon and Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, courtesy of Jessica Gelter on Pinterest……………………………………………………………………………………...….143 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 2 Major Questions and Issues William Shakespeare’s written works are widely regarded as pillars of English literature in Western society. The Bard’s creations are often depicted as timeless classics whose readings are universally beneficial. Understanding Shakespearean literature is a form of symbolic or cultural capital (Siobhan et al. 2016). Being thoroughly versed in the Bard marks a person as a member of an intellectual elite, whereas a lack thereof signals that a person is uncultured and uneducated (Siobhan et al. 2016). Ironically, Shakespeare was not considered part of the highly cultured and respected elite in his own time (Bevington 2014). Both his life and his works inhabited a tension between socio-economic classes, and between socially progressive views and more regressive ones (Bevington 2014). To fully understand the evolution that Shakespeare and his works have undergone, one must consider the modern memory politics that reify the contemporary interpretation of Shakespeare in the Western world at lieux de memoire, or places of memory (Till and Kuusisto-Arponen 2015). These places of memory are shaped by the tumultuous sequence of historical movements that formed Shakespeare’s image, continually formed and reformed each time a history of the Bard is taught. The Globe Theatre, located in the heart of London in the 1500s and reconstructed in the 1990s, is a rhetorical arena where the Shakespeare’s memory is actively curated to cement his legacy into a cohesive narrative. The modern Globe acts as a commemorative geography, heritage tourism visitor site, theatrical and everyday performance space that spreads this narrative to international and domestic tourists. The space occupies different roles as a performance space, experimental space, and museum space simultaneously. However, this narrative– like all representations of the past– is selective by nature, unable to