What does it mean to be alive? A reading of this book will probably change your thoughts on that.
Anyone who reads about Shakespeare will be familiar with The Arden Shakespeare, which has been publishing books on the Bard since 1899. In 2017 it began publishing ‘drama and performance studies,’ of which the book under review here originates. It deals with the elusive concept of liveness, and compiles the thoughts of 11 scholars. Here is an except from one chapter by Kenneth Molloy (Brown University) that best encapsulates what ‘liveness’ means in the context of the book:
“Liveness signifies an attribute of certain experiences as well as of certain experiencing subjects. Formulated another way, ‘liveness’ implicates two conceptually distinct yet deeply entangled experiences, one an inter-relative experience of shared space and time – the liveness of live performance – and the other an intra-relative experience of being alive – the liveness of a live body, the liveness that is life. This epistemic knot is woven into the seam of the contemporary theoretical discourse of liveness as an element of theatre or performance, such that liveness and life seem to become more tightly twisted together with every effort to extricate them.”
The academic nature of the book is obvious from this quote, so be prepared for an intense but ‘lively’ experience as you dip into various chapters. Since each one is really a separate thesis, it is possible to find much here without necessarily reading all.
The Introduction is written by the 2 editors, Danielle Rosvally (Univ. of Buffalo) and Donovan Sherman (Seton Hall Univ, New Jersey). They state that “Early modern liveness was not tethered to particular material circumstances; it could emerge from hearing a poem or reading a text. It could also emerge from the theatre.” Noting that “theatre buildings themselves are technologies of performance,” much of this book relates the methods used by theatre directors, actors and producers to keep the theatre ‘alive’ during the Covid pandemic.
As we are about to enter 2025, the Covid years of 2020 and 2021 seem like nothing more than a bad memory. Resorting to Zoom to engage viewers may have resulted in some valiant efforts, but as time moved on and people resumed going to the theatre in person, it is clear that the technologies resorted to during those years did not result in a new and vibrant way forward for the theatrical world. No one, unless they have no choice, really wants to usher in an age of Shakespeare Zoom-style. The text here was written largely in 2022, and published in 2023, when the pandemic-induced response to theatrical performances was still quite fresh. While advances in AI (not mentioned in this book) coupled with virtual reality will certainly make great strides in the future (watch a holodeck episode of Star Trek to see what the far future holds), I think this book will stand as a time capsule for the theatre only for the Covid years. As such it will important for historians of modern theatre, but will have little relevance for the immediate future of those who enjoy watching plays ‘live.’
Even Thomas Cartelli (Muhlenberg College), in a long chapter about a version of Macbeth in 2020, writes that the play at times was reduced to a glib burlesque of the original. One scene included “witches pulling the theatre curtain up and down and thinly masking their voices in order to include us in the deception of Macbeth, who sits virtually alone in the orchestra.” It highlighted the loss of in-person theatre that was at the core of the production. Aneta Mancewicz (Univ. of London) states that “Shakespeare’s oeuvre has frequently been used as a litmus paper for experimentation with technology.” I think ‘used’ could easily be replaced by ‘abused’ if the projects related in this book are any indication.
One way out of this dilemma, which relates to the epistemic knot mentioned earlier, comes from Stephanie Shirilan (Syracuse Univ). She studied “distance as a theme” with her students during the pandemic.
“We observed the ways that Shakespeare primes the audience to feel ‘live’ through a variety of rhetorical and dramatic techniques, notably through a species of ekphrasis I refer to as pneumatic energeia – the evocation of an unseen, spatially and/or temporally distant atmosphere. I suggest socially distanced theatre re-exposes the production of presence and proximity in live, ‘in-person’ theatre as, itself, an effect of aesthetic distance.”
Certainly lots for theatrical producers and directors to consider for some future time when the technology offers us a seamless and truly interactive experience that we want to engage with.
To conclude, I must mention my favourite chapter is by Gina Di Salvo (Univ. of Tennessee), as it engages with representations of comets in various plays by Thomas Stuckley and Thomas Middleton. An important resource for any historian of astronomy!
Early Modern Liveness: Mediating Presence in Text, Stage and Screen. It is lists for $99. Published by The Arden Shakespeare, and available from Bloomsbury Press.
Image: Shakespeare (in black) holds court with other theatrically-minded men in London.