Shakespeare and Digital Pathways. Shortening distances with ‘Romeo and Juliet’


Abstract


Two recent productions of Romeo and Juliet have turned to video or Skype technology to fragment and infract the dramatic text as well as to create “virtual spaces”, which, I think, contribute to better understand Shakespeare’s ethical relevance as well as the two directors’ political agendas: Nawar Bulbul’s 2015 Romeo and Juliet in Amman, Jordan; and Giuseppe Scutellà’s 2018 Romeo Montecchi: innocente o colpevole? (Romeo Montecchi: innocent or guilty?) in Milan, Italy. In both cases the actors could not be onstage together because they were either entrapped in a bombed-out city in Syria or locked in a juvenile detention centre in Italy and were therefore replaced by their virtual avatars. I argue that while the diffuse connectivity of digital communication has been used as a tool to accomplish very practical purposes, it has also deeply conditioned the experience of the performances as well as of their reception in ways that this paper seeks to explore.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i22390359v45p169

Keywords: digital Shakespeare; Romeo and Juliet; contemporary theatre; remediation; intermediality; Prison Shakespeare; juvenile detention centre; Syrian refugees; Nawar Bulbul; Giuseppe Scutellà

References


Agence France-Presse 2015, Skype Meets Theater in Syria Twist on Romeo and Juliet, in “Jakarta Globe”, 6 April, https://jakartaglobe.id/lifestyle/skype-meets-theater-syria-twist-romeo-juliet/ (8.5.2021).

al-Yawm M. 2015, Bulbul Breaks Boundaries With Romeo and Juliet, in “The Syrian Observer”, 30 March, https://syrianobserver.com/EN/news/30576/bulbul_breaks_boundaries_with_romeo_juliet.html (8.5.2021).

Balázs B. 1992, The Close-Up, in Cohen M. and Braudy L. (eds.), Film Theory and Criticism, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 260-267.

Bloom, G. 2019, Transcript of “Rough Magic” by Gina Bloom on Performing Shakespeare through Gaming Technology, Shakespeare Birthday Lecture, 22 April, Folger Library, https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/mediawiki/media/images_pedia_folgerpedia_mw/c/c5/Gina_Bloom_Birthday_Lecture_Transcript.pdf (8.5.2021).

Bulbul N. 2015, Skype meets theatre in Syrian play, in “Arab Times”, 7 April, https://www.pressreader.com/kuwait/arab-times/20150407/282278138847072 (8.5.2021).

Butler J. 2008, Undoing Gender, Routledge, London and New York.

Carson C. and Kirwan P. 2014, Shakespeare and the Digital World: Redefining Scholarship and Practice, Cambridge Univeristy Press, Cambridge.

Cartelli T. 2016, Visual Projections, in Smith B. (ed.), The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare, The Worl’s Shakespeare, 1660-Present, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 1467-74.

Cavanagh S.T. and Quarmby K.A. 2017, “The World Together Joins”: Electronic Shakespearean Collaborations, in “The Shakespearean International Yearbook” 14, pp. 117-132.

Cavecchi M. 2016, Romeo and Juliet 2.1: “But Soft, what light through?”, in Smith B.R. (ed.), The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare, The World’s Shakespeare, 1660-Present, vol. 2, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1129-1136.

Cavecchi M., Mazoni L., Scutellà G. and Rose M. (eds.) 2020, SceKspir al Bekka. Romeo Montecchi dietro le sbarre dell’Istituto Penale Beccaria, Clichy, Firenze.

Collins M. vanZandt 2020, Toward Witnessing the Other: Syria, Islam and Frans van der Lugt, in “Religions” 11 [4], p. 174, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340529719_Toward_Witnessing_the_Other_Syria_Islam_and_Frans_van_der_Lugt (8.5.2021).

Cooke M. 2016, Dancing in Damascus: Creativity, Resilience, and the Syrian Revolution, Routledge, New York and London.

DCI Italy – Defence for Children International Italy 2016, TWELVE. Children’s right to partecipation and the juvenile justice system. National report. Italy, http://www.defenceforchildren.it/files/twelve_Italy_.pdf (8.5.2021).

Diamond L. 2010, Liberation Technology, in “Journal of Democracy” 21 [3], pp. 69-83.

Dipartimento della Giustizia Minorile Direzione per l’attuazione dei provvedimenti giudiziari/Juvenile Justice Department General Directorate for the implementation of Judicial measures, Istituto Psicoanalitico per le Ricerce Sociali (IPRS), La Giustizia minorile in Italia/Juvenile Justice in Italy, https://www.giustizia.it/resources/cms/documents/giustizia_minorile_in_ItaliaItalian_juvenile_justice.pdf (8.5.2021).

Evans G.B. (ed.) 2003, Romeo and Juliet, The New Cambridge Shakespeare, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Fischlin D. 2014, Introduction. OuterSpears: Shakespeare, Intermedia, and the Limits of Adaptation, in Fischlin D. (ed.), OuterSpears: Shakespeare, Intermedia, and the Limits of Adaptation, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo and London, pp. 3-50.

Fischlin D., Magill T. and Riley J. 2014, Transgression and Transformation: Mickey B and the Dramaturgy of Adaptation. An Interview with Tom Magill, in Fischlin D. (ed.), OuterSpears: Shakespeare, Intermedia, and the Limits of Adaptation, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo and London, pp. 152-202.

Galimberti U. 2007, L’ospite inquietante: il nichilismo e i giovani, Feltrinelli, Milano.

Giesekam G. 2007, Staging the Screen: The Use of Film and Video in Theatre, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Hennessey K. and Litvin M. (eds.) 2019, Shakespeare and the Arab World, Berghahn Books, New York.

Herold N. 2016, Shakespeare behind Bars, in Smith B. (ed.), The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare, The World’s Shakespeare, 1660-Present, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 1200-1207.

Holderness G. 2002, Visual Shakespeare. Essays in Film and Television, University of Hertfordshire Press, Hatfield.

Hubbard B. 2014, Behind Barbed Wire, Shakespeare Inspires a Cast of Young Syrians, in “The New York Times”, 31 March, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/world/middleeast/behind-barbed-wire-shakespeare-inspires-a-cast-of-young-syrians.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes (8.5.2021).

Khosrokhavar F. 2016, New Arab Revolutions That Shook the World, Routledge, New York.

Lyon D. 1994, The Electronic Eye: The Rise of Surveillance Society, Polity, Oxford.

McAvinchey C. 2011, Theatre & Prison, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Niels H. 2008, Movers and Losers: Shakespeare in Charge and Shakespeare Behind Bars, in Craig D. and Kapadia P. (eds.), Native Shakespeares. Indigenous Appropriations on a Global Stage, Ashgate, Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, USA, pp. 153-170.

Pensalfini R. 2016, Prison Shakespeare. For these Deep Shames and Great Indignities, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Pitchford G.B. 2019, Dissertation Hela L’Wein: Performing Nationalisms, Citizenship, and Belonging in Displaced Syrian Communities, Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin, https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/76183/PITCHFORD-DISSERTATION-2019.pdf (8.5.2021).

Singh J.G. and Arvas A. 2015, Global Shakespeares, Affective Histories, Cultural Memories, in Holland P. (ed.), Shakespeare Survey 68, Shakespeare, Origins and Originality, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 183-196.

Taha K. 2014, Syrians bring Lear to life at a refugee camp, in “The Times of Israel”, 25 March, https://www.timesofisrael.com/young-syrians-bring-lear-to-life-in-refugee-camp/ (14/2/2021).

Taneja P. 2015, Sweet sorrow as star-crossed lovers in Syria and Jordan connect via Skype, in “The Guardian”, 14 April, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2015/apr/14/romeo-and-juliet-staged-in-amman-and-homs (26/2/2021).

Tofteland C. 2011, The Keeper of the Keys, in Shailor J. (ed.), Performing New Lives: Prison Theatre, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, pp. 213-230.

Worthen W.B. 2007, Performing Shakespeare in Digital Culture, in Shaughnessy R. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 227-247.


Full Text: pdf

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.
کاغذ a4

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.