How do the acting styles comment on a changing American culture?
One of the interesting things this piece shows is certainly how American culture has changed, and we see that reflected in how Shakespeare was performed in this country. What you see in the late 19th century is this grand melodramatic style that was a very popular form of theater, with some of the really bombastic great American Shakespearean actors. That also includes British actresses, like Ellen Terry, who appears in the show. Her style is histrionic, it’s enormous, it’s high and low. The vocal dynamics are extraordinary. But it also includes the poetry and it also includes the profound literary aspects of this text. And this kind of performance was a very popular type of theater. So you had people from all classes and socioeconomic groups going to the theater to see her towards the end of the 19th century. But it’s also in this period that the style of performance started to change. And what you see is sort of a more poetic, intellectual interpretation of Shakespeare. So you see th
How do the acting styles comment on a changing American culture?