Period Drama in the Age of World Pictures
Period Drama in the Age of World Pictures
In the only picture we have of a Shakespearean play from Shakespeare’s lifetime, periodization is moot. In the Longleat drawing (ca. 1598) of Titus Andronicus, only Titus’s costume belongs to the play’s ancient setting; the attire and weaponry of the other characters are variously modern. Not until around 1800 was a Shakespearean play performed “in period”: John Philip Kemble famously staged Coriolanus with costumes, props, and scenery in sync with the play’s early Roman setting, notionally based on historical and archaeological research. While period drama marked a radical break with past productions, indifferent to historical accuracy and coherence, it was perfectly in keeping with other emergent forms of representation: the historical novel and historical painting, as well as the Kantian world picture that for Heidegger is itself the defining and exclusive feature of the modern epoch.
Keywords: period drama, world pictures, Longleat drawing, 1800, John Phillip Kemble, Coriolanus, representation, Kant, Heidegger, modern epoch
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