Department of English Publications
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
January 2018
Journal
Shakespeare and Realism: On the Politics of Style
Abstract
All's Well That Ends Well is a problem of a play, and its hero, Bertram, is a bigger problem yet. Actors have often worked to make sense of this oddity of a character using Stanislavskian techniques, specifically "emotional realism", in order to create a Bertram that is relatable and believable, even though he's actually a fiction from a fairy tale. In this chapter we examine this approach critically in order to understand how the Stanislavsky Solution to the Bertram Problem can have a knock-on effect for the representation of the play's female characters, creating obstacles to understanding for contemporary spectators, and reinforcing unhelpful binary gender modalities.
Included in
Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Theatre and Performance Studies Commons