The significance of Jacobethanism in Twenty-First-Century costume design for Shakespeare

Hawkins, Ella Kirsty (2020). The significance of Jacobethanism in Twenty-First-Century costume design for Shakespeare. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The meanings originally communicated by Elizabethan/Jacobean dress have long been confined to history. Why, then, have doublets, hose, ruffs, and farthingales featured in many UK Shakespeare productions staged since the turn of the twenty-first century? This thesis scrutinises the practice of costuming Shakespeare’s plays in Elizabethan/Jacobean (‘Jacobethan’) dress. It considers why this approach to design appeals to contemporary directors, designers, and audiences, and how it has shaped the meaning of the playwright’s works in specific performance contexts. Chapter One examines the ‘original practices’ processes developed by Shakespeare’s Globe’s costume team between 1997 and 2005. Chapter Two establishes how Jacobethan-dress costuming has become a Shakespearean performance ‘tradition’, focusing on the practices of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe, and the National Theatre. Chapter Three ascertains how myths relating to the ruff and Queen Elizabeth I have been manipulated by theatre practitioners, and Chapter Four explores instances where Jacobethan costumes were used to represent fantastical elements in Shakespeare’s plays. Chapter Five assesses how such garments function in productions defined by a temporally eclectic approach to setting. This study reframes Jacobethanism as a dynamic collection of practices capable of refashioning textual meanings, reflecting present-day political and societal shifts, and confronting contemporary injustices.

Type of Work:	Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)
Award Type:	Doctorates > Ph.D.
Supervisor(s):	Supervisor(s) Email ORCID Rokison-Woodall, Abigail UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Dobson, Michael UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
Licence:	All rights reserved
College/Faculty:	Colleges (2008 onwards) > College of Arts & Law
School or Department:	School of English, Drama and Creative Studies, The Shakespeare Institute
Funders:	Arts and Humanities Research Council
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general P Language and Literature > PR English literature
URI:	http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/10547

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