Ralph Berry 
Shakespeare in Performance [PDF ebook] 
Castings and Metamorphoses

These studies of Shakespeare in performance take stage history as a means of knowing the play. Half these studies deal with casting: doubling, Chorus and the crowd, the star of Hamlet and Measure for Measure. The transformations of The Tempest and Dramatis Personae are analysed. Audience control is studied in King Lear, through Cordelia’s asides, in Richard II with its subversive laughter, and in Henry IV with its scenic alternation of pleasure and duty. Performance is the realization of identity.