Tags
female Hamlet, Hamlet, Maggie Gale, Maxine Peake, Royal Exchange Theatre St Anne's Square Manchester, Sarah Frankcom, Shakespeare, Tony Howard
Following an immediate sell-out of tickets for Sarah Frankcom’s production of Hamlet (reviewed in my last post) that necessitated a further week of performances and widespread media attention, the Royal Exchange Theatre hosted a panel discussion with Frankcom, Tony Howard and Maggie Gale. Both Howard and Gale have an academic background in theatre. Tony Howard is a Professor at the University of Warwick specialising in Shakespeare performance who has published the book Women as Hamlet: Performance and Interpretation in Theatre, Film and Fiction (2007). The chair, Maggie Gale, is a Professor of drama at the University of Manchester. What follows is my summary of a fascinating discussion that not only debated gender issues, but also the theatre’s role in our entertainment-saturated society. Continue reading