Shakespeare on film

the long version

This collection of contemporary criticism highlights the ways in which recent discussion of Shakespeare on film has drawn upon the theoretical perspectives of Marxism, feminism, psychoanalysis and poststructuralism, generating a radical reappraisal of a Shakespearean cinema which has itself experienced a revival in the last decade. Ranging widely across the canon of Shakespeare films, from Max Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream to Peter Greenaway's Prospero's Books, the essays address the cultural politics of film adaptation from a variety of angles, offering readings of individual films - Hamlet, Henry V, The Tempest - but also raising larger questions about the nature, purpose and future direction of Shakespearean cinema.