No theatre company has been involved in such a broad range of adaptations for television and cinema as the Royal Shakespeare Company. Starting with Richard III filmed in the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre before World War One, the RSC's accomplishments continue today with highly successful live cinema broadcasts. The Wars of the Roses (BBC, 1965), Peter Brook's film of King Lear (1971), Channel 4's epic version of Nicholas Nickleby (1982) and Hamlet with David Tennant (BBC, 2009) are among their most iconic adaptations. Many other RSC productions live on as extracts in documentaries, as archival recordings, in trailers and in other fragmentary forms. Now available in paperback, Screening the Royal Shakespeare Company explores this remarkable history of collaborations between stage and screen and considers key questions about adaptation that concern all those involved in theatre, film and television. John Wyver is a broadcasting historian and the producer of RSC Live from Stratford-upon-Avon, and is uniquely well-placed to provide a vivid account of the company's television and film productions. He contributes an award-winning practitioner's insight into screen adaptation's numerous challenges and rich potential.

A critical history of television and film adaptations of productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

About the Author
John Wyver is an independent scholar and a writer and producer and Director, Screen Productions at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Reviews
Wyver (Univ. of Westminster, UK) provides an insider's look at how the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has navigated the often-turbulent world of broadcasting productions of Shakespeare. He provides a historical account of the recording and broadcasting of productions by the RSC that covers ten decades ... Though one can find myriad resources on the adaptation of Shakespeare to film, Wyver focuses specifically on how the RSC adapts live Shakespearean productions for television and film; he keeps in mind both the integrity of the stage and an audience's expectation of more than a static, single camera recording. Thus the volume is an important contribution to adaptation studies. Summing Up: Recommended * CHOICE *
One of the most significant achievements of this book is Wyver's scrupulously thorough investigation ... [A] meticulously researched, amply documented and wonderfully wide-ranging study. * Sir Stanley Wells, Times Literary Supplement *
Remarkable ... A narrative that dramatically (the pun is deliberate) transforms our knowledge and understanding of the filming of theatre and of the particularly complex and varied negotiations between theatre productions on the one hand and the film and television media on the other...It will take us all a long time to catch up with the riches of what Wyver has accomplished here but we will find the journey exhilarating and profoundly rewarding. * Theatre Notebook *
The RSC's relationship with screen media is a topic that has long needed its history written, and Wyver is the ideal writer for the task. Lucidly marshalling a wealth of research, including exciting new discoveries, this book comprehensively chronicles the company's complex interactions with broadcasters and filmmakers from the 1950s to the present day. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in Shakespeare on stage and on screen. -- Susanne Greenhalgh, University of Roehampton, UK
A careful, richly detailed and painstaking work of history... a huge achievement of patient archival research and practical industry knowledge, which will become a standard reference work for those of us toiling in this area -- Peter Kirwan, University of Nottingham, UK



Book Information
ISBN 9781350174078
Author John Wyver
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint The Arden Shakespeare
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 428g