Shakespeare: Readers, Audiences, Players (review)

Reviews 279 and silent Protestant saint. Through a detailed analysis ofBale's editorial method, Watt restores Askew's o w n voice, and locates her firmly within the traditions of female prophecy as both a teacher of truth and a denouncer of error. The last ofWatt's case studies, Lady Eleanor Davies, held full control over her intellectual property. She herself wrote and organised the publication of her remarkable apocalyptic visions, whose content was both theological and political, and whose style was complex and highly symbolic. Paradoxically, though she was a Protestant, she identified with the Virgin Mary in ways that recall Margery Kempe's 'affective mirroring' ofthe life ofMary. Her apocalypticism and her political agenda (according to Watt 'she demanded that those in power should read and act upon her prophecies') place her within the tradition of female prophetic discourse which Watt's discussion, based on her case studies, has identified. In a short 'Epilogue', Watt traces the long-term influence of these fourwomen, following the fortunes oftheir writings and their reputations, through to the eighteenth century, and including some interesting comments on their posthumous fates. Listed a m o n g the factors contributing to the obscurity of much women's writing is 'the marginal states of certain kinds of literary texts'. Diane Watt's book makes a welcome contribution to scholarly discourse on prophecy as a genre as well as to the study of women's writing. Elizabeth Moores Department of English University of Queensland White, R. S., Charles Edelman and Christopher Wortham, ed., Shakespeare: Readers, Audiences, Players, Nedlands, Western Australia, University of Western Australia Press, 1998; paper; pp. 296; R.R.P AUS$34.95. This collection of essays presents a selection of papers first given the third Symposium of the Australian and N e w Zealand Shakespeare Association held at the University of Western Australia in 1994. The success of Shakespeare: Readers, Audiences, Players is a result of the editors 280 Reviews decision to include papers from an unusually diverse range of contributors from both academic and non-academic backgrounds, as well as Western and non-Western backgrounds. The collection brings these papers together under two interdependent themes. First, that wherever and however w e encounter Shakespeare w e are always readers. Secondly, that our 'readings' are only achieved via the mediating influence of actors, editors, directors and critics. While these are not n e w ideas, on-going scholarly attention to such notions over the past decade or so has produced some excellent work and Shakespeare: Readers, Audiences, Players is no exception. Som of the essays address quite specialised interests, and offer highly challenging readings. For example, essays by Charles Edelman, Juliette Dusinberre and David Ormerod variously address in great detail the issues of editorial punctuation, the culture of lying in Elizabethan discourse and Macrobius's classification of dreams. Yet, the majority of essays are highly accessible to any reader with an interest in Shakespeare as playwright, poet, and cultural icon. As one might expect, a number of the essays are concerned with Shakespeare's performance history. These begin strongly with Jonathan Bates's 'Romantic Players, Political Theatres' which argues for a less unitary view of Shakespeare's performance history than that posited in recent political criticism. Bates is particularly antagonistic to the notion that Shakespeare's status as cultural icon rests solely on his historically unopposed appropriation as a voice of pro-establishment ideals. Bates shows that in fact, this kind of appropriation 'has met with opposition at every point d o w n the line' (p. 8)—resulting in an equally strong history of radical performance. These parallel histories are highly visible in the example of early nineteenth-century London where the performance of Shakespeare was restricted, by patent law, to just two London theatres (Drury Lane and Covent Garden). During that period there was also a strong presence of 'illegitimate Shakespeare' (p. 19) in other theatres, as well as politically charged, anti-establishment performances of Shakespeare in the patent theatres themselves. Importantly, Bates delineates the radical uses of Shakespeare as part of an on-going, rather than historically isolated phenomenon. Other strong essays on Shakespeare's performance history by Cherrell Guilfoyle...