Abstract
This chapter deals with the cultural cachet of contemporary British performers commonly referred to as ‘Shakespearean’ actors, exploring how such attribution relates to more traditional markers of esteem. It examines how the implied prestige of possessing a ‘Shakespearean’ identity has been framed in a variety of cultural texts, with particular focus on the potential adaptability of this unique form of cultural capital. The chapter charts the ways in which stars such as Sir Ian McKellen engage with their own ‘Shakespeareanism’ by analysing television and film texts that utilise the popular association between British performers and high cultural sophistication, alongside texts that subvert or challenge the apparent prestige of this designation.
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Notes
- 1.
Alan Rickman’s performance as Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988) was significant in this regard. Although not as consistently framed a Shakespearean performer, the classically trained Rickman was cast as Gruber because of his performance as Vicomte de Valmont in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1985 production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Commenting on the strength of Rickman’s “Shakespearean-level acting chops” Adam Sternbergh writes that skill had “never been a qualification for movie villains before [Rickman’s Gruber]…We’d seen oleaginous European bad guys, sure, and trigger-happy psychopaths, but never a character whose elegance and savagery are so convincingly and dexterously intertwined” (2016).
- 2.
McKellen recollects striving for a “posh” sound as a young performer, despite the success of northern Shakespeareans Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay (Clarke 2015).
- 3.
Gandalf’s voice is also a conduit for his magical ability. When imprisoned by Saruman on top of Isengard Tower, Gandalf whispers an instruction to a moth in extreme close-up. Later in The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf’s call is answered when Gwaihir, a giant eagle, helps him to escape.
- 4.
Elizabeth Day, for instance, scoffs at the prospect that a young Branagh ever enjoyed reading comic books, asking “Really, Ken?” (2011).
- 5.
Although the Oxford English Dictionary recognizes alternative meanings for fruity, including “full of rich or strong quality” (2016) or referring to a resonant voice, it also gestures to the colloquial, derogatory term for male homosexuals.
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Blackwell, A. (2017). “How do I act so well?” The British “Shakespearean” Actor and Cultural Cachet. In: Kennedy-Karpat, C., Sandberg, E. (eds) Adaptation, Awards Culture, and the Value of Prestige. Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52854-0_12
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