Overview

Further, by examining across time the varied attitudes of actors, critics, and audiences toward Shakespearean texts and roles, McDonald offers insights into how external forces combine with the inherent appeal of the plays to keep them fresh centuries after they were first written and performed. Throughout, McDonald blends learned commentary on the history and culture of the stage with entertaining details about the appearance personality, genealogy, and private life of each actor. Including some rarely seen images and drawing on previously untapped reviews and anecdotes, this is a lively introduction to the burgeoning field of performance criticism.

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9780820325064

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Reviews

Actors are always talking about traditions, looking back to the great actors of the past and working out who has inherited their mantle. McDonald's wonderful new book traces the line of descent that links three of the greatest actresses ever: Sarah Siddons, Ellen Terry, and Judi Dench. With a superb and unusual combination of great scholarship and real panache, he makes us understand what that rare quality was that each possessed, that special unquantifiable something that so powerfully affected their audiences. Always a delight to read, Look to the Lady is a brilliant contribution to theater history, making us aware afresh of why each was so mesmerizing as Lady Macbeth and helping us make sense of what makes a star in the world of theater. --Peter Holland, McMeel Family Professor of Shakespeare Studies, University of Notre Dame

Actors are always talking about traditions, looking back to the great actors of the past and working out who has inherited their mantle. McDonald's wonderful new book traces the line of descent that links three of the greatest actresses ever: Sarah Siddons, Ellen Terry, and Judi Dench. With a superb and unusual combination of great scholarship and real panache, he makes us understand what that rare quality was that each possessed, that special unquantifiable something that so powerfully affected their audiences. Always a delight to read, Look to the Lady is a brilliant contribution to theater history, making us aware afresh of why each was so mesmerizing as Lady Macbeth and helping us make sense of what makes a star in the world of theater. --Peter Holland ""McMeel Family Professor of Shakespeare Studies, University of Notre Dame"" No one interested in Shakespeare and the theater could fail to enjoy McDonald's gracefully written and well-researched study of the careers of three of our greatest Shakespearean actresses. He tells their fascinating stories with a winning combination of anecdotal flair and critical perception. --Professor Stanley Wells ""Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust"" Sarah Siddons. Ellen Terry. Judi Dench. Names with which to conjure, and McDonald's Look to the Lady does just that, bringing the three actors' presences and performances into a celebratory dialogue. Interweaving biographical details, theater history, and cultural commentary, McDonald tells a fascinating story that not only recounts how each actor prepares a role but also maps a trajectory that draws all three performers and their performances together, providing insight into a tradition of great Shakespearean acting. Lucidly and elegantly written, Look to the Lady makes delightful reading for theater scholars, cultural historians, and theater lovers--a wonderful performance in its own right. --Barbara Hodgdon ""author of The Shakespeare Trade: Performances and Appropriations"" McDonald's prose is almost always clear, unpretentious, and grammatically correct, providing a welcome respite from the sloppy writing that mars too many books on theatre. . . . A worthwhile and entertaining book. --Talkin' Broadway

Sarah Siddons. Ellen Terry. Judi Dench. Names with which to conjure, and McDonald's Look to the Lady does just that, bringing the three actors' presences and performances into a celebratory dialogue. Interweaving biographical details, theater history, and cultural commentary, McDonald tells a fascinating story that not only recounts how each actor prepares a role but also maps a trajectory that draws all three performers and their performances together, providing insight into a tradition of great Shakespearean acting. Lucidly and elegantly written, Look to the Lady makes delightful reading for theater scholars, cultural historians, and theater lovers--a wonderful performance in its own right. --Barbara Hodgdon author of The Shakespeare Trade: Performances and Appropriations No one interested in Shakespeare and the theater could fail to enjoy McDonald's gracefully written and well-researched study of the careers of three of our greatest Shakespearean actresses. He tells their fascinating stories with a winning combination of anecdotal flair and critical perception. --Professor Stanley Wells Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust McDonald's prose is almost always clear, unpretentious, and grammatically correct, providing a welcome respite from the sloppy writing that mars too many books on theatre. . . . A worthwhile and entertaining book. --Talkin' Broadway Actors are always talking about traditions, looking back to the great actors of the past and working out who has inherited their mantle. McDonald's wonderful new book traces the line of descent that links three of the greatest actresses ever: Sarah Siddons, Ellen Terry, and Judi Dench. With a superb and unusual combination of great scholarship and real panache, he makes us understand what that rare quality was that each possessed, that special unquantifiable something that so powerfully affected their audiences. Always a delight to read, Look to the Lady is a brilliant contribution to theater history, making us aware afresh of why each was so mesmerizing as Lady Macbeth and helping us make sense of what makes a star in the world of theater. --Peter Holland McMeel Family Professor of Shakespeare Studies, University of Notre Dame

Author Information

RUSS McDONALD is Bank of America Excellence Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His many books include such studies as Shakespeare and the Arts of Language and Shakespeare: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory, 1945-2000, as well as a number of editions of Shakespeare's plays. Among other honors, he was named Case/Carnegie Professor of the Year for North Carolina in 2003 and has served as a Trustee of the Shakespeare Association of America.

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