Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Shakespeare's World: Seeing the Plays Through Elizabethan Eyes

Shakespeare's World: Seeing the Plays Through Elizabethan Eyes

Lubarr, Josh
Goodheart, Rebecca
Krausnick, Dennis

Paperback

Theater History

Publisher Price: $29.95

ISBN10: 1493091328
ISBN13: 9781493091324
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: Jun 25 2026
Pages: 448
Weight: 1.35
Height: 1.03 Width: 5.99 Depth: 8.99
Language: English

It goes nearly without saying that Elizabethan England, the society that produced William Shakespeare, was dramatically different than the modern world of today.

This is true not only in the most obvious ways-language, technology, living standards, politics-but in the ideas and beliefs that shaped Elizabethans' understanding of themselves and the world around them. Just as audiences 400 years from now will need guidance to understand concepts like the American dream or wokeness, so too does an understanding of the Elizabethan worldview illuminate Shakespeare's plays in new and surprising ways.

For decades, Dennis Krausnick (1942-2018), a beloved teacher of classical acting, brought Shakespeare's world and worldview to life for professional actors as Director of Training at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. As part of the company's world-renowned actor-training program-its Month-Long Intensive-Dennis created a full-day immersive experience that helped actors experience, understand, and embody the philosophies and beliefs underlying the Elizabethan world.

A fascinating and readable distillation of the insights developed by Dennis Krausnick and Shakespeare & Company, Shakespeare's World gives performers and directors an engaging tour of the Elizabethan worldview, unpacking such alien concepts as the four elements, the bodily humors, and the great chain of being. It includes detailed notes for each Shakespeare play showing how this worldview permeates the text-it will enrich the experience of anyone looking to understand and engage with Shakespeare's writing in a practical, personal, and active way.

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