Art within Art Evidenced in Artistic Requirements and Production Constraints of Cinema Theatre Industry: A Comparative Study of the Films "Shakespeare in Love" and "Topsy-Turvy"

Authors

  • Hossam Abdullah Al-Majli

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53286/arts.v5i3.1576

Keywords:

Drama writing, Production/Financial aspects, Theater industry, Film

Abstract

This study aims to demonstrate how cinema portrayed controversial connection between theatre industry writing requirements and the production/financial demands with reference to the two films: the American film "Shakespeare in Love" and the British film "Topsy-Turvy." The critical analytic film discourse and balanced approach was used. The study is divided into an introduction and four sections, and a conclusion.  It overviewed theater production, introduced the two films, discussed their writing and economic aspects, and compared both the films, highlighting the importance of striking balance between artistic freedom and financial stability as well as continuous collaboration and innovation. The study revealed that drama writing during actors' preparations ahead of performance was incomplete. It was also concluded that there was a close interconnectedness between writing (playwright) and economics (financial funding) in the theater industry,  that government funding proved significant to prevent theatre industry bankruptcy, and that affirmation of understanding the impact of historical and cultural contexts on writing and economics in the theater industry was essential. The two films under study represented autobiographical accounts of the lives of three individuals who had a significant influence on the British theater: Shakespeare, Gilbert, and Sullivan.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

أولًا: المراجع باللغة العربية

عناني، محمد، المصطلحات الأدبية الحديثة: دراسة ومعجم إنجليزي- عربي، الشركة المصرية العالمية للنشر- لونجمان، القاهرة، 2003م.

Arabic References

ʻInānī, Muḥammad, al-Muṣṭalaḥāt al-Adabīyah al-Ḥadīthah: Dirāsah & Muʻjam injlyzy-ʻArabī, al-Sharikah al-Miṣrīyah al-ʻĀlamīyah llnshr-Lūnjmān, al-Qāhirah, 2003, (in Arabic).

ثانيًا: المراجع باللغة الإنجليزية

Ainger, Michael, Gilbert and Sullivan: A Dual Biography, Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University ,Press, 2002.

Bennett, Susan, Theater Audiences. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 2013.

Birdman, Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inamitu, performances by Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts, Regency Enterprises, New Regency, M Productions, Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2014.

Bloom, Allan, Shakespeare on Love and Friendship, Chicago, IL, the United States: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Boyd, Megan, A Cunning and Altogether Modern Master of Men: The Pursuing Women in 1910s Feature Comedy, Film History,An International Journal, 33:4 ,2021.

Bradley, Hester, Interpreting Shakespeare on Screen, London, United Kingdom: MaCmillan Press Ltd, 2000.

Brode, Douglas, Shakespeare in the Movies: From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love, Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University ,Press, 2000.

Brooker, Peter,The Postmodern Story, Critical Survey ,9:1, 1997.

Cavanaugh, William, A Fire Strong Enough to Consume the House: The Wars of Religion and the Rise of the State, Modern Theology ,11:4 ,1995.

Changsong, Wang, Kerry, Lucyann, and Farady, Rustono, Film Distribution by Video Streaming Platforms across Southeast Asia during COVID-19, Media, Culture & Society, 43:8, 2021.

Clude, John, and Grant, John eds, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy New York, NY, the United States: Maomillan, 1999.

Comey, Jeremiah, The Art of Film Acting: A Guide for Actors and Directors. Woburn, MA, the United States,Taylor & Francis, 2012.

Crowther, Andrew, Every Performance is a Contrivance: Art and Truth in Tospy-Turvy, in Devised and Directed by Mike Leigh, eds, Bryan Cardinale-Powell and Marc DiPaolo, New York, NY, Bloomsbury, 2013.

Dixon, Wheeler Winston, Mike Leigh, Topsy-Turvy and the Excavation of Memory, Senses of Cinema: An Online Film Journal Devoted to the Serious and Eclectic Discussion of Cinema, 37, 2005.

Dobson, Michael and Watson, Nicola, England's Elizabeth: An Afterlife in Fame and Fantasy,Oxford, United Kingdom, Oxford University Press, 2002.

Driver, Tom F,The Shakespearian Clock: Time and the Vision of Reality in Romeo and Juliet and the Tempest, Shakespeare Quarterly, 15:4, 1964.

Edgar, David, How Plays Work, London, United Kingdom, Nick Hem, 2009.

Franssen, Paul,Shakespeare's Life on Film and Television: Shakespeare in Love and A Waste of Shame, in Adaptation Intermediality and the British Celebrity Biopic, eds, Marta Minier and Maddalena Pennacchia, London, United Kingdom, Routledge, 2014.

Gilmour, Robin, The Victorian Period: The Intellectual and Cultural Context of English Literature, 1830-1890, London, United Kingdom, Routledge, 2014.

Kennedy, Michael, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford, United Kingdom, Oxford University Press, 2004.

Lehmann, Courtney, Shakespeare in Love: Romancing the Author, Mastering the Body, Spectacular Shakespeare: Critical Theory and Popular Cinema , 2002.

Leonard, Kendra,Topsy-Turvy Victoriana: Locating Life and Death in Corpse Bride, Aether,7 ,2011.

Lewes, Henry,On Actors and the Art of Acting, New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1880.

Maloney, Lauren,The Commodification of Human Beings, Northeasterm University Law Journal ,2015, available at: http://nulawreview.org/extralegalrecent/the-commodification-of-human-beings.

Marcuse, Herbert, One-dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1964.

Maslin, Janet,Topsy-Turvy: Gilbert and Sullivan Get Back to the Drawing Board,The New York Times ,17 ,1999.

Ponko, Jr., Vincent,The Privy Council and the Spirit of Elizabethan Economic Management, 1558-1603, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 58:4 ,1968.

Porton, Richard, and Leigh, Mike,Entertainment and Empire: An Interview with Mike Leigh, Cinéaste, 25:2, 2000.

Radbourne, Jennifer, Glow, Hilary, and Johanson, Katya,The Audience Experience: A Critical Analysis of Audience in the Performing Arts, Chicago, IL, the United States: Intellect, 2013.

Roche, David,Quentin Tarantino: Poetics and Politics of Cinematic Metafiction. University, MS, the United States: University Press of Mississippi, 2018.

Scheff, Jonanne and Philip Kotler,Crisis in the Arts: The Marketing Response, California Management Review, 39:1,1996.

Segal, Chaarles. Interpreting Greek Tragedy: Myth, Poetry, Text. Ithaca, NY, the United States: Cornell University Press, 1966.

Sharp, Laurie, Acts of Writing: A Compilation of Six Models That Define the Processes of Writing, International Journal of Instruction,9:2 ,2018.

Shakespeare in Love. Directed by John Madden, performances by Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Flennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, and Judi Dench. The Bedford Falls Company, Miramax Films, Universal Pictures, 1998.

Steinke, Carolin Crespo,Travelling through the Centuries: The Intertextual Relationship between Shakespeare in Love, Moliere and Young Goethe in Love, English Text Construction ,10,2017.

Throsby, David,The Production and Consumption of the Arts: A View of Cultural Economics, Journal of Economic Literature ,32:1,1994.

Taylor, Duncan, Living in England: The Elizabethan Age, Philadelphia, PA, the United States, Roy Publishers, 1968.

Topsy-Turvy. Directed by Mike Leigh, performances by Allan Corduner, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, and Ron Cook. Thin Man Films, Pathe Distrbution, 1999.

Waters, Steve,How to Describe an Apple: A Brief Survey of the Literature on Playwriting, Contemporary Theatre Review ,23:2,2013.

Watson, Garry, The Cinema of Mike Leigh: A Sense of the Real. London, United Kingdom: Wallflower Press, 2004.

Wiles, David and Dymkoswski, Christine, The Cambridge Companion to Theatre History. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

William Shakespeare Romeo , Juliet, Directed by Baz Luhrmann, performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo, Pete Postethwaite, Paul Sorvino, and Diane Venora. Bazmark Productions, 20th Century Fox, 1996.

Published

2023-09-20

How to Cite

Al-Majli, H. A. . (2023). Art within Art Evidenced in Artistic Requirements and Production Constraints of Cinema Theatre Industry: A Comparative Study of the Films "Shakespeare in Love" and "Topsy-Turvy". Arts for Linguistic & Literary Studies, 5(3), 616–646. https://doi.org/10.53286/arts.v5i3.1576

Issue

Section

Literature and Criticism