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Chapter 5. Allegorising and minoritising Richard III

  • Silvia Bigliazzi and Guido Avezzù
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Shakespeare and Crisis
This chapter is in the book Shakespeare and Crisis

Abstract

Against the backdrop of widespread topical readings of Richard III as post-war allegories of totalitarianisms ‘reconciling’ us with painful memories of trauma and monstrosity, this chapter discusses Carmelo Bene’s experiment in minoritisation as a form of political disengagement but also political challenge. It reappraises Bene’s dialogue with Deleuze by situating his 1977 anti-theatrical experiment with Shakespeare’s play within the context of contemporary forms of theatrical contestation and, contrariwise, connivance with political power in the 1970s. Finally, it investigates Bene’s experimental minoritisation of Shakespeare’s history play by contrasting a subversive conception of history with official history, and to this end exploiting the dynamic resources of the eventfulness of the performance. It also assesses Bene’s own claimed anarchic way of transcending power games by examining his interpretation of ‘essential minority’ as opposed to ‘actual minority’ in relation to a notion of immanent politics that refuses transcendental justifications.

Abstract

Against the backdrop of widespread topical readings of Richard III as post-war allegories of totalitarianisms ‘reconciling’ us with painful memories of trauma and monstrosity, this chapter discusses Carmelo Bene’s experiment in minoritisation as a form of political disengagement but also political challenge. It reappraises Bene’s dialogue with Deleuze by situating his 1977 anti-theatrical experiment with Shakespeare’s play within the context of contemporary forms of theatrical contestation and, contrariwise, connivance with political power in the 1970s. Finally, it investigates Bene’s experimental minoritisation of Shakespeare’s history play by contrasting a subversive conception of history with official history, and to this end exploiting the dynamic resources of the eventfulness of the performance. It also assesses Bene’s own claimed anarchic way of transcending power games by examining his interpretation of ‘essential minority’ as opposed to ‘actual minority’ in relation to a notion of immanent politics that refuses transcendental justifications.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. List of contributors ix
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part 1. Identity crises
  7. Chapter 1. 1916 25
  8. Chapter 2. Waiting for Caesar 51
  9. Chapter 3. Fascist crises 95
  10. Part 2. Power games and the crisis of history
  11. Chapter 4. “A great crisis of identification and understanding of reality” 149
  12. Chapter 5. Allegorising and minoritising Richard III 175
  13. Part 3. Crises of representation
  14. Chapter 6. Notes on Shakespeare, simulacra, and the aporias of ‘acting’ 215
  15. Chapter 7. Narrating and unravelling Italian crises through Shakespeare (2000–2016) 245
  16. Afterword 277
  17. Index of Names 283
  18. Index of Subjects 291
https://doi.org/10.1075/sec.2.05big

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. List of contributors ix
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part 1. Identity crises
  7. Chapter 1. 1916 25
  8. Chapter 2. Waiting for Caesar 51
  9. Chapter 3. Fascist crises 95
  10. Part 2. Power games and the crisis of history
  11. Chapter 4. “A great crisis of identification and understanding of reality” 149
  12. Chapter 5. Allegorising and minoritising Richard III 175
  13. Part 3. Crises of representation
  14. Chapter 6. Notes on Shakespeare, simulacra, and the aporias of ‘acting’ 215
  15. Chapter 7. Narrating and unravelling Italian crises through Shakespeare (2000–2016) 245
  16. Afterword 277
  17. Index of Names 283
  18. Index of Subjects 291
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