ABSTRACT

This article examines the use of Shakespeare by the Women’s Institutes drama groups during the interwar period in rural England. The WIs used amateur theatre to emphasise women’s social and cultural value as part of their broader effort to revitalise the countryside. The article asserts that the broad nature of the WIs and its local variances meant that the drama groups not only appealed to a diverse group of women, but their performances also had wide public appeal. Additionally, the malleability and recognisability of Shakespeare’s plays and characters could equally serve either a conservative or progressive ideology, which complicates efforts by historians to fit the drama groups into a feminist paradigm. In order to gauge how these performances—and their messages—were received, the article draws upon newspapers and magazines in conjunction with official records.

摘要

本文考察了两次世界大战期间英格兰农村妇女协会戏剧团体对莎士比亚的使用。WIs 使用业余戏剧来强调女性的社会和文化价值，作为他们振兴乡村的更广泛努力的一部分。文章断言，WI 的广泛性质及其当地差异意味着戏剧团体不仅吸引了多元化的女性群体，而且她们的表演也具有广泛的公众吸引力。此外，莎士比亚戏剧和角色的可塑性和可识别性同样适用于保守或进步的意识形态，这使历史学家将戏剧团体纳入女权主义范式的努力复杂化。为了衡量这些表演——以及它们的信息——是如何被接受的，