Inaugurating the complete works (again): Shakespeare Nation,Doranism and literalism in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2014 summer season

Abstract

Greg Doran, Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, inaugurated his Shakespeare Nation project in 2014. This involves yet another staging of the complete works. This article examines his production of the two parts of Henry IV as well as The Witch of Edmonton. It also covers the production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona in the main house and three other shows in the Swan, labelled the ‘Roaring Girls’ season. The article exposes a tendency towards literalism in Doran’s own work (which it labels ‘Doranism’) and argues that this quality leads to an imaginative diminution of Shakespeare’s theatricality.