Episode 124:

A conversation with Margaret Oakes about the book 'To Gender or Not to Gender: Casting and Characters for 21st Century Shakespeare’ which explores ways in which gender is being reinterpreted by British and North American productions since the turn of the millennium. After an initial chapter outlining recent gender theory, which is very useful to a newcomer to this as an academic study, like myself, the rest of the book uses examples of recent productions to illustrate different possibilities in cross gender casting, and the questions that this approach can lead to.  I found it to be an absolutely fascinating read, driven by Margaret’s enthusiasm for her subject, which you can also hear in our conversation.

Margaret J. Oakes is a Professor of English at Furman University, a liberal arts college in Greenville, South Carolina. She specializes in early modern British poetry and drama and detective fiction. She holds a B.A. in English and a J.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an M.A. in English from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. in English and Humanities from Stanford University. She has published on George Herbert, Francis Bacon, J.K. Rowling, Sara Paretsky, and Dorothy L Sayers.

https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/to-gender-or-not-to-gender/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gender-Not-Casting-Characters-Shakespeare-ebook/dp/B0D76WMZZK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=11CZZNA8QVXMS&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Fihl0uzGo8sTOhBH_I4U8wOKjYHyDayfQRaiJC8DtmU2ys8o2ElWldOC_VbzQCTL8m9pHSr8AoWvS-DvPKEK95JDT0OLndsd1tmX0761a0mRVME0k2kAiYP2gv6iazDe_eDgN3NATv9tYPQW2r5F3odhSC2oKCtn9O8jhT_SDIZm4-SSu4y_Rn_KxtwO4aRTW3gap_sqUj1T_nfvUY_3VQXB04ieAYtntSqU7UrZq9k.QIlJWmZhVaV9c6eAKS1TbJIl5tUJlRuDAD4RIRn2fpM&dib_tag=se&keywords=to+gender+or+not+to+gender&qid=1718710353&s=books&sprefix=to+gender+or+not+to+gender%2Cstripbooks%2C87&sr=1-1

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