Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an account of the overlap between theatre and memory-training in the historical record and in the scholarship. It offers an overview of the study of print culture and places William Shakespeare's work within that account, discussing two examples of Shakespeare in print which 'remember' the text: Shakespeare in anthologies and Shakespeare in American commonplace books. In Shakespeare's plays, acts of memory are articulated in a host of different contexts. The book highlights how the visual arts strategically invested in the making of a national and subsequently global poet. It explores the mutually reinforcing dynamics of cultural memory, audience response and theatrical staging. The book argues that memory in comedy is defined by discontinuity: when characters 'remember' they draw attention to the difference between their present and past selves.