ABSTRACT
In the Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s 2003 production of Rose Rage, an almost five-hour condensation of Shakespeare’s Henry VI Parts 1, 2, and 3, directed and co-adapted by Edward H all, the extreme physical violence of the War of the Roses is rendered via the actions of butcher-surrogates who torture pieces of meat, organs, and cabbage heads. This production culminates in a dinner theatre of sorts that reaches its audience palpably through sight, sound, and eventually smell. When combined with nontraditional casting practices, the production’s stylized and violent treatment of flesh yields new insights about the lived and embodied experience of systems of white supremacy. Hall’s Rose Rage is a condensed dramatization of nation building and racialized consensus that works on both critical and visceral levels.
