Buzz Podewell, who is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Tulane University in New Orleans, has directed nearly 200 stage productions of Shakespeare's plays. In Shakespeare's Watch, he describes and explains in detail the “basic questions about the duration and the location of scenes of Shakespeare”. As he shows in his wide‐ranging Introduction, many scholars have dismissed these fundamental questions as irrelevant because they think that an over‐realistic interpretation is unnecessary and would possibly impede the fluid movement of the action. In the early nineteenth century, Charles Lamb famously expressed his preference for reading the plays rather than seeing them on the stage. L.C. Knights' approach 80 years ago in How Many Children Had Lady Macbeth? has also long been influential – he maintained the plays had to be considered as dramatic poems. Nowadays, Podewell says, there is in addition a conviction that “there can be no absolute values in anything”. To counteract views such as these, he looks at each play in detail in order to give actors practical guidance. His aim is to “present descriptions of what I believe was on Shakespeare's mind when he was working out the mechanical logistics of his plays”. He realises that inconsistencies exist but he insists that directors and actors must make the plays appear realistic to their audiences. He deals with the thirty‐seven plays in a clear and orderly way, with synopses of all the scenes, and discussions of their locations and time schemes. He uses maps and other illustrations. The first volume deals with Greek, Roman and Italian plays and the second volume with English and Northern European Plays, an unusual but effective classification.
To show something of Podewell's admirable thoroughness in his descriptions, I will first look at some aspects of his treatment of the opening of The Merchant of Venice. He suggests that Act 1, Scene 1 should be set in the fashionable areas of the city since the people involved represent the young Venetian aristocracy and that its time is the morning of a day in late winter or early spring. A few hours elapse between this first scene and Act 1, Scene 3. He gives Belmont in Act 1, Scene 2 a precise location, derived from various sources, and illustrates it with a detailed map. Podewell is similarly informative about the Rialto, which is mentioned in the next scene. As with all the plays he deals with, he concludes his chapter with a list of the scenes placed in chronological order, spanning in this instance seven days altogether. As for Hamlet, which has always posed problems of time (specifically, the length of Hamlet's delay), Podewell finds the time scheme “both consistent and logical”, calculating a period of five months from beginning to end. He relates the claustrophobic atmosphere of the play to the actual castle at Elsinore, the floor plans of which are depicted. He proposes a detailed timetable for the pre‐action of the tragedy. A third example will further show his commonsense approach. Problems concerning time have also long bothered editors of Othello. Many, including A.C. Bradley, have argued that Shakespeare used “short time” for some purposes and “long time” for others, as Podewell explains. Podewell confronts the problems pragmatically by arguing that Othello and Desdemona entered into a “contract” marriage when they were betrothed. As always, he grounds the play in realistic places, providing a map, a picture of Famagusta (in Cyprus) and a plan of its citadel. His final summary claims that within “forty‐two hours of their arrival in Cyprus, both Othello and Desdemona are dead as one of Shakespeare's saddest and most harrowing plays comes to a close”.
Podwell writes with precision and clarity. The two volumes form a comprehensive and scholarly guide that will be profitably consulted by all readers of Shakespeare, not just the actors and directors whom Podwell had mostly in mind. He cites opinions and critical work from all periods. History, topography and religion are among the relevant topics that he uses to enhance our understanding of the plays. Each chapter is fully annotated and the bibliography at the end of the second volume is wonderfully comprehensive. These substantial yet elegant books are sure to be widely consulted for the accessible amount of information that they provide.
