Shakespeare the Theatre-Poet

Abstract Shakespeare the theatre-poet is a maker of theatre-events. Elizabethans invariably called the author of a play a ‘poet’, in the Greek sense of ‘maker’. I call Shakespeare a ‘theatre-poet’ in that sense: he makes theatre. In using the term I am not thus referring to the fact that he wrote most of his dialogue in the form of verse. The ‘theatre’ in ‘theatre-poet’ refers to what is now commonly called a ‘theatre¬ event’, the coming together of players and playgoers to imagine the world outlined in the playwright’s script, complete with characters, plot, dialogue, and atmosphere. Obviously the making of a theatre-event is a collaborative act. The playwright, the players, and the playgoers comprise a performance¬ ensemble, to which each makes a distinctive and necessary contribution. It is a partnership within which each participant has a considerable degree of autonomy.