Reverie of a Shakespearean Walker

This chapter is about walking to, from, and during Shakespearean performance. It argues that this walking enhances the way a production matters for its various audience members. The first half of the chapter details several productions the author walked to and from in and around the inner city of Melbourne, and the second half details immersive and site-specific productions where walking was an integral part of the theatrical experience itself. It is argued that this walking offers an embodied and spatialized practice of (and for) engagement and reflection, both intellectual and affective, and that not just the text, but also the context, is imbued with renewed vigour. The chapter, therefore, celebrates both an incredible diversity of Shakespearean productions within a very short time frame and within a confined geography and also the various Melbourne locations and journeys that the productions encompass and enhance.