“Some kind of peace will follow”: Archivism and Anarchivism in Shakespearean Appropriations of Rome (HBO/BBC/RAI, 2005–2007)

Abstract

This article explores the appropriation of Shakespeare’s works in Rome (Heller, MacDonald and Milius 2005-2007). Drawing on archive theory, it looks into the use of Shakespeare’s archive in this TV series by examining gender variables. The results of this research show that the traces of Shakespeare’s archive in Rome form different assemblages for female and male characters. This fact reflects the cultural hierarchies of the TV seriality of the period in which Rome was aired. Nonetheless, the appropriations of different Shakespearean dramatic genres —mainly tragedy and romance— raise transformative possibilities for those gender politics in Rome’s narrative world.