Abstract
The ever-expanding presence of Shakespeare on the internet gives rise to new modes of consumption, criticism and performance. This essay focuses on the impromptu community built around the videos and comment sections of YouTube, in which any given user may act as spectator, critic, producer or performer. Most immediately apparent is YouTube's function as a digital archive - a litany of taped performances, feature-film clips and web productions are available at one's fingertips, as is the ability to compare, criticise and comment on such materials. However, with so many productions available side-by-side, YouTube becomes not just a repository but a repertoire, as these transient texts are increasingly understood in terms of the acting bodies that pass between them. In turn, the online community digests and regurgitates Shakespeare, in parody and 'mashup' form, appropriating what has already been pluralised in the style of the Early Modern commonplace book. In taking static records of performance and making them live again through use, YouTube culture challenges existing paradigms of access to, and consumption of, Shakespeare.
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