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From Iron Curtain to Velvet Curtain? Peter Brook's Hamlet and the Origins of British–Soviet Cultural Relations during the Cold War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2018

SARAH DAVIES
SARAH DAVIES*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Durham University, 43 North Bailey, Durham, DH1 3EX; [email protected]
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Abstract

The article assesses the significance of the Moscow tour of Peter Brook's Hamlet. It considers how far the tour succeeded in overcoming the symbolic iron curtain by examining what Hamlet meant for contemporaries on both sides of the political divide. It argues that the Hamlet tour served at once to perpetuate and undermine the divisions between East and West, confirming Iriye's observation that on one level the Cold War intensified antagonism between states, while on another it helped to foster the growth of internationalist sentiment.

Type
Article
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , November 2018 , pp. 601 - 626
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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