From Shakespeare to the Super Bowl: Theatre and global liveness

Paradigmatic of the ways in which media has shaped sport, including its increased commodification and branding, is the American Super Bowl. Since 1967, the Super Bowl, the penultimate game of the American National Football League (NFL) season, has become a fixture in North American sporting and consumer culture. [...]translations of theatre, particularly Shakespeare, to the airwaves and screen have long been a productive site of scholarship.31 Shakespearian scholar Laurie Osborne draws particular attention to the 1964 version of Hamlet, directed by John Gielgud and starring Richard Burton, which applied the technology of 'Electronovision' or 'Theatrofilm'.32 This technique involved a closed-circuit transmission of a Broadway production, recorded for a limited theatrical release to 976 American cinemas on 23 and 24 September 1964. Rinehart notes that the Super Bowl has become something to be 'conspicuously consumed', available to 'wealthy enthusiasts' - millionaires, rock, film and sport stars.57 Indeed, with average 2012 Super Bowl ticket prices ranging from $US 2,112 to $US 7,480 each, this once populist live experience has become primarily available to the elite.58 Indeed, if we follow the history of the event we can see that the Super Bowl privileges profit margins over popular access, though its televised representations suggest greater diversity.59 Theatre, on the other hand, has long been considered an elitist arena of high culture. [...]the notion of an event shown en masse alongside the availability of cheaper tickets arguably evidences broader accessibility. [...]while in NT Live there are no multi-million-dollar commercials yet, and no performance by Bruce Springsteen, there is a structure from pre-match warm-up to post-game rub-down, captured in close-up by the televisual frame.