An interdisciplinary conversation with Aneta Mancewitz and Nicole Fayard
Our speakers:
Dr Aneta Mancewitz (Theatre Studies, Birmingham; editor of Local and Global Myths in Shakespearean Performance (2018); author of Intermedial Shakespeares on European Stages (2014))
Dr Nicole Fayard (French Studies, Leicester; author of ‘France's 'other' national playwright? The Performance of Shakespeare in France and the Shakespeare myth’ (2009), member of the ‘Shakespeare in the Making of Europe’ Research Programme)
In this session, we will ask how, when and why Shakespeare and Europe have been conceptually linked. This covers a deliberately broad field ranging from the exploration of an idea of Europe in Shakespeare’s works to the idea of Shakespeare in Europe and its role in the constitution of a European identity. Drawing on historical insights and contemporary practice, Aneta will speak about Shakespearean performance as part of a shared European tradition and the importance of cultural exchanges for ensuring the vitality of Shakespearean performance and European theatre. Nicole will discuss some of the ways in which contemporary Shakespearean production and narratives invoking Shakespeare’s theatre speak to the recent crises affecting Europe, and thus share in the long tradition of invoking Shakespeare’s theatre to both symbolise and problematise the fluid identities of Europe.
