Global Shakespeare Inverted

This event includes discussion panels, practical demonstrations and Q&As with academics and creative practitioners in connection with the Arden Shakespeare series, 'Global Shakespeare Inverted'.

The event will particularly explore the first two volumes in the series, 'Shakespeare in the Global South: Stories of Oceans Crossed in Contemporary Adaptation' by Sandra Young (University of Cape Town) and 'Eating Shakespeare: Cultural Anthropophagy as Global Methodology' edited by Anne Sophie Refskou (University of Surrey), Marcel de Amorim (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro) and Vinicius de Carvalho (King's College London).

Both volumes address the current state of so-called Global Shakespeare studies from the perspective of the Global South. They argue the need to 'invert' cultural politics, academic and creative practices or pedagogies in which Shakespeare is still seen as disseminated from the West to 'the rest' or from a culturally (and economically) dominant 'centre' to a disadvantaged 'periphery'.

The authors engage with contemporary Shakespearean examples of adaptation, interculturalism, diaspora and displacement, otherness and hybridity, as well as advance in-depth conversation between scholarship and creative practice.

*If you are external to King’s and would like to attend this event, please ensure you register.

This event is co-produced by the King’s Brazil Institute (KCL), Surrey Shakespeare Centre and Global Shakespeare Centre (Queen Mary University of London).

Programme:

13:00-14:15: Work demo and Q&A: 'Intercultural Shakespeare' with Two Gents Productions

Chaired by Sonia Massai (King's College London)

Two Gents Productions are a London-based and touring theatre company whose work on Shakespeare and classical texts combined with timely investigations of intercultural identities, migration and diaspora has been appreciated by diverse audiences and provided valuable case-studies for scholars. In this session, they demonstrate and discuss their development as a company, key ideas and creative methods.

14:15-15:30: Discussion panel: 'Global Shakespeare, Cultural Branding and Diplomacy' with Mark Thornton Burnett (Queen’s University Belfast), Carla Figueira (Goldsmiths), Nathalie Rivere de Carles (Université Toulouse Jean Jaures), Hayle Gadelha (diplomat, former cultural attaché, Brazilian Embassy and Gordon MacMullan (King's College London)

Chaired by Anne Sophie Refskou (University of Surrey)

This discussion explores the value and ethics of employing Shakespeare as a cultural and diplomatic brand in the UK and worldwide, and asks how critical and creative perspectives from the 'Global South’ may contribute and produce stronger intercultural dialogue within practices of Shakespearean ‘soft power’.

15:30-16:00: tea and coffee (with digital displays on recent and current Global Shakespeare projects and collaborations)

16:00-17:15: Discussion panel: 'Inverting Global Shakespeare in the Classroom' with Koel Chatterjee (Trinity Laban), Eleine Ng (Asian Shakespeare Intercultural Archive) and Marion Wynne-Davies (University of Surrey)

Chaired by Varsha Panjwani (NYU, London)

This discussion looks at how creative and scholarly perspectives from Global and Intercultural Shakespeares can provide a fresh lens on the teaching of Shakespeare and help revitalise curricula and methods in the classroom.

17:15-18:30: work demo and Q&A: 'Inverting Directions (without Directors)' with David Schalkwyk (QMUL) and Elena Pellone (The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham) 

Chaired by Sandra Young (University of Cape Town)

David Schalkwyk and Elena Pellone’s creative and scholarly collaborations on Shakespeare question and invert geographical and cultural binaries, as well as the supposed binary between scholarship and creative practice. In this session, they demonstrate and discuss the negotiation of belongingness and foreignness as well as their recent and forthcoming theatre productions in which actors cast themselves and stage Shakespeare without the authority of a director.

18:30: Drinks reception

Sponsors

Brazil Institute, King's College London
Surrey Shakespeare Centre, University of Surrey
Global Shakespeare Centre, Queen Mary University of London

This book addresses the current state of so-called Global Shakespeare studies from the perspective of the Global South, arguing and demonstrating the need to ‘invert’ processes – theories, creative practices, cultural politics, pedagogies and curricula – in which Shakespeare is still seen as disseminated from the west to ‘the rest’ or from ‘centre’ to ‘periphery’. It also discusses global or peripheral Shakespeare within Britain in conversation with practitioners who have made a difference to the visibility of Shakespeare performance by cultural and/or ethnic minorities.