Film director and BSA member Daryl Chase shares his project Shakespeare Subtitled and the ‘what’, ‘how’, and ‘why’ of the project.

Shakespeare Subtitled is a passion project, the seed of which was sewn around fifteen or more years ago. 

‘How?’. ‘Why?’. More of that later. First the ‘What?’.

Shakespeare Subtitled is an ongoing series of filmed extracts designed to inspire, entertain and educate. Original language performances are complemented by modern language subtitles, providing a jumping-off point for further exploration of Shakespeare. The project encourages both conventional and unconventional approaches to Shakespeare’s work, from diverse casting to unusual locations. Experimentation and play are welcomed in order to discover new meanings.

Films can be watched with or without subtitles, depending on your reason for watching. This is because Shakespeare Subtitled is not only about subtitles and language, it’s about the process of filmmaking. Whether in the classroom or on a film set there’s a thrill in asking questions; what if we set this somewhere unusual? What if we cast against type? What does it do to the sentiment? Does it speak to modern issues?

Shakespeare Subtitled extends its filmmaking focus by also celebrating the incredible wealth of talent out there, both in front and behind the camera. From those just starting out, to established names, the project is open to all and collaboration is key.

As well as entertainment, Shakespeare Subtitled embraces education, offering workshops, supporting materials and other content. It also ranges from the creation of new films to the use of existing ones, and spans all age groups. With a background in social enterprise filmmaking, I am also interested in engaging with underrepresented demographics and alternative provisions.

The project has ambitions to apply these principles to long form adaptations of full plays, also featuring original language performances with modern language subtitles.

So… that’s the ‘What’. How about the ‘Why’ and ‘How’?

Growing up I had a fascination with film, (no doubt inspired by my dad watching endless rented VHSs). However, with no connection to the industry I would sit in the local library with Kemp’s International Film and Television Directory and note down company phone numbers. Returning home I would call them all asking for work experience – old skool! Finally, one agreed to take me on and I was hooked. I became a runner, an editor, I shot my own shorts, music videos and anything else I could point a camera at, until eventually I was lucky enough to make commercials and films for a range of brands. Despite this, I was always keen to work on a more personal project, something that embraced the joy of filmmaking, inspired by my love of just ‘making stuff’. Initially I toyed with the idea of monologues – regularly released films with a range of actors – but it felt like it was missing an edge. So instead it sat with me for years, like an ear worm.

Fast forward many (many!) years later, and I was fortunate enough to be offered the chance to direct a social enterprise adaptation of Macbeth. This was an incredible opportunity to work on a production that engaged with underrepresented demographics and socioeconomically challenged young people, giving them opportunities within the film industry. Having personally experienced the challenges of entering the industry, I was keen to help those facing far more obstacles than I ever did. But – and it was a big but – the prospect of adapting and directing Shakespeare filled me with fear. The last time I had engaged with such a text was for GCSEs, and I’d found it challenging then! Despite this I accepted, hiding my nerves as best as I could and adhering to the mindset that you need to do things that scare you as otherwise you aren’t pushing yourself. 

I got all the books I could, and began working hard on the text. Very quickly I felt like I did when I was back at school; struggling with the ‘words’, but too afraid to speak up. Whether it’s my own perception or not, there resurfaced an underlying expectation (this time within myself) to ‘understand’ the words, and a fear of the reactions of others if I admitted I didn’t. This time, older and supposedly wiser, I assessed the challenges in a different way. If I was asked to adapt a French, Spanish or German text I would be taught the language first, or be offered an initial translation. To me, the language of Shakespeare is similar, in that it is in some part a foreign language. I also then considered my own workplace experience and the foreign language films I watch… for those I immediately turn on the subtitles. I don’t assume the subtitles are word perfect translations, but combined with performance and visual language they help towards understanding. So, what if I could do the same with Shakespeare? Could language barrier solutions – subtitles – combine with performance to give me an initial, simple foothold upon which to build and explore.

It was then that I remembered the ‘monologues’ idea. Shakespeare is obviously filled with incredible monologues, sonnets, soliloquies and all manner of predominantly single character dialogues. And so the fledgling concept of Shakespeare Subtitled began.

Armed with the footage from Macbeth, I secretly began playing with modern language subtitles. Coincidentally, there were increasing press articles around subtitling – a higher percentage of younger viewers were using them as a matter of course (Youngs, 2021; Kelly, 2022) , plus Stranger Things was getting notoriety for embracing highly descriptive language (Bitran, 2022). This inspired my exploration further, and as I added the subtitles I found myself understanding scenes I hadn’t before. Performance, location, costume and other elements had already brought new meaning to the text, but modern words added even more understanding for me. They were not definitive ‘translations’, but they were a starting point for personal exploration.

Wanting to test the concept further, I shot some extracts specifically for the project, enlisting a few extremely generous and highly talented actors and friends. Each piece proved to be a joy to create… and with ‘joy’ being one of the motivations for starting a personal project in the first place, this was a success for me. They came alive, forcing me to dig deeper into the text, collaborate and experiment. Interestingly, in a recent (and brilliant), BSA teach meet, run by the fantastic Karen McGivern (BSA Trustee and Chair of Education Committee), I heard this concept summed up perfectly by Jennifer Kitchen when she quoted Gibson: “Shakespeare wrote his plays for performance and… his scripts are completed by enactment of some kind” (Gibson, 2016, p. viii). I couldn’t agree more. Traditional film scripts can also be hard to read. Bereft of detail, they are blueprints, stripped back to their bare bones. Practitioners then add the additional layers needed to come alive. Shakespeare is no different. This also speaks to the previously mentioned fact that these films and the project itself operate beyond the subtitles and language focus. Although these are a key creative elements, I am also inspired and excited by the questions filmmaking asks of text, and how different meanings can be offered via imagery and performance.

With these test extracts in tow, I contacted Maria Shmygol (Joint Chair of the BSA), who I’d met through the campaign to complete Macbeth. I was keen to assess if what I was doing had any merit in the eyes of those who really knew Shakespeare. Maria kindly didn’t laugh me out of the room and just as helpful as she had been on Macbeth, this time putting me in contact with Karen McGivern, who in turn, not only generously invited me to the BSA Teach Meets, but also shared her thoughts on the project. Karen opened my eyes to the usefulness of my filmmaking background, and that it shouldn’t be taken for granted regarding the skills that could be passed on to others and the way it gives value to the project, on a par with the language focus. What is most inspiring is that the approach Shakespeare Subtitled takes seems to have some similarities to the processes others have taken in classrooms, embracing a more active approach to the teaching of Shakespeare. I believe I would have benefitted more when I was young had there been more active ways to explore Shakespeare, combining it with drama, filmmaking, photography and other disciplines to bring it to life.

Shakespeare Subtitled was launched recently, with help from the BSA Small Grant Fund, for which I am hugely grateful. I am under no illusion that it could be a ‘Marmite’ project. Am I suggesting I know better by offering subtitles? I’m no Shakespeare expert so no. Am I trying to ‘dumb down’ the language? I believe not, because by celebrating the original language audibly, alongside the modern language visually, I’m avoiding pure simplification. Combining this with the idea that these films are not focused on language alone, the results are an exciting exploration of text resulting in a broad range of interpretations. Current examples, released and unreleased, include Lear in a Launderette, enduring a storm of the mind (more manageable to capture than a storm on a heath!); Brutus lurking behind the scenes of Caesar’s 1980s campaign trail; Petruchio hinting at domestic abuse; and a female Hamlet drinking from a can on a beach. All of these exist from collaborative questioning of the text. Whether the subtitles are then written in the contemporary English or in modern slang, the films themselves stand alone and focus on the joy of ‘making’, as originally intended. The project has exciting and wide-reaching ambitions and is open to any conversations regarding involvement in the exciting journey ahead.

Shakespeare Subtitled can be found on the following platforms, please share, follow, subscribe, and like. 

Wesbite: www.shakespearesubtitled.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shakespearesubtitled/

Twitter/X: https://x.com/shakespearesubs

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shakespearesubtitled

Thanks

I would like to thank the BSA for their fantastic support, in particular Maria Shmygol for offering thoughts, support and kindly connecting me to Karen McGivern, to whom I also owe a huge thanks. I’m grateful for your opinions and welcoming me into the Teach Meets, both of which will no doubt continue to help shape the project. I would also like to thank all the attendees I’ve met in the sessions, whose openness about their own work has been invaluable. I highly recommend attending the Teach Meets, whether in education or not. They are a window into engagement practices that are enlightening whatever your connection to Shakespeare. I would also like to thank Kat Hipkiss for making sense of the sludge of words I sent for this piece. Lastly, thanks to anyone who has been involved in the project and films until now, you have made it great, and most importantly you have made it a joy to be part of.

Works Cited

Bitran, T. (2022) ‘Meet the Wordsmiths Behind the Genius ‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 Subtitles’, Tudum by Netflix, 8th July. Available at: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/stranger-things-season-4-captions [Accessed 22nd July 2024]

Kelly, G. (2022) ‘How Generation Z became obsessed with subtitles’, The Telegraph, 24^th July. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/how-generation-z-became-obsessed-subtitles/ [Accessed 22^nd July 2024]

Youngs, I. (2021) ‘Young viewers prefer TV subtitles, research suggests’, BBC, 15^th November. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59259964 [Accessed 22nd July 2024]

Header image courtesy of Daryl Chase.

Announcing the annual conferences for 2018, 2019, and 2020

After a rigorous process of application and review, the Events Committee of the BSA is proud to announce the institutions that will host our three upcoming annual conferences and their titles. The 2018 BSA Annual Conference, Shakespeare Studies Today, will take place at Queen’s University Belfast on 14-17 June. Swansea Universitywill host the 2019 conference Shakespeare: Race and Nation, while the 2020 conference Shakespeare in Action will take place at the University of Surrey. We would like to thank all three institutions for the hard work they have invested in their applications, and we look forward to visiting Belfast, Swansea, and Surrey in due course. The Belfast and Swansea BSA conferences will be the first ones to take place in Northern Ireland and in Wales, respectively, which is enormously exciting, as the BSA will have visited all four constituent nations of the United Kingdom by the end of 2019. The Events Committee now invites initial expressions of interest in hosting the 2021 Conference. The Conference Proposal Form can be found on the BSA website http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/conference/ Full information on the upcoming conferences can be found on: www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-conferences-for-2018-2019-and-2020

BSA Summer School for Schoolteachers, The Shakespeare Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 3-5 August 2017

The Association and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust are co-organising the first BSA Summer School for Schoolteachers, coordinated by Chris Green (BSA Teaching Trustee) and Nick Walton (SBT Education). The event will be aimed at both English and Drama teachers (from both the Primary and Secondary sectors). The price will be £177 (tbc), and will include tickets to see the Royal Shakespeare Company new productions of Julius Caesarand Antony and Cleopatra, as well as a series of sessions with members of the RSC casts, professional directors, and scholars from the Shakespeare Institute and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. More details about the programme and the booking process will be announced soon. For expressions of interest and other enquiries, please contact Chris Green: cejgreen@hotmail.com

BSA Panels, ‘Shared Futures’, English Association and University English Conference, Newcastle 5-7 July 2017

The BSA invites members—teachers, theatre practitioners, enthusiasts, academics—to participate in a series of three Shakespeare panels we will be running at the Shared Futures conference in Newcastle next summer: ‘Why Shakespeare now?’ (Chair Susan Anderson); Panel 2 ‘Sharing Shakespeare’s Language (workshop chaired by Alison Findlay, Andrew Jarvis and James Harrison-Smith) and Panel 3: Sharing Futures across primary, secondary and university education (Chairs: Chris Green and Karen Eckersal). Further details can be found on the BSA website. The BSA has a number to Bursaries to award to members (especially teachers and theatre practitioners) who wish to contribute to the panels / workshop above and are not in receipt of funding from their institution. For further details please contact Susan Anderson S.Anderson@leedstrinity.ac.uk For more information about the panels see http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/join-our-panels-at-the-shared-futures-conference/  Registration for English: Shared Futures is now open!. You can find the registration form by clicking the booking tab at the top of the conference’s home page at http ://www . englishsharedfutures . uk Early bird rates are available until 30 April, and a limited number of fee-only bursaries for the low- and un-waged is available. The deadline to apply for those is 15 March. 

BSA funding available for conference, events, and other activities

The BSA is able to award small amounts of money to Shakespeare-related education events, academic conferences and other activities taking place in the UK. For more information or to apply for funding, please email the Chair of the Events Committee, Susan Anderson (S.Anderson@leedstrinity.ac.uk) or the Chair of the Education Committee, Sarah Olive (sarah.olive@york.ac.uk).

Teaching Shakespeare 11 out this month!

Teaching Shakespeare 11 will be published this month. Apart from the usual selection of articles for educators and students in all sectors, don’t miss our competition…compete with prizes! We have three copies of the gorgeous publication Colouring Shakespeare with a foreword by Simon Callow to give away to readers. Given that we’re now into double figures in terms of issues, we’re inviting readers to take 10 minutes to answer a short online survey about the magazine to make it even stronger as we go forward: http ://surveymonkey . co . uk/r/JRDLVHL  With huge thanks in advance from the Education Committee.

CALLS FOR PAPERS

CFP: Hamlet and Emotions: Then and Now, University of Western Australia, 10-11 April 2017

Ian McEwan’s recent novel Nutshell (2016), in which Hamlet is an unborn foetus, is only the latest in a line of appropriations of Shakespeare’s plays stretching back to 1600. Hamlet itself stretches beyond the seventeenth century, drawing on sources that date back to twelfth-century Denmark, and referring within itself to relics of older drama that Shakespeare may have seen as a boy in Stratford. Hamlet looks both backwards and forwards in time. The play also covers a remarkable range of emotional states, including anger, love, hatred, grief, melancholy and despair. Indeed, Hamlet stages a plethora of emotional practices: a funeral and a marriage, a vindictive ghost in purgatory, a young woman whose mental equilibrium has been dislodged by the murder of her father by her own erstwhile lover, an inscrutable monarch under suspicion of murder, a couple of mordantly cheerful gravediggers, and a young prince back from university and grieving for his deceased father. This symposium invites new readings of the play, focusing on any aspect of its emotional life in the widest sense. We envisage papers from a range of disciplines and points of view, which may contribute to any of the Centre’s four research programs – Meanings, Change, Performance or Shaping the Modern. Some possible areas of discussion are mentioned below, but they are by no means exclusive. We aim at producing a book proposal, so completed papers ready for publication will save time when approaching a publisher. International visitors include Kevin Curran (University of Lausanne), Richard Meek (University of Hull), Kathryn Prince (University of Ottawa), and Naya Tsentourou (University of Exeter) More information on: http ://www . historyofemotions . org . au/events/hamlet-and-emotions-then-and-now/ Please send proposals for 20-minute papers, including a title and presenter details, to Paul Megna (paul.megna.uwa.edu.au) by 28 February 2017.

CFP: Offensive Shakespeare conference, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 24th May 2017

This conference is sponsored by the BSA. Keynote speakers include Professor Douglas Lanier (University of New Hampshire) and Dr Peter Kirwan (University of Nottingham). ‘Outrage as BBC bosses “use Shakespeare to push pro-immigration agenda”’. This was a headline in The Daily Express on 25th April 2016, after the BBC included what has become known as the ‘Immigration Speech’ from Sir Thomas More in a programme celebrating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. From Thomas and Henrietta Bowdler expurgating passages from their Family Shakespeare, through campaigns in the early 20th century to remove The Merchant of Venice from American classrooms, to this recent ‘outrage’, people have been offended by what Shakespeare wrote or by the uses to which others have put him. But what is it that offends us and how do we deal with it? What makes Shakespeare and his appropriations such a sensitive issue? Full details on abstract submission are available here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/cfp-offensive-shakespeare/

CFP: Shakespeare, Technology, Media, Performance, University of Exeter, 24 June 2017

This conference will examine the recent significant changes in how Shakespeare’s plays are performed and disseminated through old and new technologies and media. At one end of the spectrum, through performances in reconstructed early modern theatres, early modern performance technologies have re-entered mainstream culture. The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is only the most recent example of how early modern technologies and the plays written by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and successors have returned to the cutting edge of present-day theatre. At the other end of the spectrum, the current production of The Tempest by the RSC in partnership with Intel exemplifies how mainstream theatre companies have, in the wake of productions by smaller companies experimenting with digital and virtual theatre, embraced digital media. Full information on: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/cfp-shakespeare-technology-media-performance/

This conference is organised and sponsored by Shakespeare Bulletin to mark the end of Pascale Aebischer’s term as General Editor of the journal. Keynote speakers include Courtney Lehmann (University of the Pacific), Ramona Wray (Queen’s University Belfast), and Pascale Aebischer (University of Exeter).

We call for papers on any of the following or related topics in relation to the performance of Shakespeare and/or early modern drama:

–        reimagined performance technologies in reconstructed playhouses and Practice-as-Research

–        intermedial performance practices

–        social media performance

–        theatre broadcast technology and spectatorship

–        television and feature film adaptation

–        digital objects and digital media

–        technology of the classroom

Paper proposals of up to 300 words, accompanied by a short biographical statement, should be submitted to Emma Bessent (E.Bessent@exeter.ac.uk) by Monday 27 February. Up to 6 postgraduate bursaries covering the conference attendance fee plus a standard contribution of £50 to assist with travel expenses are available to encourage contributions to the debate by a new generation of scholars. Please specify in your proposal if you wish to apply for one of these. Early submissions will be preferred.

CFP: Humour, History, and Methodology: A Multidisciplinary and Trans-Professional Enquiry, Durham University, 26-28 July 2017

The Humours of the Past (HOP) Network brings together researchers and practitioners with a mutual stake in understanding, interpreting and communicating humour of various kinds from particular times and cultural contexts. The study of humour as an approach to history – and history as an approach to humour – is a developing area of enquiry. However, there has been relatively little cross-disciplinary reflection on the methods researchers use to identify and understand humour from the past, and on what may be similar across disparate cultural materials. Furthermore, academic researchers have had only limited opportunities to discuss their modes of enquiry with practitioners who also have a professional stake in interpreting humour from the past, such as actors, directors, curators, and translators. To this end, HOP is holding a conference at Durham University, 26-28 July 2017 to encourage researchers and practitioners to share approaches. In addition to individual papers, there will be three roundtable discussions, exploring the verbal, visual and performative ‘translation’ of historical humour to contemporary audiences. Keynote speakers include Em. Prof. Conal Condren (UNSW), Mr Phil Porter (playwright), and Prof. Indira Ghose (Fribourg). Full information on welcome topics on: https://humoursofthepast . wordpress . com/Please submit abstracts (300 words max) to humoursofthepast@gmail.com by 1 March 2017. We particularly welcome submissions of coherent panels of 3 linked papers. Follow us on Twitter @historichumour. Organisers: Daniel Derrin (Durham University) and Hannah Burrows (University of Aberdeen)

CFP: Cahiers Shakespeare en devenir (2017): Shakespeare and Africa

This issue would like to explore the relationship between Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, that of Shakespeare but also his contemporaries, and the representation of Africa, or, from a contextual viewpoint, the perception of the African continent in early modern England. The issue will also discuss 19^th-21^st c. re-writings, appropriations and adaptations of Shakespeare by African and African-American writers, stage directors and film directors. Full details and guidelines are available here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/shakespeare-in-africa/

MEMBERS’ NEWS AND EVENTS

We are pleased to advertise news and activities by our members and other Shakespeare associations. If you would like to advertise a Shakespeare-related activity, please email our Membership Officer, José A. Pérez Díez, at J.A.PerezDiez@leeds.ac.uk. Items below are not affiliated with or endorsed by the BSA – please use individual contact details for more information.

Sidelights on Shakespeare. ‘Shakespeare in Performance’: “Every man look o’er his part. For the short and the long is, our play is preferred”, 25 February 2017, Humanities Studio, University of Warwick

This year we have transformed Sidelights on Shakespeare. On Saturday 25th February 2017 we will be holding a one-day event under the broad title of ‘Shakespeare in Performance’. Sponsored by the Humanities Research Centre, we will be bringing together respected academics and post-graduate researchers to celebrate the current work being done in the field of Shakespeare in performance. Confirmed Speakers include Dr Jaq Bessell (Director of Studies, Guildford School of Acting), Professor Tony Howard and Dr Steve Purcell (University of Warwick), and Tim Supple (Artistic Director, Dash Arts). The event is free and includes refreshments, though are asking you to register as numbers will be limited.  Booking is now open and delegate places proving very popular. For further information please email Stephanie on S.A.Tillotson@warwick.ac.uk or visit the Humanities Research Centre website at: http ://www2 . warwick . ac . uk/fac/arts/hrc/seminars/sos/

“Why Does Cardenio Matter?”: A talk by Gary Taylor at the Richmond Shakespeare Society, Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham, 15 March 2017, 7:45pm.

Professor Gary Taylor talks about the lost Shakespeare-and-Fletcher play The History of Cardenio: what we know about it: how we know it: and why does it matter? If you’re interested in Shakespeare or theatre in general, or the Renaissance in England and Spain, take this rare opportunity to hear one of the world’s leading Shakespearean scholars speaking in the UK. He will describe his own long scholarly investigation, the creation of his reconstruction and the theatrical collaborations that have tested and refined it. And his talk serves as prologue to the UK premiere of his reconstruction, opening at the Mary Wallace Theatre the following Saturday. The talk will be free but ticketed; please visit this link: http ://www . richmondshakespeare . org . uk/index . php/news/article/why_does_cardenio_matter/

The History of Cardenio by William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, and Gary Taylor, Richmond Shakespeare Society, Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham, 18-25 March 2017, 7:45pm.

The UK premiere of the most authentic vision of the lost Shakespeare play The History of Cardenio. Leading scholar Gary Taylor has made a lively, credible, theatrically viable reconstruction of Shakespeare and Fletcher’s 1612 play. Cardenio loves Lucinda. When he tells his friend Fernando about her, Fernando loves Lucinda too. But Fernando is already as good as married to Violante, a farmer’s daughter. So, to marry Lucinda, Fernando must be doubly false and betray the two people who are dearest to him. One will come close to death, another will go mad. Quesada, the old schoolmaster, has read too many stories of chivalry and determines to become a wandering knight. With his houseboy, Sancho, as his squire, he takes to the road to kill dragons and save damsels. There will be confrontations and absolutions but will everyone come out happy? Will everyone come out sane? RSS and Cutpurse present the British premiere of the most authentic vision of the lost play. One of the world’s leading Shakespeare scholars, Gary Taylor, collaborates posthumously with Shakespeare and Fletcher to re-create their adaptation of Don Quixote in a script that’s passionate, romantic and immensely funny. More information and bookings: http ://www . richmondshakespeare . org . uk/index . php/productions/production/the_history_of_cardenio/# . WJCwJE1XV3c

After Shakespeare play readings, Birmingham.

After Shakespeare holds weekly drop-in Shakespeare play readings at the Birmingham & Midland Institute in the centre of Birmingham (Tuesdays, 6.30-9.00pm), where around 15 people meet to read, discuss, and generally enjoy Shakespeare’s plays. We are currently reading our 6th Shakespeare play, Henry IV Part 1, anyone interested is welcome to come along; please drop Frank Bramwell an email at aftershakespeareuk@gmail.com. After Shakespeare also holds workshops aimed at increasing enjoyment of Shakespeare, as well as writing and performing new plays inspired by the work of William Shakespeare. Details of all our activities can be found at www . aftershakespeare . co . uk

Announcing our Honorary Fellows for 2017

The British Shakespeare Association endows two Honorary Fellowships each year. The Fellowships Committee chaired by Andrew Jarvis is now proud to announce that the BSA Honorary Fellows for 2017 are Sarah Stanton, formerly Publisher, Shakespeare and early modern literary studies for Cambridge University Press, and the actor Adrian Lester, one of the strongest Shakespearian performers of our time. The Fellowships will be conferred at our Honorary Fellows Award event and Annual General Meeting on Saturday 4th November, at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford. Full details will be advertised in due course.

Announcing the annual conferences for 2018, 2019, and 2020

After a rigorous process of application and review, the Events Committee of the BSA is proud to announce the institutions that will host our three upcoming annual conferences and their titles. The BSA Annual Conference of 2018 will take place at Queen’s University Belfast on 14-17 June under the title Shakespeare Studies Today. Swansea University will host the conference in 2019 with the title Shakespeare: Race and Nation, while in 2020 it will take place at the University of Surrey and the theme will be Shakespeare in Action. We would like to thank all three institutions for the hard work they have invested in their applications, and we look forward to visiting Belfast, Swansea, and Surrey in due course. The Belfast and Swansea BSA conferences will be the first to take place in Northern Ireland and in Wales, respectively, which is enormously exciting, as the BSA would have visited all four constituent nations of the United Kingdom by the end of 2019.

Teachers’ Conference: Shakespeare and Creativity, The Shakespeare Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 3-5 August 2017

The BSA and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust are co-organising the first Teachers’ Conference, coordinated by Chris Green (BSA Teaching Trustee) and Nick Walton (SBT Education) under the title ‘Shakespeare and Creativity’. The price will be £180, and will include tickets to see the Royal Shakespeare Company new productions of Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra, as well as a series of sessions with members of the RSC casts, professional directors, and scholars from the Shakespeare Institute and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Full information on http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/announcing-the-bsa-and-sbt-teachers-conference/

Teaching Shakespeare 11 is out!

Apart from the usual selection of articles for educators and students in all sectors, don’t miss our competition…compete with prizes! We have three copies of the gorgeous publication Colouring Shakespeare with a foreword by Simon Callow to give away to readers. You can download your free copy here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/teaching-shakespeare-11-is-out/

Given that we’re now into double figures in terms of issues, we’re inviting readers to take 10 minutes to answer a short online survey about the magazine to make it even stronger as we go forward: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/we-want-your-opinion-on-teaching-shakespeare/ With huge thanks in advance from the Education Committee.

New Editors for the Education Network Blog

As of February 2017, following on from the excellent work of Dr. Sarah Olive, our Education Network blog will be jointly edited by the BSA’s two Teaching Trustees: Chris Green and Karen Eckersall. Chris and Karen will welcome any contributions to the education network blog. You can contact them with articles, ideas or questions at the following email addresses: Chris Green – Karen Eckersall – More information on: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/new-editors-of-the-education-network-blog

BSA Panels, ‘Shared Futures’, English Association and University English Conference, Newcastle 5-7 July 2017

The BSA invites members—teachers, theatre practitioners, enthusiasts, academics—to participate in a series of three Shakespeare panels we will be running at the Shared Futures conference in Newcastle next summer: ‘Why Shakespeare now?’ (Chair Susan Anderson); Panel 2 ‘Sharing Shakespeare’s Language (workshop chaired by Alison Findlay, Andrew Jarvis and James Harrison-Smith) and Panel 3: Sharing Futures across primary, secondary and university education (Chairs: Chris Green and Karen Eckersall). Further details can be found on the BSA website. More information on: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/join-our-panels-at-the-shared-futures-conference/ Members who wish to participate but do not have access to financial support (e.g. from a university or school) can apply for a BSA Bursary to help with the costs of attending.

BSA funding available for conference, events, and other activities

The BSA is able to award small amounts of money to Shakespeare-related education events, academic conferences and other activities taking place in the UK. For more information or to apply for funding, please email the Chair of the Events Committee, Susan Anderson (S.Anderson@leedstrinity.ac.uk) or the Chair of the Education Committee, Sarah Olive (sarah.olive@york.ac.uk).

CALLS FOR PAPERS

NEW CFP: European Shakespeare Research Association conference, Shakespeare and European Theatrical Cultures: AnAtomizing Text and Stage, University of Gdańsk and The Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre, Poland, 27 – 30 July 2017

The deadline for the following seminars has been extended to MARCH 31st

1. Avant-Garde Shakespeares/Shakespeare in the Avant-Garde
2. “The accent of his tongue affecteth him:” “Accentism” and/in Shakespeare
3. Anatomizing Shakespearean Myth-making: Game of Thrones
4. Staged on the Page: Transmedial Shakespeare in Theatre and Visual Arts
5. The name of action: actors of Shakespeare and Shakespearean actors
6. Shakespeare and Music
7. Shakespearean Drama and the Early Modern European Stage
8. Magic through ritual objects and stage props: Early Modern practices and Modern adaptations
9. Staging Utopias: Shakespeare in Print and Performance
10. Shakespeare in performance in digital media

Seminar descriptions here

This conference will convene Shakespeare scholars at a theatre that proudly stands in the place where English players regularly performed 400 years ago. This makes us ponder with renewed interest the relation between theatre and Shakespeare. The urge to do so may sound like a commonplace, but it comes to us enhanced by the fact that in the popular and learned imagination alike Shakespeare is inseparable from theatre while the theatre, for four centuries now, first in England, then on the continent (Europe) and eventually in the world, has been more and more strongly defined and shaped by Shakespeare. Shakespeare has become the theatrical icon, a constant point of reference, the litmus paper for the formal, technological and ideological development of the theatre, and for the impact of adaptation and appropriation on theatrical cultures. Shakespeare has served as one of the major sources for the development of European culture, both high and low. His presence permeates the fine shades and fissures of a multifarious European identity. His work has informed educational traditions, and, through forms of textual transmit such as translation and appropriation, has actively contributed to the process of building national distinctiveness. Shakespeare has been one of the master keys and, at the same time, a picklock granting easier access to the complex and challenging space of European and universal values.

Please send your abstracts and biographies to seminar organisers (and cc conference organisers at gdansk@esra2017.eu) not later than 31 March 2017.

You need to be a member of ESRA to take part in the congress. It is free to join ESRA and you can register here (http ://www . um . es/shakespeare/esra/registration . php).

The list of seminars has been made available on the ESRA and the conference website

Download seminars list here!

Keynote speakers: Professor Małgorzata Grzegorzewska (University of Warsaw), Professor Diana Henderson (MIT), Professor Peter Holland (University of Notre Dame), and Luc Perceval (Hamburg Thalia Theatre)

The congress coincides with the 21^st International Shakespeare Festival in Gdansk taking place at the Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre

We will continue to update our website with the details of forthcoming productions and special festival events, including workshops with invited theatre companies and meetings with theatre directors.

NEW CFP: Performing Restoration Shakespeare: Applications for Summer Workshop at Shakespeare’s Globe, 10-13 July 2017

The AHRC-funded project ‘Performing Restoration Shakespeare’ (2017-2020) invites applications from UK and EU researchers (including PhD students in their second year or beyond) to participate in a scholar-artist workshop at Shakespeare’s Globe in July 2017. For this collaborative and practice-based event, we seek to recruit 10 researchers drawn from the disciplines of theatre history, musicology and Shakespeare studies. Selected participants will receive accommodation in London for 3 nights, subsistence, and up to £120 for travel expenses. The selected researchers will work with performing artists (actors, instrumentalists, singers) in a 4-day workshop on Restoration versions of The Tempest, to be held in the Globe’s rehearsal space and in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from 10-13 July 2017. The sessions in the Wanamaker will be open to the public. Through a combination of archival study and reflective creative practice, we will investigate how Restoration Shakespeare can be performed today in a way that understands the historical context of this distinctive performance genre and then uses that understanding to create meaningful performances for contemporary audiences. This workshop offers a unique opportunity for collaboration with researchers from cognate disciplines, performing artists in theatre and music, Globe staff, and the general public. Additionally, the workshop offers the potential for publication in an edited volume arising from the project as a whole. ‘Performing Restoration Shakespeare’ is jointly led by theatre historian Richard Schoch (Queen’s University Belfast) and musicologist Amanda Eubanks Winkler (Syracuse University). Our partners are Shakespeare’s Globe, the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. To apply for a place in the workshop, please email a brief CV (2-3pp) and a 500-word statement of interest to Dr Claude Fretz, Research Fellow (Queen’s University Belfast) c.fretz@qub.ac.uk by April 1st 2017. In your statement of interest please explain how you would contribute to the workshop and how participating in the workshop would benefit your research. For further information, please contact Dr Claude Fretz. We expect to notify all applicants of the outcome by April 15th 2017.

NEW CFP: Shakespeare Unbound, Conference of the French Shakespeare Society, Paris, 18 – 20 January 2018

The Société Française Shakespeare is dedicating its annual conference to “Shakespeare Unbound”. The topic addresses Shakespeare’s propensity to negotiate with dominant ideologies, his ability to break and renew formal and cultural rules and his long-lasting influence in creating innovative dramatic and poetic forms, new words and thoughts, “And all that faith creates or love desires, / Terrible, strange, sublime and beauteous shapes” (Shelley), Prometheus-like. This conference will provide an occasion for academics, theatre, performance and arts practitioners to discuss Shakespeare and his contemporaries’ abilities to question and renew the boundaries of art. We welcome proposals (in English or in French) on topics such as:

–      The publication and editorial history of Shakespeare’s and his contemporaries’ works — in bound and unbound formats;

–      Shakespeare’s and his contemporaries’ reappropriation of classical and early modern culture, Shakespeare’s “borrowed robes”, his contribution to liberating dramatic and poetic aesthetics, and ability to “beguile Nature of her custom”;

–      Shakespeare adaptations and appropriations from the 17th to the 21st century which have contributed to liberating or rediscovering his work and/or influence.

Selected proceedings will be published in the Société Française Shakespeare’s peer-reviewed online journal: http ://shakespeare . revues . org. Please send proposals by April 25, 2017 to contact@societefrancaiseshakespeare.org. Proposals should include a title, an abstract (750-word max.), and a short bio.

More information: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/cfp-shakespeare-unbound/

THE BSA MEMBERS’ BULLETIN

We are pleased to advertise news and activities by our members and other Shakespeare associations. If you would like to advertise a Shakespeare-related activity, please email our Membership Officer, José A. Pérez Díez, at membership@britishshakespeare.ws. Items below are not affiliated with or endorsed by the BSA – please use individual contact details for more information.

The Story of the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon 1824-2016, Susan Brock and Sylvia Morris, available now.

In their new book, The Story of the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon 1824-2016, Susan Brock and Sylvia Morris answer the question “How did it come about that a small market town in the centre of England became the focus of the worldwide worship of Shakespeare?”  After all, London’s claims were much stronger being the place where he became famous and spent the most productive years of his life. The story of the part played by the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon, set up nearly 200 years ago by ordinary townsfolk and still in existence today, is told in this alternative history of the town. The Club was responsible for organising the first local festivities for Shakespeare’s Birthday on 23 April in 1827, 1830 and 1833. It played an important part in saving Shakespeare’ s Birthplace and setting up the Birthplace Trust. It worked towards the preservation of the Shakespeare monuments and the graves in Holy Trinity Church and it played a huge part in setting up the theatres in Stratford so that Shakespeare’s plays have a permanent home for their performance outside London. The fully-illustrated book is based on documentary evidence provided by the rich archives of the Club dating back to its foundation in 1824 and the archives of Stratford-upon-Avon which are preserved in the collections of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Published by the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon, copies (£12.99) are available direct from www . stratfordshakespeareclub . org or write to stratfordshakespeareclub@gmail.com.

“Madness and Folly”, the Fifth Ardingly Shakespeare Conference, 13 March 2017

The format is the same as in past years: an academic conference at school level. There will be three academic keynote speakers and a Shakespearean actor. The heart of the conference are student and teaching staff papers on a Shakespearean text of their choice, but with reference to the conference theme. Research papers should be 15-20 long, and can be read from a script. After the conference, we collect all papers and publish them as “Proceedings of the Ardingly Shakespeare Conference”. It is a great day, and a good opportunity for English students to measure themselves against their peers – and it is useful for UCAS forms. It is also a great opportunity for teachers to write a research paper on a text of their choice. Giving a paper is, of course, not obligatory. Please send your abstracts to Dr Markus Klinge,

“Why Does Cardenio Matter?”: A talk by Gary Taylor at the Richmond Shakespeare Society, Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham, 15 March 2017, 7:45pm.

Professor Gary Taylor talks about the lost Shakespeare-and-Fletcher play The History of Cardenio: what we know about it: how we know it: and why does it matter? If you’re interested in Shakespeare or theatre in general, or the Renaissance in England and Spain, take this rare opportunity to hear one of the world’s leading Shakespearean scholars speaking in the UK. He will describe his own long scholarly investigation, the creation of his reconstruction and the theatrical collaborations that have tested and refined it. And his talk serves as prologue to the UK premiere of his reconstruction, opening at the Mary Wallace Theatre the following Saturday. The talk will be free but ticketed.

The History of Cardenio by William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, and Gary Taylor, Richmond Shakespeare Society, Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham, 18-25 March 2017, 7:45pm.

The UK premiere of the most authentic vision of the lost Shakespeare play The History of Cardenio. Leading scholar Gary Taylor has made a lively, credible, theatrically viable reconstruction of Shakespeare and Fletcher’s 1612 play. Cardenio loves Lucinda. When he tells his friend Fernando about her, Fernando loves Lucinda too. But Fernando is already as good as married to Violante, a farmer’s daughter. So, to marry Lucinda, Fernando must be doubly false and betray the two people who are dearest to him. One will come close to death, another will go mad. Quesada, the old schoolmaster, has read too many stories of chivalry and determines to become a wandering knight. With his houseboy, Sancho, as his squire, he takes to the road to kill dragons and save damsels. There will be confrontations and absolutions but will everyone come out happy? Will everyone come out sane? RSS and Cutpurse present the British premiere of the most authentic vision of the lost play. One of the world’s leading Shakespeare scholars, Gary Taylor, collaborates posthumously with Shakespeare and Fletcher to re-create their adaptation of Don Quixote in a script that’s passionate, romantic and immensely funny. More information and bookings: http ://www . richmondshakespeare . org . uk/index . php/productions/production/the_history_of_cardenio/# . WJCwJE1XV3c

The Faith of William Shakespeare: a one-day conference, The Shakespeare Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 20 May 2017, 10am to 5pm

Join us to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation to explore what that meant to Shakespeare and Stratford-upon-Avon. Professor Peter Marshall (University of Warwick) will present an overview of religion during Shakespeare’s time; Professor Graham Holderness (University of Hertfordshire) will talk about Shakespeare’s Calvinism; Dr Tara Hamling (University of Birmingham) will curate a special exhibition based on Reformation-related material from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s Collections; Professor Ann Hughes (Keele University) considers Stratford-upon-Avon’s Puritans; Dr Jonathan Willis (University of Birmingham) discusses public worship; Dr Cathryn Enis (University of Birmingham) will speak about friendships at a time of religious division; and Dr Robert Bearman (Honorary Fellow, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) will talk about religion and Shakespeare’s daily mind. The conference is hosted by Dr Paul Edmondson, Head of Research, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. With grateful acknowledgement to Lion Hudson Publishing for sponsoring this event.

Fee: £25.00 (£20.00 SBT Friends), includes refreshments (not lunch), and a copy of Graham Holderness’s new book, The Faith of William Shakespeare. On-line bookings only via: https://www . shakespeare . org . uk/visit/whats-on/faith-william-shakespeare/ Venue: The Wolfson Hall, The Shakespeare Centre. Arrivals from 9.45am.

King Lear (alone), one-man play with inamoment theatre.

After its highly acclaimed full outing last year, inamoment theatre’s one-man play King Lear (alone) is touring again in 2017, visiting festivals and theatre venues up and down the country. Using mostly Shakespeare’s words, and set in a modern day care home, it’s an astonishing tour de force by Bob Young, retelling the events that led to Lear’s tragedy.

“I left the theatre feeling like I’d been exposed to a flawed individual at their most honest . . . ” “King Lear (Alone) is a gripping production and the formidable performance given by Bob Young makes it compelling viewing.”  “Bob Young in the title role, is a powerful performer. His tormented character takes shape thanks to his profound voice, whilst his presence on stage appears carefully studied….. In Bob Young’s poignant (portrayal), the play is quite intense.”

The play has been designed for performance in Schools, Theatres, Conferences, Halls etc. (we also offer a separate King Lear workshop), all details can be found at www . kinglearalone . uk. Please contact Frank Bramwell at inamomenttheatre@gmail.com to make booking enquiries.

Michael Bogdanov (1938-2017)

The BSA is deeply saddened to hear of the death of Michael Bogdanov, an outstanding director of Shakespeare and longtime friend to the Association. Michael served on our Honorary Fellowship Committee, and, most recently, gave a memorable plenary session in conversation with John Drakakis at the BSA conference in Stirling in 2014. We will be publishing a fuller tribute to Michael on our website soon. Our thoughts are with his family.

Announcing our Honorary Fellows for 2017

The British Shakespeare Association awards two Honorary Fellowships each year. The Fellowships Committee chaired by Andrew Jarvis is now proud to announce that the BSA Honorary Fellows for 2017 are Sarah Stanton, formerly Publisher, Shakespeare and early modern literary studies for Cambridge University Press, and the actor Adrian Lester, one of the strongest Shakespearian performers of our time. The Fellowships will be conferred at our Honorary Fellows Award event and Annual General Meeting on Saturday 4th November, at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford. Full details will be advertised in due course.

Call For Participants: ‘Shared Futures’, English Association and University English Conference, Newcastle 5-7 July 2017

There is still time to participate in our panels at the Shared Futures conference. Choose from ‘Why Shakespeare now?’ (Chair Susan Anderson); Panel 2 ‘Sharing Shakespeare’s Language (workshop chaired by Alison Findlay, Andrew Jarvis and James Harrison-Smith) and Panel 3: Sharing Futures across primary, secondary and university education (Chairs: Chris Green and Karen Eckersall). Further details can be found on the BSA website. More information on: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/join-our-panels-at-the-shared-futures-conference/

If you would like to participate but do not have access to financial support (e.g. from a university or school) the BSA might be able to help. Contact us to find out how to apply for a BSA Bursary. http ://www . englishsharedfutures . uk/

Announcing the annual conferences for 2018, 2019, and 2020

After a rigorous process of application and review, the Events Committee of the BSA is proud to announce the institutions that will host our three upcoming annual conferences and their titles. The BSA Annual Conference of 2018 will take place at Queen’s University Belfast on 14-17 June under the title Shakespeare Studies Today. Swansea University will host the conference in 2019 with the title Shakespeare: Race and Nation, while in 2020 it will take place at the University of Surrey and the theme will be Shakespeare in Action. We would like to thank all three institutions for the hard work they have invested in their applications, and we look forward to visiting Belfast, Swansea, and Surrey in due course. The Belfast and Swansea BSA conferences will be the first to take place in Northern Ireland and in Wales, respectively, which is enormously exciting, as the BSA would have visited all four constituent nations of the United Kingdom by the end of 2019.

BSA election of new Trustees

The BSA will be electing new Trustees over the summer. Applications are invited from members from all backgrounds—academics, teachers, theatre practitioners—to help strengthen the governing Board of Trustees and its committees. Full details of the nomination process will be posted by the end of May.

Interview with Professor Peter Hulme

The BSA website features an interview in which Peter Hulme (Emeritus Professor of English (University of Essex) discusses his work as editor of The Tempest and writer on world literature and postcolonial theory with John Drakakis (Emeritus Professor of English, University of Stirling). It is available here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/peter-hulme-in-conversation-with-john-drakakis/

New Editors for the Education Network Blog

As of February 2017, following on from the excellent work of Dr. Sarah Olive, our Education Network blog will be jointly edited by the BSA’s two Teaching Trustees: Chris Green and Karen Eckersall. Chris and Karen will welcome any contributions to the education network blog. You can contact them with articles, ideas or questions at the following email addresses: Chris Green – Karen Eckersall – More information on: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/new-editors-of-the-education-network-blog

Teachers’ Conference: Shakespeare and Creativity, The Shakespeare Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 3-5 August 2017

The BSA and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust are co-organising the first Teachers’ Conference, coordinated by Chris Green (BSA Teaching Trustee) and Nick Walton (SBT Education) under the title ‘Shakespeare and Creativity’. The price will be £180, and will include tickets to see the Royal Shakespeare Company new productions of Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra, as well as a series of sessions with members of the RSC casts, professional directors, and scholars from the Shakespeare Institute and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Full information on http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/programme-and-registration-forms-for-our-teachers-conference/

The programme can be downloaded here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Programme-Teachers-Conference-2017 . pdf

Teaching Shakespeare 11 is out!

Apart from the usual selection of articles for educators and students in all sectors, don’t miss our competition…compete with prizes! We have three copies of the gorgeous publication Colouring Shakespeare with a foreword by Simon Callow to give away to readers. You can download your free copy here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/teaching-shakespeare-11-is-out/

Given that we’re now into double figures in terms of issues, we’re inviting readers to take 10 minutes to answer a short online survey about the magazine to make it even stronger as we go forward: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/we-want-your-opinion-on-teaching-shakespeare/ With huge thanks in advance from the Education Committee.

BSA funding available for conference, events, and other activities

The BSA is able to award small amounts of money to Shakespeare-related education events, academic conferences and other activities taking place in the UK. For more information or to apply for funding, please email the Chair of the Events Committee, Susan Anderson (Susan.Anderson@shu.ac.uk ) or the Chair of the Education Committee, Sarah Olive (sarah.olive@york.ac.uk).

CALLS FOR PAPERS

 NEW CFP: The Cockpit-Phoenix in Drury Lane: a symposium. London Metropolitan Archives, 9 September 2017, 10am-4pm

Led by Dr Rebecca Bailey (Liverpool John Moores University) and Dr Eva Griffith (independent scholar & early theatre historian) Organised to coincide with ‘Life on the London Stage’, an exhibition at the LMA, this symposium will mark the 400th anniversary year of a famous riot at this, the first playhouse in Drury Lane. The history of the ‘West End’ is variously told but rarely begins with consideration of the Cockpit, an indoor theatre built for Queen Anna’s men by their actor-manager Christopher Beeston. Despite obvious initial troubles, with Beeston renaming it ‘the Phoenix’ after the Shrovetide attack of 1617, this venue successfully produced drama from old repertoires while welcoming the new too – with Thomas Heywood as representative on the one hand and James Shirley on the other.
300-word proposals are welcome on topics including but not limited to:
•       Seventeenth-century indoor playhouses
•       Theatre designs of the Inigo Jones’ school
•       Company/actor histories and early indoor playhouses
•       Land scholarship and the Cockpit playhouse
•       The early history of the West End/Drury Lane
•       Repertoire history and the Cockpit-Phoenix
•       The drama patronage of consort queens
•       The later drama of Thomas Heywood
•       The plays of James Shirley
•       Thomas Killigrew and the Cockpit Phoenix
•       The Cockpit and staging
•       Restoration drama and the Cockpit-Phoenix repertoires
A performance element will be included for the day.
Confirmed speakers include Professor Elspeth Graham, a director of the Shakespeare North Trust and Patrick Spottiswoode, Director of Globe Education, Shakespeare’s Globe.
Please send your proposals for 20-minute papers to R.A.Bailey@ljmu.ac.uk and DrEvaGriffith@gmail.com by 1 May 2017, including a 300-word abstract and a brief biography. The programme will be available in June 2017, along with registration details. The event will cost £30 including lunch. Full information on: http ://www . evagriffith . com

THE BSA MEMBERS’ BULLETIN

We are pleased to advertise news and activities by our members and other Shakespeare associations. If you would like to advertise a Shakespeare-related activity, please email our Membership Officer, José A. Pérez Díez, at membership@britishshakespeare.ws. Items below are not affiliated with or endorsed by the BSA – please use individual contact details for more information.

The Story of the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon 1824-2016, Susan Brock and Sylvia Morris, available now.

In their new book, The Story of the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon 1824-2016, Susan Brock and Sylvia Morris answer the question “How did it come about that a small market town in the centre of England became the focus of the worldwide worship of Shakespeare?”  After all, London’s claims were much stronger being the place where he became famous and spent the most productive years of his life. The story of the part played by the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon, set up nearly 200 years ago by ordinary townsfolk and still in existence today, is told in this alternative history of the town. The Club was responsible for organising the first local festivities for Shakespeare’s Birthday on 23 April in 1827, 1830 and 1833. It played an important part in saving Shakespeare’ s Birthplace and setting up the Birthplace Trust. It worked towards the preservation of the Shakespeare monuments and the graves in Holy Trinity Church and it played a huge part in setting up the theatres in Stratford so that Shakespeare’s plays have a permanent home for their performance outside London. The fully-illustrated book is based on documentary evidence provided by the rich archives of the Club dating back to its foundation in 1824 and the archives of Stratford-upon-Avon which are preserved in the collections of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Published by the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon, copies (£12.99) are available direct from www . stratfordshakespeareclub . org or write to stratfordshakespeareclub@gmail.com.

The Faith of William Shakespeare: a one-day conference, The Shakespeare Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 20 May 2017, 10am to 5pm

Join us to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation to explore what that meant to Shakespeare and Stratford-upon-Avon. Professor Peter Marshall (University of Warwick) will present an overview of religion during Shakespeare’s time; Professor Graham Holderness (University of Hertfordshire) will talk about Shakespeare’s Calvinism; Dr Tara Hamling (University of Birmingham) will curate a special exhibition based on Reformation-related material from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s Collections; Professor Ann Hughes (Keele University) considers Stratford-upon-Avon’s Puritans; Dr Jonathan Willis (University of Birmingham) discusses public worship; Dr Cathryn Enis (University of Birmingham) will speak about friendships at a time of religious division; and Dr Robert Bearman (Honorary Fellow, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) will talk about religion and Shakespeare’s daily mind. The conference is hosted by Dr Paul Edmondson, Head of Research, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. With grateful acknowledgement to Lion Hudson Publishing for sponsoring this event.

Fee: £25.00 (£20.00 SBT Friends), includes refreshments (not lunch), and a copy of Graham Holderness’s new book, The Faith of William Shakespeare. On-line bookings only via: https://www . shakespeare . org . uk/visit/whats-on/faith-william-shakespeare/ Venue: The Wolfson Hall, The Shakespeare Centre. Arrivals from 9.45am.

King Lear (alone), one-man play with inamoment theatre.

After its highly acclaimed full outing last year, inamoment theatre’s one-man play King Lear (alone) is touring again in 2017, visiting festivals and theatre venues up and down the country. Using mostly Shakespeare’s words, and set in a modern day care home, it’s an astonishing tour de force by Bob Young, retelling the events that led to Lear’s tragedy.

“I left the theatre feeling like I’d been exposed to a flawed individual at their most honest . . . ” “King Lear (Alone) is a gripping production and the formidable performance given by Bob Young makes it compelling viewing.”  “Bob Young in the title role, is a powerful performer. His tormented character takes shape thanks to his profound voice, whilst his presence on stage appears carefully studied….. In Bob Young’s poignant (portrayal), the play is quite intense.”

The play has been designed for performance in Schools, Theatres, Conferences, Halls etc. (we also offer a separate King Lear workshop), all details can be found at www . kinglearalone . uk. Please contact Frank Bramwell at inamomenttheatre@gmail.com to make booking enquiries.

THE BSA BULLETIN – JUNE 2017

BSA election of new Trustees

As several Trustees are now approaching the end of their terms of service, the Board of Trustees of the British Shakespeare Association wishes to appoint new Trustees to take up positions on the Board in September 2017. The position of Trustee is voluntary (with reasonable expenses covered) so we are looking for members of the BSA who are willing to give of their time to further the aims of the BSA across its four main constituencies of members: academic researchers, teachers, theatre practitioners and members of the public. Nominations (including self-nominations) should be made by 7^th July and elections by the membership will be held electronically for 6 weeks (18^th August) so that new Trustees can be introduced at the Board meeting on 16^th September. Full details can be found here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/election-of-new-trustees/

Call For Participants: ‘Shared Futures’, English Association and University English Conference, Newcastle 5-7 July 2017

There is still time to participate in our panels at the Shared Futures conference. Choose from ‘Why Shakespeare now?’ (Chair Susan Anderson); Panel 2 ‘Sharing Shakespeare’s Language (workshop chaired by Alison Findlay, Andrew Jarvis and James Harrison-Smith) and Panel 3: Sharing Futures across primary, secondary and university education (Chairs: Chris Green and Karen Eckersall). Further details can be found on the BSA website. More information on: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/join-our-panels-at-the-shared-futures-conference/ If you would like to participate but do not have access to financial support (e.g. from a university or school) the BSA might be able to help. Contact us to find out how to apply for a BSA Bursary. http ://www . englishsharedfutures . uk/

Nominations open for our Honorary Fellowships for 2018

This year, 2017, the BSA Honorary Fellowships are to be given to Sarah Stanton—formerly Publisher of Shakespeare and Early Modern Literature Studies at Cambridge University Press—and to the actor Adrian Lester. The BSA’s Fellowship Committee would like to invite all current Members of the BSA to offer nominations for next year’s award. The choice for nomination should fulfil the following criterion: ‘The title of ‘Honorary Fellow of the British Shakespeare Association’ should be reserved for those who, at whatever level, have made, or are making, over a significant period of time, a major contribution to the field of Shakespeare activities, whether it be in Scholarship, Education more generally, or in the Performance of the plays.’ All nominations, from whichever area or constituency, require the names of two nominators (a Proposer and a Seconder) and a formal written proposal, stating the case for nomination. This text should be at least 250 words in length. The closing date for nominations is 1^st September 2017. Full information on how to submit nominations are available here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/nominations-open-for-our-2018-fellowships/

Annual conferences for 2018, 2019, and 2020

The institutions that will host our three upcoming annual conferences and their titles are as follows. The BSA Annual Conference of 2018 will take place at Queen’s University Belfast on 14-17 June under the title Shakespeare Studies Today. Swansea University will host the conference in 2019 with the title Shakespeare: Race and Nation, while in 2020 it will take place at the University of Surrey and the theme will be Shakespeare in Action. We would like to thank all three institutions for the hard work they have invested in their applications, and we look forward to visiting Belfast, Swansea, and Surrey in due course. The Belfast and Swansea BSA conferences will be the first to take place in Northern Ireland and in Wales, respectively, which is enormously exciting, as the BSA would have visited all four constituent nations of the United Kingdom by the end of 2019.

Interview with Professor Peter Hulme

The BSA website features an interview in which Peter Hulme (Emeritus Professor of English (University of Essex) discusses his work as editor of The Tempest and writer on world literature and postcolonial theory with John Drakakis (Emeritus Professor of English, University of Stirling). It is available here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/peter-hulme-in-conversation-with-john-drakakis/

New Editors for the Education Network Blog

As of February 2017, following on from the excellent work of Dr Sarah Olive, our Education Network blog will be jointly edited by the BSA’s two Teaching Trustees: Chris Green and Karen Eckersall. Chris and Karen will welcome any contributions to the education network blog. You can contact them with articles, ideas or questions at the following email addresses: Chris Green – Karen Eckersall – More information on:

Teachers’ Conference: Shakespeare and Creativity, The Shakespeare Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 3-5 August 2017 POSTPONED

Please note that the first Teachers’ Conference organised by the BSA and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has now been postponed until further notice. We will keep members informed of future updates.

Teaching Shakespeare 12 is out!

We are pleased to announce that the twelfth issue of Teaching Shakespeare and the first ever summer issue of the magazine, with articles on Shakespeare in Hanoi, on Shakespeare and autistic students, on young offenders and Othello, and on digitized promptbooks, is now available for free download. You can download your free copy here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/teaching-shakespeare-12-is-out/

TNT’s Twelfth Night at Japan Women’s University

On Thursday 11 May, Japan Women’s University (JWU) hosted a performance of TNT Theatre Britain’s or International Theatre Company London’s current, world-touring production Twelfth Night in its Oufu Kaikan (hall). TNT performed a cut-down version of the play, with a handful of actors. Their set for touring, loosely early modern costumes and props fitted into a few suitcases. The company played multiple instruments and sang, with no pre-recorded music used. Read more here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/shakespeare-in-education/tnts-twelfth-night-at-japan-womens-university/

Lost in Pronunciation: Ben Crystal’s Japanese tour

During the second week of May, Ben Crystal gave a series of talks at three Japanese universities on the performance of Shakespeare using original early modern pronunciation. You can read more here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/shakespeare-in-education/lost-in-pronunciation-ben-crystal-at-waseda-university/

BSA funding available for conference, events, and other activities

The BSA is able to award small amounts of money to Shakespeare-related education events, academic conferences and other activities taking place in the UK. For more information or to apply for funding, please email the Chair of the Events Committee, Susan Anderson (Susan.Anderson@shu.ac.uk ) or the Chair of the Education Committee, Sarah Olive (sarah.olive@york.ac.uk).

THE BSA MEMBERS’ BULLETIN

We are pleased to advertise news and activities by our members and other Shakespeare associations. If you would like to advertise a Shakespeare-related activity, please email our Membership Officer, José A. Pérez Díez, at membership@britishshakespeare.ws. Items below are not affiliated with or endorsed by the BSA – please use individual contact details for more information.

The Story of the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon 1824-2016, Susan Brock and Sylvia Morris, available now.

In their new book, The Story of the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon 1824-2016, Susan Brock and Sylvia Morris answer the question “How did it come about that a small market town in the centre of England became the focus of the worldwide worship of Shakespeare?”  After all, London’s claims were much stronger being the place where he became famous and spent the most productive years of his life. The story of the part played by the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon, set up nearly 200 years ago by ordinary townsfolk and still in existence today, is told in this alternative history of the town. The Club was responsible for organising the first local festivities for Shakespeare’s Birthday on 23 April in 1827, 1830 and 1833. It played an important part in saving Shakespeare’ s Birthplace and setting up the Birthplace Trust. It worked towards the preservation of the Shakespeare monuments and the graves in Holy Trinity Church and it played a huge part in setting up the theatres in Stratford so that Shakespeare’s plays have a permanent home for their performance outside London. The fully-illustrated book is based on documentary evidence provided by the rich archives of the Club dating back to its foundation in 1824 and the archives of Stratford-upon-Avon which are preserved in the collections of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Published by the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon, copies (£12.99) are available direct from www . stratfordshakespeareclub . org or write to stratfordshakespeareclub@gmail.com.

Shakespeare, Media, Performance and Technology Conference, University of Exeter, 24^th June 2017

Shakespeare Bulletin is delighted to welcome scholars from around the world to examine the recent significant changes in how Shakespeare’s plays are performed and disseminated through old and new technologies and media. Marking the end of Pascale Aebischer’s term as General Editor of Shakespeare Bulletin, this one-day event responds to the technological turn in performance studies evident in a significant part of the work submitted to the journal between 2012 and 2017 and aims to bring together a range of scholarly approaches to the technologies of performance that shape the production of Shakespeare and his contemporaries today. Registration for the event, including refreshments and lunch, is free, sponsored by Shakespeare Bulletin. Places are strictly limited to 35 delegates, so we recommend an early registration to avoid disappointment. Registration closes on 31st May. You can register here: https://www . eventbrite . co . uk/e/shakespeare-media-performance-and-technology-conference-tickets-34394466776

King Lear (alone), one-man play with inamoment theatre.

After its highly acclaimed full outing last year, inamoment theatre’s one-man play King Lear (alone) is touring again in 2017, visiting festivals and theatre venues up and down the country. Using mostly Shakespeare’s words, and set in a modern day care home, it’s an astonishing tour de force by Bob Young, retelling the events that led to Lear’s tragedy. “I left the theatre feeling like I’d been exposed to a flawed individual at their most honest . . . ” “King Lear (Alone) is a gripping production and the formidable performance given by Bob Young makes it compelling viewing.”  “Bob Young in the title role, is a powerful performer. His tormented character takes shape thanks to his profound voice, whilst his presence on stage appears carefully studied….. In Bob Young’s poignant (portrayal), the play is quite intense.” The play has been designed for performance in Schools, Theatres, Conferences, Halls etc. (we also offer a separate King Lear workshop), all details can be found at www . kinglearalone . uk. Please contact Frank Bramwell at inamomenttheatre@gmail.com to make booking enquiries.

This post is part of a series of brief, ‘first impression’ reviews of books on Shakespeare in Education. Look out for others posted to the BSA’s Education Network Blog.

15-minute reviewer: Paul Young

In a nutshell, this book is about:

Moving the teaching of Shakespeare away from the traditional teacher-expert led method, which often includes attempts to use the plays as a vehicle to teach a huge range of social/historical/political issues at shallow face value. Instead, it suggests a collaborative student led approach, allowing students to discover their interpretations and every day relevance in Shakespeare for themselves.

Who would like it?

Anybody looking for engaging ways to teach Shakespeare at pretty much every academic level.

Who wouldn’t like it?

People looking for a quick and easy classroom resource guide.

Best feature?

The book contains advice for every part of the teaching process, from idea inception right through to meaningful assessment, meaning it is a very comprehensive guide for how you can rethink planning.

What’s missing?

It is very much a guide aimed at those who are looking to reinvent the way they teach Shakespeare. There’s not that much for people inexperienced in teaching Shakespeare, and it lacks information on the plays if you’re not confident on content.

NEWS FROM THE TRUSTEES

CALL FOR PAPERS: British Shakespeare Association annual conference: Shakespeare Studies Today, Queen’s University Belfast, 14-17 June 2018

Shakespeare Studies is one of the most rich and dynamic areas of interdisciplinary enquiry. It embraces historical explorations of Shakespeare’s canon, ranges across four hundred years of world theatre and performance history, and is continually renewed by Shakespeare’s iconic status in contemporary culture, film and media. Shakespeare draws together academics, teachers, theatre professionals, practitioners, readers and enthusiasts. At the same time, Shakespeare is a global commodity, reinvented in every culture and nation, meaning that his work prompts world-wide conversation. Following on from the 2016 celebrations, the 2018 BSA conference offers an opportunity for academics, practitioners enthusiasts and teachers (primary, secondary and sixth- form teachers and college lecturers) to reflect upon Shakespeare Studies today. Plenary Speakers include: Prof. Pascale Aebischer (University of Exeter), Prof. Clara Calvo (University of Murcia), Prof. Richard Dutton (Queen’s University Belfast), Prof. Courtney Lehmann (University of the Pacific) and Prof. Ayanna Thompson (George Washington University). UK Premieres include: Veeram (dir. Jayaraj, 2016), a South Indian film adaptation of Macbeth, and Hermia and Helena (dir. Matías Piñeiro, 2016), an Argentine adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. BSA 2018 also includes: Q+As with theatre director Andrea Montgomery (The Belfast Tempest, 2016) and film directors Jayaraj and Matías Piñeiro.

There are four ways to participate in BSA 2018:

1. Submit an abstract for a 20-minute paper. Abstracts (100 words) and a short biography to be submitted by 1 October 2017 to BSA2018@qub.ac.uk
2. Submit a proposal for a panel session consisting of three 20-minute papers. Abstracts for all three papers (100 words each), a rationale for the panel (100 words) and short speaker biographies to be submitted by 1 October 2017 to BSA2018@qub.ac.uk
3. Submit a proposal for a performance / practice or education workshop or a teachers’ INSET session. For a workshop, submit a summary proposal outlining aims and activities and a biographical statement. For an INSET session (either a one-hour event or a twenty-minute slot), submit a summary proposal and biographical statement. All proposals to be submitted by 1 October 2017 to BSA2018@qub.ac.uk
4. Submit an abstract to join a seminar. The seminar format involves circulating a short paper in advance of the conference and then meeting to discuss all of the papers in Belfast. Abstracts (100 words), a short biography and a statement of your seminar of preference to be submitted by 1 October 2017 to BSA2018@qub.ac.uk.

For full details of the available seminars and all other information, please visit this link: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/call-for-papers-2018-bsa-conference/

BSA election of new Trustees

As several Trustees are now approaching the end of their terms of service, the Board of Trustees of the British Shakespeare Association wishes to appoint new Trustees to take up positions on the Board in September 2017. Nominations have been received and an election is now in progress. All current members of the BSA are entitled to vote. Details on how to do this will be circulated to current members today. The ballot will close on 31^st August.

Nominations open for our Honorary Fellowships for 2018

This year, 2017, the BSA Honorary Fellowships are to be given to Sarah Stanton—formerly Publisher of Shakespeare and Early Modern Literature Studies at Cambridge University Press—and to the actor Adrian Lester. The BSA’s Fellowship Committee would like to invite all current Members of the BSA to offer nominations for next year’s award. The choice for nomination should fulfil the following criterion: ‘The title of ‘Honorary Fellow of the British Shakespeare Association’ should be reserved for those who, at whatever level, have made, or are making, over a significant period of time, a major contribution to the field of Shakespeare activities, whether it be in Scholarship, Education more generally, or in the Performance of the plays.’ All nominations, from whichever area or constituency, require the names of two nominators (a Proposer and a Seconder) and a formal written proposal, stating the case for nomination. This text should be at least 250 words in length. The closing date for nominations is 1st September 2017. Full information on how to submit nominations are available here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/nominations-open-for-our-2018-fellowships/

Annual conferences for 2018, 2019, and 2020

The institutions that will host our three upcoming annual conferences and their titles are as follows. The BSA Annual Conference of 2018 will take place at Queen’s University Belfast on 14-17 June under the title Shakespeare Studies Today. Swansea University will host the conference in 2019 with the title Shakespeare: Race and Nation, while in 2020 it will take place at the University of Surrey and the theme will be Shakespeare in Action. We would like to thank all three institutions for the hard work they have invested in their applications, and we look forward to visiting Belfast, Swansea, and Surrey in due course. The Belfast and Swansea BSA conferences will be the first to take place in Northern Ireland and in Wales, respectively, which is enormously exciting, as the BSA would have visited all four constituent nations of the United Kingdom by the end of 2019.

BSA funding available for conference, events, and other activities

The BSA is able to award small amounts of money to Shakespeare-related education events, academic conferences and other activities taking place in the UK. For more information or to apply for funding, please email the Chair of the Events Committee, Susan Anderson ( Susan.Anderson@shu.ac.uk) or the Chair of the Education Committee, Sarah Olive (sarah.olive@york.ac.uk).

LAST DAY: £10 Amazon voucher offered in return for your participation in a study of Teaching Shakespeare’s impact

We are currently carrying out an evaluation of the impact of Teaching Shakespeare, the British Shakespeare Association magazine, which aims to provide support for Shakespeare educators across sectors. This evaluation is being carried out by the editor and founder of the magazine Dr Sarah Olive and research assistant at the University of York, Dr Chelsea Swift. The British Shakespeare Association are also a named project partner. The aim of this evaluation is to evidence the impact of the magazine on its non-academic readership (and those who hold roles in other sectors as well as academia). This is with a view to gaining a better understanding of how it is read and used by practitioners, and how its relevance to educators and usefulness for practitioners might be strengthened. We are interested in how and why you read the magazine and whether and how the magazine has influenced or changed your thinking about, attitudes towards and practices when teaching Shakespeare.

As a ‘thank you’ for participating in a short telephone or Skype interview with a researcher, each interviewee will receive a £10 Amazon voucher. If you are willing and able to participate, would like further information or have any further questions, please contact Dr Chelsea Swift (c.swift1@lancaster.ac.uk) today, July 24th, giving your name and the address to which you would like your Amazon voucher posted. We will ensure you receive it ASAP.

Your participation would be much appreciated, we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Dr Sarah Olive and Dr Chelsea Swift

ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND CONFERENCES

 Teachers’ Conference: Shakespeare and Creativity, The Shakespeare Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 3-5 August 2017 POSTPONED

Please note that the first Teachers’ Conference organised by the BSA and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has now been postponed until further notice. We will keep members informed of future updates.

BSA ONLINE

The new film of Macbeth, directed by Kit Monkman (2017), reviewed by Alison Findlay and Ramona Wray

Our Chair, Professor Alison Findlay, and our trustee Dr Ramona Wray review Kit Monkman’s new film of Macbeth: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/a-review-of-macbeth-dir-kit-monkman-2017/

Report from the Living and Dying Well in the Early Modern World Conference,  University of Exeter, 15-16 June 2017

The BSA is proud to have sponsored the Living and Dying Well in the Early Modern World conference at the University of Exeter on 15th and 16th June 2017. The following report is by Bailey Sincox, a PhD student at Harvard University: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/report-from-the-living-and-dying-well-in-the-early-modern-world-conference/

Reports from the Offensive Shakespeare Conference, Northumbria University, 23-24 May 2017

The BSA is proud to have sponsored the Offensive Shakespeare Conference at Northumbria University on 23rd and 24th May 2017. Our website includes reports written by those who received BSA bursaries for the event: John Rowell and Shauna O’Brien. They are available here: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/reports-from-the-offensive-shakespeare-conference/

New Editors for the Education Network Blog

As of February 2017, following on from the excellent work of Dr Sarah Olive, our Education Network blog will be jointly edited by the BSA’s two Teaching Trustees: Chris Green and Karen Eckersall. Chris and Karen will welcome any contributions to the education network blog. You can contact them with articles, ideas or questions at the following email addresses: Chris Green – Karen Eckersall – More information on: http ://www . britishshakespeare . ws/bsa-news/new-editors-of-the-education-network-blog/ 

PUBLICATIONS

Teaching Shakespeare 12 is out!

We are pleased to announce that the twelfth issue of Teaching Shakespeare and the first ever summer issue of the magazine, with articles on Shakespeare in Hanoi, on Shakespeare and autistic students, on young offenders and Othello, and on digitized promptbooks, is now available for free download. You can download your free copy here: http ://www  .  britishshakespeare  .  ws/bsa-news/teaching-shakespeare-12-is-out/

MEMBERS’ NEWSROUND

We are pleased to advertise news and activities by our members and other Shakespeare associations. If you would like to advertise a Shakespeare-related activity, please email our Membership Officer, José A. Pérez Díez, at membership@britishshakespeare.ws. Items below are not affiliated with or endorsed by the BSA – please use individual contact details for more information.

The Story of the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon 1824-2016, Susan Brock and Sylvia Morris, available now.

In their new book, The Story of the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon 1824-2016, Susan Brock and Sylvia Morris answer the question “How did it come about that a small market town in the centre of England became the focus of the worldwide worship of Shakespeare?”  After all, London’s claims were much stronger being the place where he became famous and spent the most productive years of his life. The story of the part played by the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon, set up nearly 200 years ago by ordinary townsfolk and still in existence today, is told in this alternative history of the town. The Club was responsible for organising the first local festivities for Shakespeare’s Birthday on 23 April in 1827, 1830 and 1833. It played an important part in saving Shakespeare’ s Birthplace and setting up the Birthplace Trust. It worked towards the preservation of the Shakespeare monuments and the graves in Holy Trinity Church and it played a huge part in setting up the theatres in Stratford so that Shakespeare’s plays have a permanent home for their performance outside London. The fully-illustrated book is based on documentary evidence provided by the rich archives of the Club dating back to its foundation in 1824 and the archives of Stratford-upon-Avon which are preserved in the collections of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Published by the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon, copies (£12.99) are available direct from www  .  stratfordshakespeareclub  .  org or write to stratfordshakespeareclub@gmail.com.

King Lear (alone), one-man play with inamoment theatre.

After its highly acclaimed full outing last year, inamoment theatre’s one-man play King Lear (alone) is this month appearing at the Buxton Fringe Festival (13,14 & 15) and the Bristol Shakespeare Festival (27,28 & 29). Full details can be found at www . kinglearalone . uk. Using mostly Shakespeare’s words, it’s an astonishing piece of immersive theatre retelling the events that led to Lear’s tragedy. “I left the theatre feeling like I’d been exposed to a flawed individual at their most honest . . . ” “King Lear (Alone) is a gripping production and the formidable performance given by Bob Young makes it compelling viewing.”  “Bob Young in the title role, is a powerful performer. His tormented character takes shape thanks to his profound voice, whilst his presence on stage appears carefully studied….. In Bob Young’s poignant (portrayal), the play is quite intense.”

Hamlet’s Bastard by Mick Foster

This new novel developed from a well-received production of the play by Chelmsford Theatre Workshop. The CTW production took the view that the Prince and his father are selfish and rather callous characters, something that audiences overlook because of the glamour cast by the glorious language. We emphasised the cruelty of the Prince, and gave a relatively sympathetic portrayal of Claudius. The novel develops these ideas. It tells the story from the viewpoint of a bastard son of the young Prince, who interviews the survivors and uncovers a different perspective on what happened and why. The bastard son also finds himself embroiled in court politics under the Norwegian King Fortinbras. The  way he deals with the danger of being the only surviving member of the Danish royal family provides a contrast to his father’s tragic story. The novel is available at http ://www . amazon . com/author/mickfoster.

Laura Jayne Wright is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Newcastle University, working on ‘Sounds of Distress: Hearing Female Complaint(s) in Early Modern Literature.’

For the last few years, my work has centred around listening. My DPhil thesis and soon-to-be monograph (Sound Effects: Hearing the Early Modern Stage, Manchester University Press), mapped the sonic world of the early modern stage, from bangs and crashes to echoes and silences. Now, as I start a new project at Newcastle University, as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, I am listening to a new kind of sound: female sounds of distress.

My work on material sounds, made by machines and instruments – drums, trumpets, guns and cannons, fireworks – has now turned towards the voice itself. For example, in a short Element I have forthcoming with Cambridge University Press, Shakespeare’s Visionary Women, I listen to Calpurnia’s failed pleas, Cassandra’s shrieking prophecies, and the screams that mark the off-stage death of Lady Macbeth. For my new Leverhulme project, I’m now looking at female voices in poetry and in prose, examining moments at which women speak out or are silenced.

Female sounds of distress are, as I am finding in this early stage of research, difficult to hear. I mean this not only in a practical sense, although cries, shrieks, and moans are not always easily found in the archives, but in a personal sense too. In female complaint poems, in pamphlets which express the horrors and loss of war, or in accounts of maternity and miscarriage, the voices I am encountering sound almost uncomfortably close.  

For instance, one pamphlet tracing female suffering that is particularly ‘noisy’ is the 1688 A Cabinet of Grief: Or, The French Midwife’s Miserable Moan for the Barbarous Murther Committed Upon the Body of her Husband. A woodcut on the title page shows a woman, open mouthed, engulfed by flame – her scream is suggested, but never realised (to see the woodcut, please visit: https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/951).

The midwife of the title (Mary Hobry) is then ventriloquized twice over in the course of the pamphlet. First, the record of her crime and execution begins as a prose account, written as if from a first-person perspective: ‘This being done, I concluded all was safe and well, but the Carcas was soon found’ (6). The words attributed to Hobry are confessional and penitent. She is ‘truly humbled under a sense of unfeigned sorrow’ (7).

Then, when her ‘own’ account of the crime is concluded, Hobry’s confession is given again, in the form of a ballad which is to be sung aloud by the reader. Explicit instructions are given:

This is not a simple condemnation of an apparently violent woman (who was held under great suspicion on account of her gender, her French nationality, and her Catholic faith). Reader/singers are encouraged to sing Hobry’s suffering aloud, performing the role of Hobry herself: ‘Alack! My very heart does bleed,/To see my woeful Destiny’ (8). To sing the ballad is to align oneself with Hobry both in her crime and in her cries. Those encountering this pamphlet vocalise the evidence Hobry herself gave and, briefly, speak as the French midwife.

Beyond these two kinds of ventriloquism, the pamphlet is interested in wordless suffering through sound. The prose account of Hobry’s crime, offered before the ballad, captures a terrible moment of sonic despair. When Hobry is first arrested, she is a sound-maker, reaching out in vocal panic. She describes being ‘Hurry’d to Prison, where I bitterly bewail’d my unhappy state’ (6). Yet when Hobry is sentenced, sound becomes not a protest but a punishment: her external wailing twists inwards, penetrating her body.

With these lines, her account ends abruptly. It is as if, with the word ‘dead’, all capacity to hear or engage sensorily with the world stops at once. Not a single word follows her sentence. Death is represented as silence, like the silent scream in the image on the pamphlet’s title page.

As I begin work on my new project on the sounds of female distress, I find myself fascinated by the sonic world of such pages: the way in which sound is lifted from printed lyrics into song, the way in which it can be drawn like an open mouth, the way in which the act of listening itself can be described and cut short. In tracing female distress, I am attempting to re-vocalise sounds which have been overlooked: shrieks, cries, moans, and complaints, captured in print and manuscript.

Searching for distress can make for some bleak reading, but I can’t wait to get started. Should you come across any early modern screams yourself, do send them my way (@laurajay_wright). I’ll be listening out for them.

Laura Jayne Wright

Newcastle University

Header Image: Detail from a late seventeenth-century engraving by Jan Luyken. Rijksmuseum object number RP-P-1896-A-19368-383.

BSA Event Videos

Our website is now capable of hosting video recordings of BSA events. Members can currently watch the inauguration of Chris Grace and Dame Janet Suzman as honorary fellows of the association, complete with their reflections on their work with Shakespeare. A taster of the recording is available to all on the website, and members in good standing for the current year have been emailed a password for the full recording.

Teaching Shakespeare issue 9 now published

Issue 9 of the BSA magazine Teaching Shakespeare has just been published. This issue includes a bumper noticeboard and royally ushers in the year with two articles on the Henry IV plays by Michael J. Collins and Howard Gold. Submissions for Issue 10 can be sent to the journal editor at sarah.olive@york.ac.uk . Issue 9 can be downloaded from the BSA website.

Teaching Shakespeare: Call for contributions on Vietnamese Shakespeare

Dr Sarah Olive, chair of the BSA Education Committee and editor ofTeaching Shakespeare, is seeking contributions focusing on Shakespeare in Vietnamese education. Anyone with experience of learning or teaching Shakespeare in Vietnam can email sarah.olive@york.ac.uk to be part of this British Academy-funded project. For more information, see the full call on our website.

BSA Journal Volume 11 now published

Volume 11 of the BSA journal Shakespeare is now out, including special issues on ‘Adaptation and Early Modern Culture: Shakespeare and Beyond’, and ‘“Roaring Girls: The Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2014 Season’ as well as two open issues with a wide range of articles, critical debates and performance reviews.

New articles published online this month include Elizabeth Harper’s article on killing children in Shakespeare’s early histories, James O’Rourke’s essay on ethnic stereotypes in productions by Trevor Nunn and Dave Chappelle, and several new book and theatre reviews. Current members can subscribe to the journal – including the physical volume and full online access – at the heavily discounted price of £15. Contact Peter.Kirwan@nottingham.ac.uk for details and missing volumes.

Preparing for Hull 2016

The BSA’s 2016 conference, ‘Shakespearean Transformations: Death, Life, and Afterlives’, takes place 8-11 September 2016 at the University of Hull. The conference team has received abstracts from all around the world and is currently in the process of confirming the programme and contacting participants. Hull has recently been named one of the ‘Top Ten Cities in the World to visit in 2016’ by Rough Guides. Please visit the conference website for full details.

Disability and Shakespearean Theatre Symposium

The BSA is supporting this conference, taking place at the University of Glasgow on 20 April 2016. Professor Chris Mounsey will deliver a keynote on ‘VariAbility in Shakespeare’, and the symposium will be followed by the premier of Molly Ziegler’s new play Let Her Come In, a one-act rewriting ofHamlet focused on mental illness, gender and disability. Attendance is FREE to BSA members in good standing. For more information, please visit the conference website.

Applying for funding

The BSA is able to award small amounts of money to Shakespeare-related education events, academic conferences and other activities taking place in the UK. For more information or to apply for funding, please email the Chair of the Events Committee, Susan Anderson (S.Anderson@leedstrinity.ac.uk) or the Chair of the Education Committee, Sarah Olive (sarah.olive@york.ac.uk).

Bardolph’s Box: An Introduction to Shakespeare

The BSA is pleased to be supporting Up the Road Theatre’s Bardolph’s Box, a theatre production designed by BSA member Nicola Pollard for children aged 8-12 and their families. This 40-minute piece, featuring a number of lesser-known plays and characters, will be touring schools and libraries in the Liverpool and Kent areas in March. For more information, please see the company website.

THE BSA MEMBERS’ BULLETIN

We are pleased to advertise news and activities by our members and other Shakespeare associations. If you would like to advertise a Shakespeare-related activity, please email Peter.Kirwan@nottingham.ac.uk. Items below are not affiliated with or endorsed by the BSA – please use individual contact details for more information.

Death on the Shakespearean Stage: Call for Papers

Globe Education is marking the 400^th anniversary of the deaths of Shakespeare, Francis Beaumont, Philip Henslowe and Miguel de Cervantes with an international conference running 1-3 December 2016 that explores death, rituals of dying and the experience of loss on the early modern stage. Please submit proposals of 150 words to farah.k@shakespearesglobe.com by 1 March 2016.

Follow the Ardingley Shakespeare conference on Twitter

Ardingly College is holding its annual Shakespeare conference on 7 March.  As well as featuring presentations by teachers and students from sixteen schools, this year’s conference will feature plenary talks by scholars Tiffany Stern, David Schalkwyk and Russ McDonald, and actor Pippa Nixon. The conference will be broadcast at @ardinglyenglish #ardinglyshakespeare . For more information, please email Markus.Klinge@ardingly.com .

Margaret of Anjou: a ‘new’ play by Shakespeare

To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March 2016, Royal Holloway stages ‘the premiere of Shakespeare’s most feminist play’ at its Egham campus. Elizabeth Schafer and Philippa Kelly have pirated Margaret of Anjoufrom Shakespeare’s Henry VI and Richard III, tracing Margaret as she matures from feisty princess to scheming queen, cold-blooded killer to grief-stricken mother, shameless adulteress to cursing crone. The event is free, but please register here.

The Woman Hater (Edward’s Boys) on tour in March

The acclaimed children’s company Edward’s Boys (of King Edward VI School in Stratford-upon-Avon) tours a new production of Francis Beaumont’s The Woman Hater to Stratford, Oxford and London from 9-12 March. For tickets and more information about the company, please visit its website at http://www.edwardsboys.org/ .

Sidelights on Shakespeare

The University of Warwick ‘Sidelights on Shakespeare’ series continues on 10 March 2016 with a talk by Dr Velda Elliott entitled ‘Detecting the Dane: Shoehorning Shakespeare into Genre Studies in A Level Literature’. This talk may particularly appeal to members working with A-level students. More details of the talk can be found here.

Shakespeare 400 Events at King’s College London

Shakespeare 400 events at King’s College London in March include the Beaumont 400 conference (March 12^th) and a lecture entitled In Nature’s History More Science: Forbidden Planet (March 16^th). For full information about the Shakespeare 400 festival and more upcoming events, please visit the website.

Propose a Research-in-Action Workshop at Shakespeare’s Globe

Shakespeare’s Globe invites scholars to apply to run practice-led research workshops in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in Spring and Summer 2016. This is an opportunity to test an idea related to the drama of Shakespeare or his contemporaries in performance indoors. Full information is available on the Globe website, and proposals should be emailed to will.t@shakespearesglobe.com by Monday 14 March.

The Bard in Bury

The Theatre Royal Bury St. Edmunds is hosting its very own Shakespeare festival for schools. Students aged 8-16 are invited to be part of a special production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in front of a paying audience. For further details on how your school can take part, contact georgina@theatreroyal.org or call 01284 829935. Schools will need to sign up by the end of March in order to participate.

Shakespeare’s Musical Brain, 16 April 2016, King’s College London

The Musical Brain is convening a special conference to commemorate the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. ‘Shakespeare’s Musical Brain’ will include talks from academics, composers and neurologists, examining the relationship between words and music in aesthetic and scientific terms, and how it affects the relationship between actor and audience then as now. A limited number of student tickets are available at £35; full price £95. See the website for full details.

Call for Papers: Shakespeare in Latin America

The Institute of Literature at Universidad de los Andes (Santiago, Chile) is organising an international conference that will bring together scholars around the topic of the presence of his works within the Latin American canon, either in the existing tradition of translating his plays and poems by writers, poets, and academics, or in the re-writing and adaptation for performance. Abstracts are due 22 April 2016. For more information, please visit the conference website.

Bard by the Beach Shakespeare Festival in Morecambe

From 22-24 April, Morecambe will be hosting a major Shakespeare festival. Events include five adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, Shakespeare Comedy Dinner Theatre, a midnight screening of Theatre of Blood, workshops on acting and stage fighting, wine tastings, music from the Haffner Orchestra celebrating orchestral Shakespeare, a night of The Bard on Broadway, a puppet version of Forbidden Planet and even a historical and artisan market. For more details, please visit the website.

The Merchant of Venice in Venice, 27-28 July

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is organising a fundraising event in Venice to support its re-presentation of New Place. You are invited to attend a production of The Merchant of Venice in the Jewish ghetto (500 years old this year). Tickets (priced at £450) also include talks from Shakespeare experts and theatre practitioners, a three-course lunch at Locanda Cipriani, coffee and a drinks reception. For more information, or to reserve a place, please contact clare.sawdon@shakespeare.org.uk

Shakespeare Documented online exhibition launched

Shakespeare Documented is a multi-institutional collaboration convened by the Folger Shakespeare Library to commemorate the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. This free online exhibition constitutes the largest and most authoritative collection of primary-source materials documenting the life of William Shakespeare (1564-1616). It brings together images and descriptions of all known manuscript and print references to Shakespeare, his works, and additional references to his family, in his lifetime and shortly thereafter.

BBC Shakespeare Archive now available to UK schools

The BBC has recently launched the BBC Shakespeare Archive Resource. This new online resource provides schools, colleges and universities across the UK with access to hundreds of BBC television and radio broadcasts of Shakespeare’s plays, sonnets and documentaries about Shakespeare. The material includes the first British televised adaptations of Othello and Henry V, classic interviews with key Shakespearean actors including John Gielgud, Judi Dench and Laurence Olivier, and more than 1000 photographs of Shakespeare productions.

New Book by BSA Member

Why Shakespeare?  Who is this Hamlet? Is Lady Macbeth really evil? Can Caliban really be a twitchy speeded Goth freak? These and many more questions are addressed by BSA member Ruby Jand in her book Shakespeare Calling, a personal journey of exploration into the plays of Shakespeare and the search for an explanation of what a 450 year-old playwright from Stratford-upon-Avon means to us today.

RSC Resources for Schools

The Royal Shakespeare Company has released a new set of school resources to accompany its current UK tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation, which features local amateur companies taking the roles of the Mechanicals. Resources and information about events can be downloaded from the RSC website.

Shakespeare:Birmingham

Shakespeare:Birmingham organises weekly gatherings / Shakespeare play readings at the Birmingham & Midland Institute in the centre of Birmingham (Tuesdays, 6.30-9.00pm) and monthly workshops aimed at increasing enjoyment of Shakespeare through any means possible! In March we will be starting our reading of King Lear, all are welcome to attend. For details of meetings, please visit the website at http://shakespearebirmingham.co.uk, which also lists all Shakespeare productions happening in the area.