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List of contents
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Introduction - Paul Prescott, Nicoleta Cinpoes and Florence March
1. Shaping democratic festivals through Shakespeare in southern France: Avignon, Montpellier, Nice
Florence March, University Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, France
2. Shakespeare at the Almagro festivals: reinventing the plays in Spain
Isabel Guerrero, University of Murcia, Spain
3. Shakespeare at Four Castles: Summer Shakespeare Festival in Prague, Brno, Ostrava (Czech Republic) and Bratislava (Slovakia)
Filip Krajník, University of Brno, Czech Republic and Eva Kyselová, Academy of Performing Arts, Prague, Czech Republic
4. Globolatry in Germany: The Shakespeare Festival at Neuss – a dramaturg’s perspective
Vanessa Schormann, University of Munich, Germany
5. A world’s stage for many players: the international Shakespeare Festival – Craiova, Romania
Nicoleta Cinpoes, University of Worcester, UK
6. Festivalizing Shakespeare in Italy: Verona and Rome
Lisanna Calvi, University of Verona, Italy and Maddalena Pennacchia, Roma Tre University, Italy
7. The Gdansk Shakespeare Festival: four centuries of travelling theatre in Poland
Urszula Kizelbach and Jacek Fabiszak, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland
8. From a schoolyard play to civic festival: Shakespeare in the Bulgarian village of Patalenitsa
Boika Sokolova, University of Notre Dame, London Global Gateway, UK and Kirilka Stavreva, Cornell College, USA
9. The Gyula Shakespeare Festival, Hungary: local, national, European, global
Ágnes Matuska, University of Szeged, Hungary and Júlia Paraizs, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
10. Unhomely Shakespeares: interculturalism and diplomacy in Elsinore
Anne Sophie Refskou, University of Surrey, UK
11. Shakespeare’s Globe in Indija – a portrait of Itaka Shakespeare Festival (Serbia)
Alexandra Portmann, Queen Mary, University of London, UK
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Nicoleta Cinpoes is professor at the University of Worcester, UK, a Shakespeare
scholar, historian and reviewer and a consultant for the International Shakespeare Festival,
Craiova, Romania.
Florence March is Professor at University Paul-Valéry Montpellier, France, a specialist in
Renaissance and Restoration drama, a drama translator at Maison Antoine Vitez (an international
Centre for theatre translation in Paris) and a consultant for Le Printemps des comédiens,
Montpellier's international drama festival.
Paul Prescott is an independent scholar, UK. He has published A Year of Shakespeare, Shakespeare on the Global Stage, Othello: Arden Performance Edition and Shakespeare on European Festival Stages with The Arden Shakespeare, and is also active in theatre production as the co-founder of the eco-festival ‘Shakespeare in Yosemite’.
Summary
From the aftermath of World War II to the convulsions of Brexit, festivals have deployed Shakespeare as a model of inclusive and progressive theatre to seek cultural solutions to Europe's multi-faceted crises. Shakespeare on European Festival Stages is the first book to chart Shakespeare’s presence at continental European festivals. It examines the role these festivals play in European socio-cultural exchanges, and the impact festivals make on the wider production and circulation of staged Shakespeare across the continent.
This collection offers authoritative, lively and informed accounts of the production of Shakespeare at the following festivals: the Avignon Festival and Le Printemps des comédiens in Montpellier (France), the Almagro festival (Spain), Shakespeare at Four Castles (Czech Republic and Slovakia), the International Shakespeare Festival in Craiova (Romania), the Shakespeare festivals in Elsinore (Denmark), Gdansk (Poland), Gyula (Hungary), Itaka (Serbia), Neuss (Germany), Patalenitsa (Bulgaria), Rome and Verona (Italy).
Shakespeare on European Festival Stages is essential reading for students, scholars and practitioners interested in Shakespeare in performance, in translation and in a post-national Shakespeare that knows no borders and belongs to all of Europe.
Foreword
A ground-breaking account of the significance of Shakespeare in modern Europe revealing the histories of the many and varied Shakespeare-centred festivals that span the continent and each year re-define what Shakespeare means to hundreds of thousands of Europeans.
Additional text
“Triumph my Britain, thou hast one to show / To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. / He was not of an age but for all time!” Ben Jonson’s famous eulogy in the 1623 edition of Shakespeare’s works could well be the motto of this informative and inspiring volume of essays written and compiled by eminent international scholars of Shakespeare, published in the prestigious The Arden Shakespeare series. In twelve fascinating chapters, seventeen authors of Shakespeare on European Festival Stages show how the influence of the Bard can be seen in the second half of the twentieth century to the present day through a specific medium and genre, the performing arts festival.
