Shakespeare and Theatrical Modernism Conference

[Catherine Graham]

Conference on Shakespeare and Theatrical Modernism
McGill University  October 10 - 13, 1997.

The Shakespeare in the Theatre Research Team invites cultural theorists, theatre
historians, Shakespeare scholars and theatre artists to join us at our conference
on Shakespeare and Theatrical Modernism in October 1997. This conference will
examine the relationship between the interpretation of Shakespeare in the
theatre and the broad currents of theatrical modernism as it has evolved in North
America and Europe.  Through formal papers and discussions with directors, the
October 1997 conference will consider various theoretical and aesthetic accounts
of modernism and test them against historical research on actual productions.
Guest speakers will consider such questions as the relationship between
modernist and post-modernist stagings of Shakespeare, the problems of
performing Shakespeare in the present tense, and the institutional uses to which
Shakespeare is put.   Working groups will provide all conference participants with
the opportunity to discuss the impact of modernist aesthetics on the production
and teaching of Shakespeare's plays in particular local settings.

Guest Speakers include:
Jean Asselin (Theatre Omnibus, Montreal)
Martine Beaulne (Theatre du Nouveau Monde, Montreal)
Susan Bennett (University of Calgary)
Gilbert David (Universite du Quebec a Montreal)
Jean-Michel Deprats (Universite de Paris X)
Inga-Stina Ewbank (University of Leeds)
Hugh Grady (Beaver College, Pennsylvania)
Russell Jackson (The Shakespeare Institute,University of Birmingham)
Dennis Kennedy (Trinity College, Dublin)
Irena Makaryk (University of Ottawa)
Kathleen McLuskie (University of Southampton)
Daniel Mesguich (Theatre de La Metaphore, Lille)
Sharon O'Dair (University of Alabama)
Richard P. Knowles (University of Guelph)
Richard Rose (Stratford Festival)
Jean-Pierre Vincent (Theatre des Amandiers, Paris)
Guy Woolfenden (Royal Shakespeare Company)
Paul Yachnin (University of British Columbia)

 The four topics for working group discussions are:

Designing Shakespeare: The Impact of Modernism
Shakespeare Across Cultures
Canadian Modernist Shakespeare
Innovation, Tradition and Shakespeare

Conference participants will be asked to choose a working group and to submit a
2-3 page position paper, based on their own research, which will be distributed to
other group members before the conference.  The positions expressed in these
papers, and the modifications or elaborations of them suggested by conference
sessions, will be the starting point for working group sessions.

We hope the forum provided by this conference will lay the basis for ongoing
discussions of Canadian research (both theoretical and practical) on Shakespeare.
We welcome participation in both English and French, although we cannot
provide translation services.  For more information about the conference, or to
receive a registration form, please contact Catherine Graham at
cgraham at engah.lan.mcgill.ca.



Catherine Graham
McGill Shakespeare in Performance Research Team
cgraham at engah.lan.mcgill.ca