Shakespeare has been translated into virtually all the world’s most commonly spoken languages. His plays are performed in a rich variety of theatrical traditions. How did he become the global phenomenon he is today? And how is his work received and interpreted across the world?
Ben Crystal (@bencrystal) is an actor, writer and producer. He is the artistic director of Passion in Practice and its Shakespeare Ensemble. Ben was the co-writer of Shakespeare’s Words and The Shakespeare Miscellany with his father David Crystal. His first solo book, Shakespeare on Toast – Getting a Taste for the Bard was shortlisted for the 2010 Educational Writer of the Year Award. His latest book is An Illustrated Dictionary of Shakespeare.
Andrew Dickson (@andydickson) is a writer and critic. He has a double first in English literature and an MPhil in Renaissance literature from Cambridge, and has contributed to The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare. A former arts editor at the Guardian, he writes regularly for the newspaper and makes frequent appearances on the BBC. He is also an honorary fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, and blogs at worldselsewhere.com. His latest book is Worlds Elsewhere: journeys around Shakespeare’s globe.
Varsha Panjwani (@EarlyModernDoc) is a lecturer at Boston University (London) and is an honorary Research Associate at the University of York. Varsha’s research focuses on the way in which Shakespeare is deployed in the service of diversity theatre and films. As well as publishing widely in leading international journals such as Shakespeare Survey and in forthcoming collections such as Shakespeare and Indian Cinema and The Diverse Bard, she has won prestigious research grants from the Society of Theatre Research and Folger Shakespeare Library. In addition to her individual research, she is on the steering committee of the multi-grant-winning project Indian Shakespeares on Screen (2016).
Sheila T Cavanagh is serving as the Fulbright/Global Shakespeare Distinguished Chair in London and Warwick in 2015-2016. Professor of English at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, she is Founding Director of the World Shakespeare Project, Director of the Emory Women Writer’s Resource Project and Director of Emory’s Year of Shakespeare, working in conjunction with The Folger Shakespeare Library and American Library Association traveling exhibit The First Folio: The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare. Author of monographs on Spenser and Lady Mary Wroth, she has published widely in the fields of Renaissance literature, Pedagogy, and International Education.
This event forms part of the LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival 2016, taking place from Monday 22 - Saturday 27 February 2016, with the theme 'Utopias'.
This event will be followed by a complimentary drinks reception to celebrate the closing night of the Festival.
Update, Tuesday 9 February: Preti Taneja will no longer be speaking as part of this event, due to unforeseen circumstances.
Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSELitFest
Podcast
A podcast of this event is available to download from Worlds Elsewhere: global Shakespeare.
Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.