BRNO THEATRALIA CONFERENCE 2023 
5–7 JUNE 2023
Crossing Borders with Shakespeare since 1945:
Central and Eastern European Roots and Routes
The Central European Shakespeare Research Association (CEESRA) is pleased to invite abstract submissions for the Brno Theatralia Conference 2023, to be held on 5 – 7 June 2023 at Masaryk University, Czech Republic.
The conference is co-organized by the Department of Theatre Studies, Masaryk University, Czechia, and CEESRA and supported by Visegrad Fund Project “Crossing Borders with Shakespeare since 1945: Central and Eastern European Roots and Routes”
https://theatre.phil.muni.cz/research/crossing-borders-with-shakespeare-since-1945
Shakespeare is deeply ingrained and valued in all our national cultures, has been central to the academic curriculum, and has served as a lingua franca for our common history and contemporary social experiences. To explore the malleability of the Shakespearean medium as it interacts with the historical connections among the region’s nations, we would like to focus on local appropriations, spin-offs, prequels, re-imaginings, written under communism or after.
A large number of these have traversed borders and have been performed, read, and subsequently adapted in other countries in our region. Making these the focus of the conference would allow us to revise both single-country and English-origins tendencies in Global Shakespeare, to contribute to a theory of cross-media and multilingual translation and transmission of Shakespeare, and to enhance adaptation theory more generally. At the same time, it will showcase individual authors and cultural achievements and thus serve as a cultural ambassador of the region.
Session formats at the conference:
Seminars
We welcome proposals for papers on the following topics:
- Communist and post-communist transnational Shakespeare appropriations: directions and networks of circulation; political and ideological appropriations
- Shakespearean translation as interpretation after 1989
- Media crossings with Shakespeare after 1989: dance, film, puppet theatre, opera, musical theatre
- Populist transcreations after 1989
- Visuality and scenography for Shakespeare after 1989
- Popular and populist Shakespearean transcreations after 1989
- Shakespeare in the EFL classroom / Teaching Shakespeare after 1989
- Contemporary theory and methodology of Shakespearean research
Further suggestions contributing to the dialogue are welcome and will be considered.
Roundtables
Roundtables aim to present interim results obtained in relation to the objectives of the Visegrad Project and take the form of a conversation. They explore theoretical issues of Shakespeare appropriation in the communist period, and their cross-border and cross-mediums transfer. They invite participants to share feedback on the topic in order to facilitate a rich set of discussions.
- (Shakespeare and) Eastern Europe/Central Europe/Centre of Europe/the East of Europe: floating signifiers of cultural and political geography; centre or margin
- Popular and populist Shakespearean transcreations: parody, satire, irony, grotesque; to be combined with populist transcreations plus genre transformations, hybridization
- Expressions of social critique and political resistance: bypassing censorship, dramatizing the invisible and marginalized
- Media crossings/translations: dance, film, puppet theatre, opera; to be combined with populist transcreations plus genre transformations
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The registration for seminars is open to scholars as well as PhD candidates in the respective fields. Moreover, scholars from various fields as well as theatre practitioners, translators, historians of art, stage designers and theatre critics are warmly invited to join us and participate in the event either as speakers or as audience.
Important dates:
Abstracts should be submitted online using the form on the conference website:
https://btc.phil.muni.cz/registration by 31 March 2023.
Notification of abstract acceptance: 15 April 2023
Conference website: https://btc.phil.muni.cz/
The conference fee is 80 EUR.
We look forward to your participation in
our conference and hope to see you in June 2023!
Conference organisers:
Šárka Havlíčková Kysová (Masaryk University, CZ), sarka.havlickova@phil.muni.cz
Ivona Mišterová (University of West Bohemia, CZ), yvonne@kaj.zcu.cz
Klára Škrobánková (Masaryk University, CZ), skrobankova@phil.muni.cz
Eliška Raiterová (Masaryk University, CZ), eliska.raiterova@mail.muni.cz
On behalf of the project organising committee:
Jacek Fabiszak (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland)
Anna Cetera-Włodarczyk (University of Warsaw)
Anna Kowalcze-Pawlik (University of Lodz, Poland)
Krystyna Kujawińska Courtney (University of Lodz, Poland)
Jana Wild (Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, Slovakia)
Zsolt Almási (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary)
Kinga Földváry (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary)
Gabriella Reuss (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary)
Veronika Schandl (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary)
Natália Pikli (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary)
Kornélia Deres (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary)
Boika Sokolova (University of Notre Dame (USA) in England, London, UK)
Nicoleta Cinpoes (University of Worcester, UK)
Kirilka Stavreva (Cornell College, USA)
Mădălina Nicolaescu (University of Bucharest, Romania)
Any inquiries can be sent to theatralia.conference@phil.muni.cz
