Shakespeare on European Festival Stages

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 Stagesis 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.

Paul Prescott is Reader in English at the University of Warwick, UK. He has worked extensively on and with Shakespeare festivals and companies across North America, Europe and elsewhere, and is the co-founder of ’Shakespeare in Yosemite’.

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.

Nicoleta Cinpoes is a professor at the University of Worcester, UK, a Shakespeare scholar, historian and reviewer, and a consultant for the International Shakespeare Festival, Craiova, Romania.