Politics, Shakespeare, East-Central Europe: Theatrical Border Crossings

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.28.03
Crossmark check for up

Keywords:

race, racism, political theater, William Shakespeare, Jan Kott, adaptation, cultural mobility, cultural transmission, microhistories, translation

Abstract

This essay discusses how productions of Shakespeare’s plays that transcend various geographical, national, and linguistic boundaries have influenced the theatrical-political discourse in East-Central Europe in the twenty-first century. It focuses primarily on the work of four internationally-established directors: Andrei Şerban (Romania), Jan Klata (Poland), David Jařab (Czech Republic), and Matei Vișniec (Romania), whose works have facilitated interregional cultural exchange, promoting artistic innovation and experimentation in the region and beyond. Among the boundary-crossing productions analysed in detail are Vișniec’s Richard III will not Take Place, Jařab’s Macbeth – Too Much Blood, Klata’s Measure for Measure, and Serban’s Richard III. The essay also notes that while there has been a relative scarcity of Shakespearean productions in this region engaging closely with gender and race inequalities, productions such as Klata’s African Tales or Vladimír Morávek’s Othello manage to work with these politically charged topics in subtler but still productive ways. The essay concludes that the region’s shared historical experience of totalitarian regimes followed by the struggles of nascent democracies, provides a fertile ground for a diverse and internationally ambitious Shakespearean theatre.

 

The publication of the article was supported by the International Visegrad Fund, project no. 22210007, titled “Crossing Borders with Shakespeare since 1945: Central and Eastern European Roots and Routes.” The project is co-financed by the Governments of the Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants. The mission of the Fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Zsolt Almási, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, Hunagary

is an associate professor in the Institute of English and American Studies, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Hungary. His book, The Problematics of Custom as Exemplified in Key Texts of the Late English Renaissance came off the press in 2004. He is the co-editor of journals (International Journal of Digital Humanities), Digitális bölcsészet (Digital Humanities) and was co-editor of books with Mike Pincombe, Writing the Other. Humanism versus Barbarism in Tudor England, (2008) and New Perspectives on Tudor Cultures (2012). More recently (2021) he co-edited with Kinga Földváry a special issue “Shakespeare in Central Europe after 1989: Common Heritage and Regional Identity” of Theatralia. He serves as the head of the Department of English Literatures and Cultures, the president of the Hungarian Shakespeare Society. His current research projects and publications focus on Shakespeare, Shakespeare in the contemporary Hungarian theatre, digital Shakespeare, and digital and visual culture.

Krystyna Kujawińska Courtney, University of Lodz, Poland

is a full professor at the University of Lodz, Poland. Her research interests focus mainly, but not exclusively, on Shakespeare, theatre, and literary and cultural theories, especially gender, New Historicism, and presentism. She received grants from the Fulbright Foundation, Folger Shakespeare Library, the Huntington Library, and the Kosciuszko Foundation. She published numerous international and local monographs, articles, and essays on the long-term global authority of Shakespeare, as well as on his dramatic works and early modern and contemporary culture. She authored, contracted, and coordinated several international projects (e.g., TEMPUS, SIME) funded by the European Union Commission and the Australian Government and Polish projects devoted to Shakespeare and Polish culture. She is a member of the WSB (World Shakespeare Bibliography) consortium of international correspondents, and she co-edited the journal Multicultural Shakespeare for twenty years (2004-2024). Eleven doctoral dissertations in Shakespeare studies on cultural appropriations, borrowings, and adaptations were completed under her supervision.

Mădălina Nicolaescu, University of Bucharest, Romania

is professor at the English Department – University of Bucharest. Her books on early modern theatre include Meanings of Violence in Shakespeare (2004), Ec-centric Mappings of the Renaissance (1999); she has edited collections of essays such as (In)hospitable Translations: Fidelities, Betrayals, Rewritings (2010), Shakespeare Translations and the European Dimension (2012), Shakespeare 400 in Romania (2016), Perspectives on Shakespeare in Europe’s Borderlands (2020). Further recent contributions on Shakespeare have also been published in International Shakespeare Yearbook (2020), Cahiers Élisabéthains (2019, 2020), SEDERI (2017) and in volumes like Proceedings of the Ninth World Shakespeare Congress, (2014), Great Shakespeareans (2012), and Visions of Shakespeare (2011).

Klára Škrobánková, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Ph.D. works at the Arts and Theatre Institute in Prague and at the Department of Theatre Studies, Masaryk University Brno. She is especially interested in music theatre and the German-language theatre in the Czech lands in the 18th and 19th century—the issues of theatre historiography and its documentation are important parts of her research interests. She partakes on the creation of the Czech Theatre Encyclopedia, where she focuses on the German theatre in the Moravia and Silesia in the 19th century.

Ema Vyroubalova, University of Dublin, Ireland

is assistant professor in the School of English at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. Her research and teaching interests include English Renaissance drama; Shakespeare’s plays in global contexts; theory and practice of literary translation; and travel literature. She has published on multilingual elements in the literature of Elizabethan and Jacobean England and on stage and film adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays in Europe and the Middle East. Her most recent publication is an edition of the collected writings of the Reverend Jermyn Pratt (1723-1791), an English clergyman from Norfolk, co-edited with James Robert Wood. She has also been contributing to the Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings initiative, organizing stage readings of over twenty plays by contemporary Ukrainian dramatists at Trinity College Dublin in June 2022 and June 2023.

Oana-Alis Zaharia, University of Bucharest, Romania

is lecturer of English at the English Department of the University of Bucharest. She is the author of the monograph Cultural Reworkings and Translations in/of Shakespeare’s Plays (Bucharest, 2015). Her recent work has been published in prestigious international journals: Cahiers Élisabéthains, SEDERI Yearbook, Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, etc. She has co-edited and contributed to several volumes on Shakespeare and translation/adaptation: Perspectives on Shakespeare in Europe’s Borderlands (co-editor, Bucharest 2020), Shakespeare 400 in Romania. Papers Commemorating the 400th Anniversary of William Shakespeare’s Death (co-editor, Bucharest, 2017); Shakespeare, Translation and the European Dimension (co-editor, 2012) and Inhospitable Translations: Fidelities, Betrayals, Rewritings (Bucharest, 2010).

References

Almási, Zsolt. “Textuality, heritage, and identity in Hungary: contexts for the interpretation of Szikszai’s insertion in Macbeth (2018).” Theatralia 24: Special Issue, 2021: 222-238. https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/handle/11222.digilib/143683 Accessed 20 February 2024.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.5817/TY2021-S-12

Bóta, Gábor. “A rettegés világa.” [The world of Terror] FÜHÜ, 27.02.2018, https://fuhu.hu/a-retteges-vilaga/ Accessed 6 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Cornis-Pope, Marcel; Neubauer, John. “General Introduction”. History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and Disjunctures in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Volume 1, John Benjamins Publishing, 2004. 1-18.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/chlel.xix.05cor

Csáki, Judit. “Meglátjuk magunkban III. Richárdot: Interview with Andrei Şerban.” Revizor 11.02.2018. https://revizoronline.com/hu/cikk/7088/beszelgetes-andrei-erban-rendezovel Accessed 6 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Filipkowski, Janusz. “Concerning Disputes about the Definition of Politics.” Political Dialogues. 19 (2015): 47-55. https://doi.org/10.12775/DP.2015.016
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.12775/DP.2015.016

Fráter, Zsuzsanna. “A mocsár ura – III. Richárd a Radnótiban,” [The lords of the swamp – Richard III in Radnóti Theatre] Corn & Soda. 08.03.2018. https://cornandsoda.com/wp/mocsar-ura-iii-richard-radnotiban/ Accessed 6 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Imre, Zoltán. “Theatre and Ideology: Staging The Merchant of Venice at the Hungarian National Theatre in 1940 and 1986.” European Judaism 51.2 (2018): 213-222.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.3167/ej.2018.510228

Jászay, Tamás. “Köztünk jár. Shakespeare: III. Richárd / Radnóti Miklós Színház. [Among us. Shakespeare: Richard III / Radnóti Miklós Theatre. Színház.net 21.02.2018 http://szinhaz.net/2018/02/21/jaszay-tamas-koztunk-jar/ Accessed 6 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Joughin, John J. “Shakespeare and Politics: an Introduction.” Shakespeare and Politics. Eds. Catherine M. S. Alexander, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 1-21.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511815256.002

Kavianifar, Farinaz. Theatre Of Inquiry: Matei Vișniec’s “Richard III” Takes Place In Tehran – Interview With Rūhollah J’afarī Written by Farinaz Kavianifar (14 July 2019) Interview, Iran, Transcultural Collaborations. https://thetheatretimes.com/theatre-of-inquiry-matei-visniecs-richard-iii-takes-place-in-tehran-interview-with-ruhollah-jafari/ Accessed 10 July 2023.
Google Scholar

Komporaly, Jozefina. “Introduction”. How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients and Other Plays. Ed. Jozefina Komporaly. London, New York and Calcutta: Seagull Books. xi-xiii.
Google Scholar

Kowalcze-Pawlik, Anna. “The Moor’s Political Colour: Race and Othello in Poland.” Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance 22.37 (2020): 171-190.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.22.10

Kříž, Jiří (2003). “Othello v osidlech černé a bílé.” [Othello ensnared by black and white] https://www.novinky.cz/clanek/kultura-othello-v-osidlech-cerne-a-bile-40083510 Accessed 20 February 2024.
Google Scholar

Kujawińska Courtney, Krystyna, “In-Between Polish and German Cultures: Jan Klata’s Titus Andronicus.” Ed. Jana B. Wild. Shakespeare In-Between. Bratislava; Vysoka skola muzickych umieni, 2018. 113-123.
Google Scholar

Kujawińska Courtney, Krystyna, “Wojciech Bogusławski’s Hamlet (1798): Positioning Shakespeare in Polish Culture.” Shakespeare and His Infinite Variety—Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of His Death. Eds. Krystyna Kujawinska Courtney and Grzegorz Zinkiewicz. Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2017. 71-78.
Google Scholar

Kujawińska Courtney, Krystyna, “Othello in Poland, a Prevailingly Homogenous Ethnic Country”. The Routledge Handbook of Shakespeare and Global Appropriation. Eds. Christy Desmet, Sujata Iyengar, and Miriam Jacobson. London and New York: Routledge, 2020. 243-253.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315168968-22

Kwaśniewska, Monika (2020). “Evidence and/or Performance” https://thetheatretimes.com/evidence-and-or-performance/ Accessed 10 July 2023.
Google Scholar

Marik, Noémi. “A polgár hallgat.” [The Citizen is Silent]. Vasárnapi hírek 24.02.2018 https://vasarnapihirek.hu/izles/teatrum__a_polgar_hallgat__william_shakespeare_III_richard_radnoti_szinhaz Accessed 6 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Modreanu, Cristina. “Libertatea din cap”, Gândul, July 8, 2006.
Google Scholar

Nicolaescu, Madalina, Zaharia, Oana-Alis. “Richard III Will Not Take Place, Matéi Vișniec, 2001.” The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Shakespeare. Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99378-2_214-1
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99378-2_214-1

Orlich, I. A. Subversive Stages: Theatre in Pre- and Post-communist Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Budapest and New York: Central European University Press. 2017. 95-115.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9789633861189

Parák, Eszter. “Álmodni trónt – III. Richárd a Radnótiban.” [Dreaming the Throne – Richard III in Radnóti]. https://peszterblog.com/2018/02/28/egy-torz-szemelyiseg-eluralkodasa-a-tehetetlen-tomegen-iii-richard-a-radnotiban/ Accessed 6 August 2023.
Google Scholar

“Othello, Divadlo v Celetné” [Othello, Theatre in Celetná] https://www.divadlovceletne.cz/program/othello/ Accessed 6 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Pikli, Natália. “Staging The Merchant of Venice in Hungary: Politics, prejudice and languages of hatred.” Shakespeare’s Others in 21st-century European Performance : The Merchant of Venice and Othello. Eds. Boika, Sokolova; Janice, Valls-Russell London-New York-Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021. 152-170.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350125988.0016

Pikli, Natália. “Országomat egy … – miért is? Andrei Şerban III. Richárd-rendezése a Radnóti Színházban” [“My kingdom for… – for what? Andrei Şerban’s Richard III in Radnóti Theatre”] Prae 03.08.2018. https://www.prae.hu/article/10300-orszagomat-egy-miert-is/ Accessed 06 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Rayner, Francesca Clare. Shakespeare and the Challenge of the Contemporary: Performance, Politics and Aesthetics. London-New York-Oxford: The Arden Shakespeare, 2022.
Google Scholar

Salter, Denis. “Acting Shakespeare in Post-Colonial Space.” Shakespeare, theory and performance. Ed. James. C. Bulman. London and New York: Routledge, 1996. 113-133.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203360071_chapter_7

Seymour, Jasmin (2020). “Not Lost in Translation: A Romanian Othello with an Armenian Twist.” https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/blogs/not-lost-translation-romanian-othello-armenian-twist/ Accessed 6 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Śmiechowicz, Olga. Polish Theatre After the Fall of Communism: Dionysus Since ‘89. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018.
Google Scholar

“The African Tales by Shakespeare.” Nowy Teatr. https://nowyteatr.org/en/kalendarz/opowiesci-afrykanskie-wg-szekspira Accessed 6 August 2023.
Google Scholar

Tismăneanu, Vladimir, Iacob, C. Bogdan. Remembrance, History, and Justice Coming to Terms with Traumatic Pasts in Democratic Societies, Budapest-New York: Central European University, 2015.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9789633860939

Todorov, Tzvetan. The Totalitarian Experience, translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan, Seagull Books, 2011.
Google Scholar

Vișniec, Matei. III. Richárd betilva – öt dráma. [Richard III Banned – five dramas]. Trans. Éva Patkó. Budapest: Koinónia, 2010.
Google Scholar

Vișniec, Matei. “Să nu uităm, chiar dacă iertăm” [Let us not forget even if we forgive] Procesul comunismului prin teatru (The Trial of Communism by Theatre). Bucharest: Humanitas, 2012. 13-14.
Google Scholar

Vișniec, Matéi. How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients and Other Plays. Ed. Jozefina Komporaly. London, New York and Calcutta: Seagull Books, 2015.
Google Scholar

Vișniec, Matéi. website: https://www.visniec.com/home.html Accessed 10 July 2023.
Google Scholar

Downloads

Published

2023-12-30

How to Cite

Almási, Z., Kujawińska Courtney, K., Nicolaescu, M., Škrobánková, K., Vyroubalova, E., & Zaharia, O.-A. (2023). Politics, Shakespeare, East-Central Europe: Theatrical Border Crossings. Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance, 28(43), 45–68. https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.28.03

Funding data

  • International Visegrad Fund
    Grant numbers Project no. 22210007, titled “Crossing Borders with Shakespeare since 1945: Central and Eastern European Roots and Routes.”

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Similar Articles

<< < 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.