Abstract Book “The art itself is nature”: Shakespeare’s Nature | Art | Politics ESRA Virtual Conference 2021 3-6 June 2021 National and Kapodistrian University of Athens www.esra2021.gr ORGANISERS ESRA2021 is supported by the School of Philosophy and the Departments of English Language and Literature and Theatre Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Table of Contents Seminars . 9 Panels . .109 Index . .117 4 “The art itself is nature”: Shakespeare’s Nature | Art | Politics ESRA Virtual Conference 2021 3-6 June 2021 National and Kapodistrian University of Athens www.esra2021.gr Seminars List of Seminars Moved by Shakespeare: ‘natural’ tempos, movement and physical expression on the ballet, opera and other storied musical stages Adeline Chevrier-Bosseau1, Nancy Isenberg2 1Université Clermont Auvergne, France; 2Roma Tre University, Italy [email protected]; [email protected] Shakespeare’s Festive Comedies on Screen: nature, art, politics Victoria Bladen1, Sarah Hatchuel2, Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin2 1University of Queensland, Australia; 2Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, France [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Performing Horticultural Spaces: Shakespearean Gardens, Orchards, and Parks Roberta Zanoni1, Guillaume Foulquie2, Huimin Wang3 1Universities of Verona and Bolzano, Italy; 2University of Worcester, United Kingdom; 3University of Southampton, United Kingdom; 4University of British Columbia, Canada [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Macbeth in European Culture Juan F. Cerdá1, Paul Prescott2 1University of Murcia, Spain; 2University of Warrick, United Kingdom [email protected]; [email protected] Shakespeare and Music: “Where should this music be? I’ th’ air or th’ earth?” Supported by the RMA Shakespeare and Music Study Group Michelle Assay1, Alina Bottez2, David Fanning3 1University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom; 2University of Bucharest, Romania; 3University of Manchester, United Kingdom [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] 5 “The art itself is nature”: Shakespeare’s Nature | Art | Politics ESRA Virtual Conference 2021 Seminars Re-mapping Shakespeare: Hybridity, Diversity and Adaptation Carmen Levick1, Márta Minier2 1University of Sheffield, United Kingdom; 2University of South Wales, United Kingdom [email protected]; [email protected] Shakespeare and Central/Eastern Europe: The National and Global Michelle Assay1, David Fanning2, Boris Gaydin3 1University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom; 2University of Manchester, United Kingdom; 3Moscow University for the Humanities, Russian Federation [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] “Well Are You Welcome in the Open Air”: Shakespeare Staged Outdoors Daria Moskvitina1, Oana Gheorghiu2, Bohdan Korneliuk3 1Zaporizhzhia State Medical University, Ukraine; 2”Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, Romania; 3Khortytsia National Academy, Ukraine [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Fracking Shakespeare Ronan Hatfull1, Taarini Mookherjee2 1University of Warwick, United Kingdom; 2Columbia University, United States [email protected]; [email protected] Changing Policies in Media Ecology: The Case of East European Digital Shakespeare Mădălina Nicolaescu1, Vladimir Makarov2, Oana-Alis Zaharia1 1University of Bucharest, Romania; 2St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University in Moscow, Russia [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Shakespeare and the Nature of Utopia/Utopian Nature Delilah Bermudez Brataas1, Magdalena Cieślak2 1Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway; 2University of Lodz, Poland [email protected]; [email protected] Shakespeare in Second and Foreign Language Learning Delilah Bermudez Brataas1, Anna Kowalcze-Pawlik2 1Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway; 2University of Lodz, Poland [email protected]; [email protected] “An art that nature makes?”: Nature and Shakespeare’s Greece Alison Findlay1, Vassiliki Markidou2 1Lancaster University, United Kingdom; 2National and Kapodistrian University of Athens [email protected]; [email protected] Shakespeare the (Un)natural Shaper: Addressing, Transgressing, and Redressing the Natural- Cultural Balance Michela Compagnoni1, Francesca Guidotti2 1Roma Tre University, Italy; 2University of Bergamo, Italy [email protected]; [email protected] 6 “The art itself is nature”: Shakespeare’s Nature | Art | Politics ESRA Virtual Conference 2021 Seminars: S.01 Moved by Shakespeare ‘natural’ tempos, movement and physical expression on the ballet, opera and other storied musical stages Moved by Shakespeare: ‘natural’ tempos, movement and physical expression on the ballet, opera and other storied musical stages Adeline Chevrier-Bosseau1, Nancy Isenberg2 1Université Clermont Auvergne, France; 2Roma Tre University, Italy [email protected]; [email protected] This seminar proposes to reflect on the notion of ‘natural’ tempos, movement and physical expression in the adaptation of Shakespeare’s works for the ballet, opera and other storied musical stages. We will be looking into opera, theatre and other types of dramatic performance mainly from the perspective of physical movement on stage and the physicality of the performance, and how the physical component interplays with the musical elements, the sets, lighting, etc…. We also invite scholars to reflect on whether there is a ‘natural’ cross-influencing of ballet, opera and other storied musical stages about arranging characters on stage, body language and gesture. Possible topics for this seminar include: - ‘Naturally Shakespearean’ movement/tempos: Are there types of movement, forms of dance (ballet, contemporary dance, contemporary ballet, Broadway jazz in musicals, hip-hop,…), musical and physical tempos, that could be ‘naturally’ congenial to Shakespeare’s works? To what extent can we consider certain forms of physical expression organic, natural, to Shakespeare’s characters, plots, and the rhythm and inflections of his words? Falstaff, Macbeth, or Romeo will not move on stage the same way, so how are movement and physical expression thought about when staging an opera for example? - Nature and gender: what is the ‘natural’ gender of spirits, creatures like Ariel or Puck? What is their natural movement? More generally, how is gender ‘naturally’ danced on ballet stages? Since ballet training is highly gendered, how do some choreographers manage to challenge traditional balletic gendering when tackling Shakespearean elements such as cross- dressing, female roles played by men, shrewish characters and spirits/fairies? What about forms of dance other than ballet? What about opera? How are alternate genderings treated on opera stages in terms of physical expression? - Nature on stage: how is nature depicted on the ballet and opera stages? How does a natural setting (the forest of Arden, the world of the fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, …) interact with ‘natural’ (and ‘unnatural’) movement onstage? Keywords: dance, opera, movement, physicality, nature, gender 7 “The art itself is nature”: Shakespeare’s Nature | Art | Politics ESRA Virtual Conference 2021 Seminars: S.01 Moved by Shakespeare ‘natural’ tempos, movement and physical expression on the ballet, opera and other storied musical stages He, She, and He Being She Being He: Shifting Genders in Shakespearean Noh and Kabuki Patricia Beaman Wesleyan University, United States of America; [email protected] My paper repositions Shakespeare outside of a European framework and expands my ongoing inquiry into how avant- garde Japanese directors have used Japanese dance forms as a pivotal dramatic device. Yukio Ninagawa and Satoshi Miyagi have each brought fascinating insight to Shakespeare’s works by using dance as an integral, dramatic force which propels the action, heightens the emotion, and accentuates dramatic elements inherent in Shakespeare’s art. Because noh and kabuki are traditionally all-male forms, Ninagawa and Miyagi have also played with subverting gender roles. Starring in Ninagawa Twelfth Night (2005) is renowned kabuki performer, Onoe Kikunosuke V, who is known for his role as an onnagata—a male actor specializing in female roles. Kikunosuke plays three characters: Viola; her twin brother Sebastian; and Cesario--a male character played by Viola in travesty. In this dizzying gambol of gender swapping—the most extreme being a man playing a woman playing a man—Kikunosuke and Ninagawa enhance the drama by playing between feminine and masculine dance movements and gestures, music, vocalization, and especially the kabuki custom of hayagawari--split-second costume changes that happen in full view of an audience. In Miyagi’s Mugen Noh Othello (2018), the tragedy is told from the perspective of Othello’s ill-fated wife Desdemona, who returns as a ghost after her murder. Desdemona is played by Mikari, a female actor who also assays the part of Othello. The denouement of this two- spirited gendering results in Desdemona strangling her own self while wearing a man’s studded glove. Expressing Tragedy through Dance: Romeo and Juliet Julia Bührle Independent Scholar, Germany; [email protected] In 2014, a headline of the New York Times affirmed that “Shakespeare’s plays are a natural fit with dance”. The reformer Jean-Georges