Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance
type: channel
description: Multicultural Shakespeare is an international journal devoted to Shakespearean studies; it is a forum in which researchers, especially those from non-English-speaking backgrounds, can air local concerns and themes that contribute to the creation and understanding of Shakespeare as a global phenomenon. Initially devoted mainly to translations, Multicultural Shakespeare developed into a publication mediating vigorous discussions on the adaptation of Shakespeare’s texts, their ontology and cross-cultural significance. It created an opportunity to present the universal dimension of Shakespeare’s works by focusing on the local values found in the cultures of Australia, Brazil, China, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA.
publisher: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
language: en
publication name: Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance
issn: 2083-8530
items: Contributors
items: In Memoriam: Mark Sokolianskyi (1939–2025)
items: Afterword: IF Shakespeare UA. The First International Shakespeare Festival in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, 17–23 June 2024
items: Theatre Studio of IDP’s Uzhik Production of King Lear, directed by Viacheslav Yehorov, staged at the Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, on 14 and 15 June 2024
items: Working Title: A Collaboration Made in York
items: Exploring Object Afterlives: Ophelia. Subject Study at the 28th Gdansk International Shakespeare Festival, 2024
items: L_UKR_ECE at the Craiova International Shakespeare Festival, Romania, 2022
items: “Ha*l*t is a play about a play that never happened.” Notes on HA*L*T
items: Shelter from the Storm: Two Recent Shakespeare Stagings by the Ivano-Frankivsk Drama Theatre
items: Romeo and Juliet: From a Performance for Teenagers to an Innovative Dramatic Performance in the Time of War
items: https://www.czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/szekspir/article/view/29453
items: Shakespeare, Trauma, and Social Change: Inclusive Ukrainian Theatre Projects (2019–2023)
items: Macbeth in Wartime Ukraine
items: The Precariousness of Human Existence in William Shakespeare’s Plays: A Ukrainian Perspective
items: “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind”: Reading Vladyslav Yerko’s Illustrations to Shakespearein Ukrainian
items: Modernising the Ukrainian Language through the Power of Translation: Ihor Kostetskyi’s Shakespeare’s Sonnets
items: Lost (in) Translations: How Ukrainian Shakespeareana Must Be Bigger Than We Think
items: Virtual Museum “#Hamlet_UA: Act 1, Scene 1943” in the Context of Decolonizing Knowledge about Ukraine
items: https://www.czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/szekspir/article/view/29442
items: Foreword: Shakespeare in Ukraine
items: Introduction: Shakespeare Shelter
items: War-torn King Lear: Adaptation as Catharsis
items: Introduction: The Global Origins of Shakespeare Studies
items: “Shakespeare is a Finnish national poet:” Developing Finnish Shakespeare Scholarship from the Enlightenment to the Twentieth Century
items: Activist Discourse and the Origins of Feminist Shakespeare Studies
items: Writing and Rewriting Nationhood: "Henry V" and Political Appropriation of Shakespeare
items: Introduction: “With Such Perfection: ” Imagining Utopia through Shakespeare
items: “Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company:” the American Performance of Shakespeare and the White-Washing of Political Geography
items: Book Reviews
items: New Interpretations and Adaptations of Shakespeare’s Plays in Japan from 2020 to 2023

Contributors
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Nicoleta Cinpoeş
creator: Imke Lichterfeld
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 363
ending page: 371

In Memoriam: Mark Sokolianskyi (1939–2025)
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Nataliya Torkut
creator: Daria Moskvitina
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 361
ending page: 362
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.27

Afterword: IF Shakespeare UA. The First International Shakespeare Festival in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, 17–23 June 2024
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Nicoleta Cinpoeş
creator: Anna Kowalcze-Pawlik
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 351
ending page: 360
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.26

Theatre Studio of IDP’s Uzhik Production of King Lear, directed by Viacheslav Yehorov, staged at the Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, on 14 and 15 June 2024
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Cristie Carson
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 345
ending page: 349
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.25

Working Title: A Collaboration Made in York
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Philip Parr
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 341
ending page: 344
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.24

Exploring Object Afterlives: Ophelia. Subject Study at the 28th Gdansk International Shakespeare Festival, 2024
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Anna Kowalcze-Pawlik
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 337
ending page: 340
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.23

L_UKR_ECE at the Craiova International Shakespeare Festival, Romania, 2022
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Sorin Cazacu
creator: Anna Kowalcze-Pawlik
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 333
ending page: 335
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.22

“Ha*l*t is a play about a play that never happened.” Notes on HA*L*T
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Imke Lichterfeld
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 331
ending page: 332
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.21

Shelter from the Storm: Two Recent Shakespeare Stagings by the Ivano-Frankivsk Drama Theatre
type: item
description: This paper examines two recent Shakespeare productions by the Ivan Franko National Drama Theatre staged in Ivan-Frankivsk, Ukraine: Hamlet and Twelfth Night. The classic tragedy is directed by Rostyslav Derzhypilskyi, and the celebrated comedy by the actor Oleksii Hnatkovskyi, who also plays the title role in Hamlet. Both productions function as a shelter, in a literal and metaphorical sense. The Hamlet production opened in 2017 and became known for its use of a contemporary-sounding new translation by the Ivano-Frankivsk native, Yurii Andrukhovych, as well as the new basement stage adapted for the post-apocalyptic production. It soon literally became a bomb shelter, used as temporary housing for refugees from Eastern Ukraine, as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. The staging of Twelfth Night as literally drama therapy in action consisted of a performance by Ukrainian soldiers utilising an abridged English text of the play. The performance served as a psychotherapeutic session and demonstrated the healing power of Shakespeare’s plays. The present article focuses on how this regional Ukrainian theatre has unexpectedly become a cutting-edge venue for Shakespeare performance and, more importantly, a spiritual and intellectual shelter for not only the audience, but also the performers.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Shakespeare in Ukraine
  topic: keywords
subject: theatrical adaptation
  topic: keywords
subject: experimental theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: Ivano-Frankivsk Theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: Rostyslav Derzhypilskyi
  topic: keywords
subject: Oleksii Hnatkovskyi
  topic: keywords
creator: Oksana Fedorkiv
creator: David Livingstone
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 303
ending page: 314
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.19

Romeo and Juliet: From a Performance for Teenagers to an Innovative Dramatic Performance in the Time of War
type: item
description: The article offers an overview of the reception history of Romeo and Juliet in Ukraine. In the Ukrainian lands that were part of the Russian Empire, Romeo and Juliet began to be staged at Russian-language theatres at the end of the 19th century. In the Ukrainian SSR, the tragedy was performed in Ukrainian translations from the late 1930s. Leading theatres in independent Ukraine also adapted Romeo and Juliet. For instance, the Frankivsk Drama Theatre (2021, directed by Rostyslav Derzhypilskyi) staged Romeo & Juliet using Yurii Andrukhovych’s translation. Since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war, this performance has been experimental in its spatial design and approach to the characters, reflecting the pain of the time.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: performance
  topic: keywords
subject: Romeo & Juliet
  topic: keywords
subject: Ivano-Frankivsk Drama Theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: post-apocalyptic theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: Russo-Ukrainian war
  topic: keywords
creator: Yuliia Shchukina
creator: Liudmyla Vaniuha
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 285
ending page: 300
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.18

https://www.czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/szekspir/article/view/29453
type: item
title: “Hereafter, in a better world than this, I shall desire more love and knowledge of you”: Kelly Hunter on Art, Healing, Trauma and Working with Ukrainian Families. A Conversation with Darya Lazarenko and Imke Lichterfeld
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Darya Lazarenko
creator: Imke Lichterfeld
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 257
ending page: 270
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.16

Shakespeare, Trauma, and Social Change: Inclusive Ukrainian Theatre Projects (2019–2023)
type: item
description: This article focuses on the analysis of art-therapeutic, inclusive theatre projects in Ukraine that were based on Shakespeare’s plays and implemented from 2019 to 2023. The goal of these projects was deeply integrative: to draw public attention to people with disabilities, war veterans, and children whose parents were on the frontline. In addition, the aim of the theatre projects was to help these groups be heard, to provide them with the tools and a platform to tell their stories through archetypal, recognisable narrative patterns. The article explores the production of Twelfth Night, or What You Will based on Shakespeare’s comedy with veterans and volunteers of the Russian-Ukrainian war (‘Project W’), directed by Oleksii Hnatkovskyi, 2019; the inclusive project 12 Ophelia by the Kharkiv Arabesque Studio Theatre, 2019; and the production Monster Opera based on Shakespeare with children of the military, directed by Nigel Osborne, 2023.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: inclusive theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: Shakespeare and disability
  topic: keywords
subject: Shakespeare and trauma
  topic: keywords
subject: Shakespeare in Ukraine
  topic: keywords
subject: theatre as a therapy
  topic: keywords
subject: art-therapy practicing
  topic: keywords
subject: integrative theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: inclusiveness in the theatre
  topic: keywords
creator: Sofiia Rosa-Lavrentii
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 243
ending page: 255
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.15

Macbeth in Wartime Ukraine
type: item
description: The article discusses the production of Macbeth by The Taras Shevchenko Academic Regional Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre of Cherkasy, Ukraine. Directed by Stanislav Sadakliiev, this production of Macbeth premiered on 27 January 2024 and paved the way for a new series of theatrical adaptations of the Scottish play produced during the Russian-Ukrainian War. The first part of the article provides a brief overview of Macbeth’s theatrical reception in Ukraine, while the second part focuses on the 2024 staging, including the translation used to produce the effect of urgency for Macbeth in Ukrainian.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Macbeth in Eastern Europe
  topic: keywords
subject: Macbeth in Ukraine
  topic: keywords
subject: Shakespeare in performance
  topic: keywords
subject: Les Kurbas
  topic: keywords
subject: contemporary Ukrainian theatre
  topic: keywords
creator: Viktoriia Marinesko
creator: Anastasiia Brynko
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 201
ending page: 210
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.12

The Precariousness of Human Existence in William Shakespeare’s Plays: A Ukrainian Perspective
type: item
description: The study of precarity has emerged as a new theoretical interest in the humanities in response to contemporary global crises such as military conflicts, terrorist attacks, the COVID-19 pandemic, ecological disasters, and climate change. In the Ukrainian context, where war and geopolitical instability remain ever-present, the exploration of precarity resonates deeply. This article examines the exploration of the precariousness of human existence in William Shakespeare’s plays through a distinctly Ukrainian lens. It engages with the ongoing war in Ukraine, the nation’s experiences of trauma, loss, resilience, and with the therapeutic potential of Shakespeare-related programmes. Drawing on Judith Butler’s theory of precariousness and precarity, this essay analyses how Shakespeare’s plays address the fundamental vulnerabilities of human life linked to health, race, and social inequities. It pays particular attention to the precariousness of human existence, with a focus on the realities of war, political power, and the system of government. The plays used in the analysis are Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Henry V, Richard II, and Richard III. The paper concludes that Shakespeare’s exploration of precarious existence speaks not only to the fragility of life in his time but also mirrors the existential challenges faced by Ukrainians today, making his works relevant to both local and global audiences.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Hamlet
  topic: keywords
subject: Othello
  topic: keywords
subject: King Lear
  topic: keywords
subject: Romeo and Juliet
  topic: keywords
subject: The Merchant of Venice
  topic: keywords
subject: Henry V
  topic: keywords
subject: Richard II
  topic: keywords
subject: Richard III
  topic: keywords
subject: precariousness
  topic: keywords
subject: precarity
  topic: keywords
subject: vulnerability
  topic: keywords
subject: Judith Butler
  topic: keywords
subject: human existence
  topic: keywords
subject: race
  topic: keywords
subject: epidemics
  topic: keywords
subject: disability
  topic: keywords
subject: political power
  topic: keywords
subject: war
  topic: keywords
subject: Ukraine
  topic: keywords
creator: Olha Bandrovska
creator: Nataliya Torkut
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 181
ending page: 200
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.11

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind”: Reading Vladyslav Yerko’s Illustrations to Shakespearein Ukrainian
type: item
description: The article comments on the intersemiotic translation of Shakespeare’s works in Vladyslav Yerko’s conceptual illustrations to Hamlet (2008), Romeo and Juliet (2016), and King Lear (2021), translated by Yurii Andrukhovych and published by the Ukrainian house A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA. The paper investigates the way in which Yerko’s richly symbolic visual narratives engage in dialogue with Ukrainian culture and history. Situated within a broader tradition of Shakespearean illustration, Yerko’s work exemplifies illustration as metatext. His imagery blends Renaissance allegory, surreal detail, and postmodern irony, reflecting influences ranging from Albín Brunovský’s art to Kozintsev’s cinematic Hamlet. The article demonstrates how Yerko’s visual interpretations, paired with Yurii Andrukhovych’s witty and provocative Ukrainian translations, create a multilayered conversation between Shakespeare’s England and contemporary Ukraine. By highlighting the dialogical nature of illustration as a form of adaptation and translation, the study contributes to ongoing discussions about the global afterlives of Shakespeare in new cultural contexts. Yerko’s illustrations reveal how visual arts reimagine the Shakespeare’s works as both Ukrainian and universal, reaffirming the vitality of printed books as sites of cross-cultural exchange, aesthetic reflection, metatextual play and deep reading.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Shakespeare illustration
  topic: keywords
subject: Vladyslav Yerko
  topic: keywords
subject: intersemiotic translation
  topic: keywords
subject: Ukrainian culture
  topic: keywords
subject: Yurii Andrukhovych
  topic: keywords
subject: conceptual art
  topic: keywords
subject: book design
  topic: keywords
subject: Shakespeare reception
  topic: keywords
creator: Darya Lazarenko
creator: Yurii Cherniak
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 163
ending page: 177
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.10

Modernising the Ukrainian Language through the Power of Translation: Ihor Kostetskyi’s Shakespeare’s Sonnets
type: item
description: A translation project of Shakespeare’s sonnets undertaken by a prominent representative of the Ukrainian diaspora in Western Europe, Ihor Kostetskyi, aimed to reconstruct and revitalise the modern Ukrainian language through translation in the 1950s. Kostetskyi saw the creative laboratory of Shakespeare’s sonnets as a tool of transformative influence on the state of the Ukrainian literary language, which in the Soviet Union suffered from censorship and countless bans aimed at depriving and Russifying its lexical, grammatical and stylistic diversity. Most Ukrainian writers in the diaspora after the Second World War sought to reconstruct and develop the Ukrainian language. Kostetskyi’s formalist translation of the complete sonnets into a creatively stylised “Shakespearean” Ukrainian is the object of the present study.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Shakespeare’s sonnets
  topic: keywords
subject: Artistic Ukrainian Movement
  topic: keywords
subject: conventional stylisation
  topic: keywords
subject: absolutisation
  topic: keywords
subject: estrangement
  topic: keywords
creator: Lada Kolomiyets
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 141
ending page: 162
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.09

Lost (in) Translations: How Ukrainian Shakespeareana Must Be Bigger Than We Think
type: item
description: This article delves into the complex history of Shakespeare translations in Ukraine, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of “lost translations.” These losses are categorized as either ontological (irrevocably lost due to destruction or censorship) or gnoseological (existing but inaccessible or underappreciated). The authors situate these losses within the context of Ukraine’s turbulent history, marked by periods of foreign domination, enforced language bans, and political repression. These historical forces significantly impacted the development and preservation of Ukrainian cultural artifacts, including Shakespeare translations. The study examines various forms of lost translations, including rare manuscripts that have vanished, rumoured but unverified ‘ghost translations,’ and stage scripts that were never published or have perished. These lost works not only represent significant cultural losses but also offer unique insights into Ukraine’s literary and cultural history. Shakespeare translations in Ukraine served as more than just literary works: they functioned as tools of resistance and avenues for creative expression during periods of repression. By translating Shakespeare, Ukrainian writers and artists challenged linguistic and cultural suppression, contributing significantly to the formation of a distinct Ukrainian literary canon. The article underscores the urgent need for rigorous archival research to recover and study these lost works. By analysing the cultural, political, and personal factors that contributed to these losses, the study provides a compelling narrative of Ukrainian cultural survival and its ongoing struggle for identity and self-expression.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Shakespeare translations
  topic: keywords
subject: lost texts
  topic: keywords
subject: ontological loss
  topic: keywords
subject: gnoseological loss
  topic: keywords
subject: censorship
  topic: keywords
subject: archival research
  topic: keywords
creator: Daria Moskvitina
creator: Bohdan Korneliuk
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 113
ending page: 139
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.08

Virtual Museum “#Hamlet_UA: Act 1, Scene 1943” in the Context of Decolonizing Knowledge about Ukraine
type: item
description: The article presents the history of the creation of the virtual museum: “#HAMLET_UA: ACT 1, SCENE 1943.” It emphasizes its significance for modern society in Ukraine and beyond, and highlights the features of navigation. The virtual museum elucidates the history of Ukrainian translations and theatrical productions of Hamlet in the 1860s and 1940s and demonstrates the importance of the first staging of this play in Lviv (1943, dir. Yosyp Hirniak) as a sign of resistance to both totalitarian regimes: Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union. The information gathered in the museum will help to refute the imperial myth created by Soviet propaganda about the secondary nature of the Ukrainian reception of world classics. The exhibition of the first four halls presents the history of the first translations of Hamlet into Ukrainian, carried out in the period between 1865–1943, as well as the biographies of the translators. The following halls are dedicated to the production of Hamlet, which was performed by the Lviv Opera House (now The Solomiya Krushelnytska Lviv National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet) during World War II. The museum has collected unique pictures, facsimiles of documents, posters, and newspaper articles. This helps to imagine the character of Yosyp Hirniak’s performance. Of particular interest are the drawings, cartoons, and caricatures made by theatre artist Semen Gruzbenko (real name Gruzberg), and the theatre reviews that appeared immediately after the premiere. The hall entitled the ‘Post-history of the play Hamlet: Scattered Around the World’ reflects the life stories of the creators of this production after 1945. The bilingual character of the museum speaks to the intended audience, as inclusion of domestic and foreign audiences in the tour of the virtual museum’s collections is designed to help strengthen the spirit of our nation in times of war and to decolonize knowledge about Ukraine abroad. The idea of this project, initiated by Maiia Harbu…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Shakespeare in translation
  topic: keywords
subject: Hamlet
  topic: keywords
subject: Lviv
  topic: keywords
subject: Hirniak
  topic: keywords
subject: Blavatskyi
  topic: keywords
subject: Rudnytskyi
  topic: keywords
subject: decolonization of knowledge
  topic: keywords
subject: virtual museum
  topic: keywords
subject: Shakespeare studies
  topic: keywords
subject: Shakespeare in Ukraine
  topic: keywords
subject: Shakespeare in performance
  topic: keywords
subject: intermediality
  topic: keywords
creator: Nataliya Torkut
creator: Svitlana Deineka
creator: Roman Lavrentii
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 91
ending page: 110
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.07

https://www.czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/szekspir/article/view/29442
type: item
title: Britain, Shakespeare, and Ukraine Interview with Prof. Nataliya Torkut, Head of Український Шекспірівський центр [Ukrainian Shakespeare Centre; Ukraïns’kij Šekspìrìvs’kij centr] by Dr. Olha Kvasnytsia, journalist at the newspaper День [The Day; Denʼ]
description: As part of this special issue, we are delighted to host a conversation by the journalist, Dr. Olha Kvasnytsia, with Prof. Nataliya Torkut, the Head of the Ukrainian Shakespeare Centre and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham. The aim of this contribution is to highlight the intellectual and cultural activities of the Ukrainian Shakespeare Centre (USC), its history, conceptual foundations, and present-day mission in response to contemporary challenges and the shifting cultural and civic paradigm. The USC’s objective involves selecting appropriate development strategies, particularly in areas of scholarships, translations, and public education. Its mission focuses on overcoming entrenched stereotypes about Shakespeare, de-ideologising his image, freeing it from the remnants of “vulgar sociologism” inherited from the past, and revitalising academic Shakespeare studies in Ukraine. It also seeks to expand research through interdisciplinary approaches, foster international collaboration with global Shakespearean institutions, and promote the multifaceted dissemination of the USC’s achievements. This includes popularising Shakespeare’s works through various forms, establishing a dedicated Shakespeare Library, founding and publishing specialised scholarly journals such as Shakespeare Discourse and Renaissance Studies, creating the Ukrainian Shakespeare Portal website, and organising Shakespeare Days in Ukraine, among other initiatives. With the onset of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the USC redefined its objectives, using public communication tools to decolonise perceptions of Ukraine and Ukrainian Shakespeare studies, particularly through the organisation of the first Ukrainian Shakespeare Festival. The activities of the USC – and Ukrainian Shakespeare scholarship as a whole, both in mainland Ukraine and in the diaspora – serve as a powerful example of cultural diplomacy, demonstrating the presence of Ukrainian culture w…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Ukrainian Shakespeare Centre
  topic: keywords
subject: ESRA
  topic: keywords
subject: conceptual foundations
  topic: keywords
subject: mission
  topic: keywords
subject: Craiova Shakespeare Festival
  topic: keywords
subject: Russian-Ukrainian War
  topic: keywords
creator: Olha Kvasnytsia
creator: Nataliya Torkut
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 69
ending page: 90
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.06

Foreword: Shakespeare in Ukraine
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Irena R. Makaryk
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 13
ending page: 17
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.02

Introduction: Shakespeare Shelter
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Nicoleta Cinpoeş
creator: Imke Lichterfeld
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 7
ending page: 11
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.01

War-torn King Lear: Adaptation as Catharsis
type: item
description: Ukrainian director Vyacheslav Yehorov staged King Lear around war-torn Ukraine, and then in 2024 toured this Ukrainian King Lear to Stratford-upon-Avon (Royal Shakespeare Company; see Christie Carson’s article in this volume). Yehorov and Dmytro Hreshko collaborated in producing a film documenting the challenges and experiences of staging King Lear in such a context: ‘King Lear’: How We Looked for Love during the War. This paper examines the significance of King Lear as a refuge for Ukrainian communities grappling with the ravages of war, and explores how Yehorov and Hreshko’s adaptation serves as a source of catharsis. At the heart of King Lear lies the theme of seeking shelter, a resonant motif for communities impacted by war. The characters’ struggles for refuge mirror the plight of Ukrainian refugees displaced from their homes. The parallels extend further as Lear’s fragmented Britain symbolically reflects the fractured state of Ukraine, pervaded by loss and destitution. The paper traces Lear’s evolution from an isolated victim to a figure who discovers solace in human connections, mirroring the journey of many Ukrainians enduring hardship, as it is depicted in the film. By examining testimonies from the ad-hoc Ukrainian actors involved in Hreshko and Yehorov’s film alongside Lear’s development, the study seeks to shed light on how King Lear acquires healing powers for communities in distress, offering a portrayal of collective destitution and emphasizing the importance of solidarity, empathy, and love in adversity. Ultimately, Yehorov and Hreshko’s initiative is interpreted as a form of bibliotherapy on stage, harnessing the therapeutic potential of theatre to provide solace during tumultuous times. Through their adaptation of King Lear, the two Ukrainian artists offer Ukrainian audiences a narrative that reflects their experiences and fosters a sense of communal resilience, showcasing the enduring power of Shakespeare’s plays to heal and unite even in the dark…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: adaptation
  topic: keywords
subject: bibliotherapy
  topic: keywords
subject: catharsis
  topic: keywords
subject: King Lear
  topic: keywords
subject: Ukraine
  topic: keywords
creator: Gabriela Cheaptanaru
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-30
publication date: 2025-12-30
starting page: 315
ending page: 328
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.31.20

Introduction: The Global Origins of Shakespeare Studies
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Mark Bayer
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
date: 2023-12-20
publication date: 2023-12-20
starting page: 11
ending page: 14
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.27.01

“Shakespeare is a Finnish national poet:” Developing Finnish Shakespeare Scholarship from the Enlightenment to the Twentieth Century
type: item
description: In this article, I will take up the idea of “origins” as it pertains to Finnish Shakespeare during Finland’s time as an autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia from 1809-1917. While not technically the beginning of Shakespearean performances, the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are the beginning of the rhetorical use of Shakespeare in public discourse used to establish cultural sovereignty distinct from Sweden and Russia. Beginning with a brief overview of Shakespearean mentions in the latter half of the eighteenth century, I will analyse the public discourse found in Finnish literary journals and newspaper articles in the 1810’s and 20’s. Following an analysis of J. F. Lagervall’s 1834 Ruunulinna, I will then briefly track how shifting attitudes towards translations such as those found in J. V. Snellman’s writings influenced the emerging Finnish literary and theatre tradition, most notably with Kaarlo Slöör and Paavo Cajendar’s Shakespeare translations and the establishment of the Finnish Theatre in 1871. Finally, an analysis of Juhani Aho’s untranslated essay in Gollancz’ 1916 A Book of Homage to Shakespeare will highlight the legacy of prior Finnish Shakespearean traditions, while also highlighting the limits of translation. Ultimately, I suggest that Shakespeare was appropriated early on as an accessible figure of resistance in the face of Swedish linguistic supremacy and the increasing threat of Russian assimilation and oppression.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Shakespeare
  topic: keywords
subject: Global Shakespeare Studies
  topic: keywords
subject: Finland
  topic: keywords
subject: Adaptation
  topic: keywords
subject: Translation
  topic: keywords
subject: Imperialism
  topic: keywords
subject: Colonialism
  topic: keywords
subject: Sweden
  topic: keywords
subject: Russia
  topic: keywords
creator: Laina Southgate
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
date: 2023-12-20
publication date: 2023-12-20
starting page: 107
ending page: 123
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.27.07

Activist Discourse and the Origins of Feminist Shakespeare Studies
type: item
description: This essay reconsiders interpretations of Shakespeare by Irish writer Anna Murphy Jameson and the American Transcendentalist Margaret Fuller. Developing an informal method in which the voice of the female critic rallies in defence of Shakespeare’s heroines, they intervene in a male-dominated intellectual sphere to model alternative forms of women’s learning that take root outside of formalized institutional channels. Jameson, in Shakespeare’s Heroines, invokes the language of authentic Romantic selfhood and artistic freedom, recovering Shakespeare’s female characters from earlier critical aspersion as figures of exceptional female eloquence and resilience; she adopts a conversational critical voice to involve her female readers in the interpretative process itself. Fuller, in Woman in Nineteenth Century, speaks authoritatively as a kind of female prophet to argue that women’s creative reinterpretations of Shakespeare point the way to a revitalization of a sterile literary critical field. Both writers call for the reform of women’s education through revisionist interpretations of history attuned to the representation of female exceptionalism. In embryonic form, these nineteenth century feminist writings formulate a persistent strain of socially engaged, activist feminist criticism of Shakespeare.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Anna Murphy Jameson (1794-1860)
  topic: keywords
subject: Margaret Fuller (1810-1850)
  topic: keywords
subject: feminist literary criticism
  topic: keywords
subject: Shakespeare’s Heroines (1832)
  topic: keywords
subject: Woman in the Nineteenth-Century (1845)
  topic: keywords
subject: Romantic literature
  topic: keywords
subject: Romantic literary criticism
  topic: keywords
subject: Romantic sociability
  topic: keywords
subject: nineteenth century public sphere
  topic: keywords
creator: Magdalena Nerio
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
date: 2023-12-20
publication date: 2023-12-20
starting page: 143
ending page: 160
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.27.09

Writing and Rewriting Nationhood: "Henry V" and Political Appropriation of Shakespeare
type: item
description: Shakespeare’s Henry V is often regarded as a nationalistic play and has been appropriated for political spin and propaganda to enhance the sense of national unity. Shakespeare captures the emerging nationalistic feeling of the Tudor era in Henry’s emphasis on national history and pride, but various parts of the text suggest a more diverse and complex figures of the king and his subjects than a war hero and the united nation. Such complexity, however, is often ignored in political appropriation. Laurence Olivier’s film adaptation during WWII glamorizes the war and defines the English nation as a courageous “band of brothers” through its presentation of Shakespeare’s play a shared story or history of national victory. Kenneth Branagh’s film in 1989, on the other hand, captures the ugliness of war but it still romanticizes the sacrifice for the country. In 2016, Shakespeare was made part of the Brexit discourse of growing nationalism at the time of the EU referendum. Brexit was imagined as a victory that will bring back freedom and sovereignty the country once enjoyed, and Shakespeare was used to represent the greatness of Britain. Shakespeare’s text, however, depicts the war against the continent in a more skeptical than glorifying tone. The war scenes are scattered with humorous dialogues and critical comments and the multi-national captains of Henry’s army are constantly at odds with one another. Shakespeare thus provides us with a wider view of nationhood, resisting the simplifying force of politics.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Shakespeare
  topic: keywords
subject: 'King Henry V'
  topic: keywords
subject: 'Henry IV'
  topic: keywords
subject: 'King Richard II'
  topic: keywords
subject: 'Cymbeline'
  topic: keywords
subject: Brexit
  topic: keywords
subject: national identity
  topic: keywords
subject: populism
  topic: keywords
subject: nationalism
  topic: keywords
subject: adaptation and appropriation
  topic: keywords
subject: Laurence Olivier
  topic: keywords
subject: Kenneth Branagh
  topic: keywords
creator: Hikaru Minami
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2023-12-20
publication date: 2023-12-20
starting page: 115
ending page: 131
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.25.08

Introduction: “With Such Perfection: ” Imagining Utopia through Shakespeare
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Delilah Bemudez Brataas
creator: Magdalena Cieślak
creator: Anna Kowalcze-Pawlik
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2023-12-20
publication date: 2023-12-20
starting page: 9
ending page: 17
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.26.01

“Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company:” the American Performance of Shakespeare and the White-Washing of Political Geography
type: item
description: The paper examines the spatial overlap between the disenfranchisement of African Americans and the performance of William Shakespeare’s plays in the United States. In America, William Shakespeare seems to function as a prelapsarian poet, one who wrote before the institutionalization of colonial slavery, and he is therefore a poet able to symbolically function as a ‘public good’ that trumps America’s past associations with slavery. Instead, the modern American performance of Shakespeare emphasizes an idealized strain of human nature: especially when Americans perform Shakespeare outdoors, we tend to imagine ourselves in a primeval woodland, a setting without a history. Therefore, his plays are often performed without controversy—and (bizarrely) on or near sites specifically tied to the enslavement or disenfranchisement of people with African ancestry. New York City’s popular outdoor Shakespeare theater, the Delacorte, is situated just south of the site of Seneca Village, an African American community displaced for the construction of Central Park; Alabama Shakespeare Festival takes place on a former plantation; the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia makes frequent use of a hotel dedicated to a Confederate general; the University of Texas’ Shakespeare at Winedale festival is performed in a barn built with supports carved by slave labor; the Oregon Shakespeare Festival takes place within a state unique for its founding laws dedicated to white supremacy. A historiographical examination of the Texas site reveals how the process of erasure can occur within a ‘progressive’ context, while a survey of Shakespearean performance sites in New York, Alabama, Virginia, and Oregon shows the strength of the unexpected connection between the performance of Shakespeare in America and the subjugation of Black persons, and it raises questions about the unique and utopian assumptions of Shakespearean performance in the United States.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Shakespeare in performance
  topic: keywords
subject: utopia
  topic: keywords
subject: race
  topic: keywords
subject: slavery
  topic: keywords
subject: Early Modern history
  topic: keywords
subject: Black
  topic: keywords
subject: African American
  topic: keywords
subject: Public Theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: American Shakespeare Center
  topic: keywords
subject: Oregon Shakespeare Festival
  topic: keywords
subject: Texas
  topic: keywords
creator: John M. Meyer
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2023-12-20
publication date: 2023-12-20
starting page: 119
ending page: 146
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.26.08

Book Reviews
type: item
subject: Other
  topic: section
creator: Guixia Xie
creator: Sabina Laskowska-Hinz
creator: Ted Motohashi
creator: Jie Tang
creator: Yuying Wang
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2023-12-20
publication date: 2023-12-20
starting page: 165
ending page: 192
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.26.10

New Interpretations and Adaptations of Shakespeare’s Plays in Japan from 2020 to 2023
type: item
description: This essay examines some notable Shakespearean productions and adaptations in Japan from 2020 to 2023. The main focus is on a Hamlet production by Mansai Nomura, a Kyogen performer, in March 2023; it was an amalgamation of the traditional Japanese theatres, such as Kyogen, Nô, Kabuki, and Bunraku. Mansai’s aspiration to produce Hamlet, utilizing all the elements of traditional Japanese art forms, began twenty years ago, when he played Hamlet in Jonathan Kent’s production in London and in Tokyo. He re-examined the text and offered a completely new interpretation of a scene, giving the play a fresh dimension. Moreover, this essay examines other recent Shakespeare productions and adaptations, including my two new plays based on Shakespeare, as well as Kôki Mitani’s Thirteen Vassals of Kamakura Shogun, a serial historical TV drama, broadcast by NHK (Japan’s version of the BBC).
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Shakespeare
  topic: keywords
subject: adaptation
  topic: keywords
subject: Kyogen
  topic: keywords
subject: Nô
  topic: keywords
subject: Kabuki
  topic: keywords
subject: Bunraku
  topic: keywords
subject: Hamlet
  topic: keywords
subject: Falstaff
  topic: keywords
subject: traditional Japanese theatre
  topic: keywords
subject: Mansai Nomura
  topic: keywords
subject: Kôki Mitani
  topic: keywords
subject: Thirteen Vassals of Kamakura Shogun
  topic: keywords
creator: Shoichiro Kawai
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-12-30
publication date: 2024-12-30
starting page: 21
ending page: 35
doi: 10.18778/2083-8530.30.02