Speaking of Shakespeare

Video version at: https://youtu.be/I_kDph02QcI?si=Z2jXDMPwrm3XQi0h. Stephen Wittek speaks at Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, on his book, 'The Cultural Politics of Conversion in Early Modern England' on Tuesday, June 6th, 2023. Wittek’s work lies at the intersection between early modern drama, cultural studies, and digital humanities. His most recent book is a close examination of Shakespeare’s engagement with the flurry of controversy and activity surrounding the concept of conversion in post-Reformation England. He is also the author of 'The MediaPlayers: Shakespeare, Middleton, Jonson, and the Idea of News' and co-editor of two collections: 'Performing Conversion: Cities, Theatre and Early Modern Transformations' and 'Shakespeare and Virtual Reality'.

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Diana Henderson of MIT about her recent work in Shakespearean pedagogy and Shakespearean adaptation in particular, but also about her influential contributions to literary study during her career as a Shakespeare scholar.00:00:00 - Intro00:02:18 - Balliol College sabbatical, current research00:06:12 - Why humanities, arts, and social science at MIT00:12:50 - Shakespeare and digital pedagogy 00:22:33 - Shakespeare and adaptation00:40:09 - Shakespeare in film, Shakespeare/Sense00:48:21 - Preserving theatre with recordings and records00:58:30 - Diana’s work as a dramaturg01:03:10 - Passions Made Public/ made feminism in academia 01:11:11 - Genealogies of literary criticism01:14:33 - Closing remarks

Stephen Wittek sits in as co-host and speaks with Thomas Dabbs about his career, both as a Shakespearean and as a Bible teacher in Japan.00:00:00 - Intro00:01:00 - The Speaking of Shakespeare Series00:06:40 - Aoyama Gakuin, Tokyo, and how Dabbs got to Japan00:16:45 - “Genesis in Japan: the Bible beyond Christianity”00:34:14 - St Paul’s, Paul’s Cross and Shakespearean drama00:47:03 - Digital Humanities, AI, AGU Digital Project, Archives, Meisei00:56:17 - “Waiting for Will,” avant-garde drama in Japan, prison01:04:02 - “Playing with Shakespeare in Japan”01:14:27 - “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” and the Office of the Revels01:18:12 - Closing remarks

Thomas Dabbs speaks with David Sterling Brown of Trinity College, Connecticut, about his recent book, entitled 'Shakespeare’s White Others', and also about other work that David has done in the field of critical race studies.[LINKS]David Sterling Brown (Website): https://www.davidsterlingbrown.comDavid Sterling Brown VR Gallery: https://hubs.mozilla.com/p963Ga4/david-sterling-gallery-vrvThe Republic of Yarnia: https://www.republicofyarnia.com[SEGMENTS]00:00:00 - Intro00:01:55 - ‘Shakespeare’s White Others’00:30:07 - Personal elements in David’s writing00:31:25 - Trinity College and teaching00:42:32 - White Others VR Art Gallery00:51:44 - Hood Pedagogy00:56:48 - Claudia Rankine: The Racial Imaginary Inst. (TRII)01:07:45 - Promotion and mini-book tour01:15:16 - Upcoming panel: In Plain Sight01:18:07 - Stopped by the police, generational racism01:32:45 - Rest and mental health01:39:11 - Southern grandmothers: race relations 01:45:18 - Closing remarks

Thomas Dabbs talks with Tiffany Stern of the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, about her recent perspectives on ballads in early modern drama, on Edmond Malone’s 18th-century scholarship, and on her editorial work in Shakespeare and 16th-century literature

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Jean-Christophe Mayer about his recent book, Shakespeare’s Early Readers and about his work with the French National Center for Scientific Research and his other research and administrative activities.00:00:00 - Introduction00:01:30 - CNRS and IRCL: Roles in research00:08:58 - Human beings in history: materialism and theory00:21:48 - Trans-disciplinary research00:26:00 - Shakespeare in Japan00:27:24 - Montpellier00:28:48 - First Folio in Japan: Meisei, Used Books00:42:32 - Early readers: Finding yourself in a book00:51:03 - Elizabeth Montague and Voltaire00:57:10 - Popular theatre: Shakespeare, Molière01:09:07 - The early modern print industry 01;14:35 - Reception theory and appropriation01:18:04 - The Tempest: Here and There01:21:34 - English drama and the French01:27:25 - Cahiers Élisabéthains and literary journals01:35:00 - Closing remarks

This is a talk with Peter Herman of the University of California, San Diego about his new book, Early Modern Others and other elements of his research that focus on the relationship between literature and culture.

This is a talk with Eric Rasmussen of the University of Nevada, Reno, about his work in locating and cataloguing full descriptions of over 200 copies of the Shakespearean First Folio, the large book that made Shakespeare, Shakespeare. This year is the 400th anniversary of the publication of this edition, entitled Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies and published in 1623.

This is a talk with Heidi Craig of the University of Toronto about her recent book on drama during the English Civil War period: 00:00:00 - Intro00:00:00 - Drama during the English Civil Wars00:05:46 - Old drama/new drama, when Shakespeare wasn’t first00:08:45 - Periodization of drama00:13:10 - Secret or underground performance00:17:01 - Plays becoming literary and commercial products00:21:50 - The effort to kill off drama and theatre and fun00:27:28 - Elevating/ destroying drama politics/ pandemic00:33:12 - Historic preservation and the digital age00:36:45 - Early Modern Dramatic Paratexts (EMDP)00:42:18 - Linked Early Modern Drama Online (LEMDO)00:51:00 - The value of preservation00:52:20 - The Last Age and Old Plays00:56:26 - The value of the archive, Folger et al.00:58:46 - Heidi’s current position/ the scholarly community01:05:00 - Upcoming projects/ rags and paper01:11:10 - Closing remarks

This is a talk with Darren Freebury-Jones, Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, about his two recent books: ‘Reading Robert Greene’ and ’Shakespeare’s Tutor: The Influence of Thomas Kyd'. Along with providing a fresh view of two playwrights that deserve much more of our attention, both books explore new ways to understand creative collaboration among young, aspiring playwrights, particularly during Shakespeare's early years as a dramatist in London.00:00:00 - Intro00:02:10 - ‘Reading Robert Greene’00:07:27 - Thomas Kyd, ’Shakespeare’s Tutor’00:14:20 - Authorial attribution—digital vs critical00:22:50 - Collaboration—Shakespeare, Kyd, and others00:28:40 - The art of adapting known narratives00:31:48 - Thomas Kyd, and the Ur Hamlet00:36:32 - Influences on Shakespeare—Kyd, Greene, others00:43:00 - Elizabethan playwrights and educational backgrounds00:49:30 - Darren’s as creative writer and actor00:56:10 - The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and Darren's role01:07:15 - Next--Shakespearean influences and the other dramatists01:16:00 - Closing remarks, Wales and rugby

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Emma Smith of Hertford College, Oxford, about Shakespeare’s First Folio. The year 2023 is the 400th anniversary year of this monumental edition. This conversation covers the re-release of two of Emma’s books, one on the making of the First Folio and one on the history of its reception over the following centuries. 

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Ian Smith, current president of the Shakespeare Association of America, about his new book, ‘Black Shakespeare: Reading and Misreading Race’ (Cambridge UP)

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Gayle Greene about her new book, ‘Immeasurable Outcomes: Teaching Shakespeare in the Age of the Algorithm’ (Johns Hopkins). This book covers the history of coordinated attacks on humanities education and also examines the administrative obstacles placed on teachers in general in the modern classroom. She pushes back on these forces by using the responses of real students in an actual college Shakespeare class.

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Jane Hwang Degenhardt of the U Mass, Amherst about her recent book, Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage: They also discussed features of Jane’s research on religious conversion in the early modern period and her approaches to teaching Shakespeare and early modern drama.00:00:00 - Intro00:01:11 - Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage00:27:20 - Shakespearean Horizons: The Worlding of Shakespeare00:34:06 - Arthur Kinney00:35:68 - Jane’s background, and fortune and chance00:43:48 - Conversion, and fictional Islamic conversation00:49:00 - Jane’s teaching, gender and women’s studies00:53:30 - Shakespeare and the left, Pericles01:00:04 - Closing remarks

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Alexa Alice Joubin of George Washington University about her recent book, 'Shakespeare and East Asia'. Alexa also reviewed her recent research in race and gender studies, with regard to Shakespeare, and presented on her examinations of Shakespearean adaptation across the globe in small and in large ways.[SEGMENTS]00:00:00 - Intro00:01:11 - Shakespeare and East Asia00:08:52 - Constructed “foreignness”, invisible and visible00:28:58 - Critical race studies and racial identity00:27:41 - Reparative transgender Shakespeare00:34:04 - Stage Beauty, inspired by Othello00:38:45 - Transgender theory and Stage Beauty00:47:50 - The King and the Clown, inspired by Hamlet, 12th Night, and Shrew00:54:13 - Adapting Shakespeare for reparative purposes, vocal disability00:57:05 - The King’s Speech, reparative adaptations01:03:09 - Onscreen Allusions to Shakespeare01:10:04 - Teaching Shakespeare in a time of hate, inclusive pedagogies01:15:49 - Screening Shakespeare, an open-access textbook01:17:43 - Closing remarks[KEYWORDS AND PHRASES]Shakespeare and East AsiaHow perception of “foreignness” is constructed in intercultural workCritical race studies and racial identityBeing invisible and visibleReparative transgender ShakespeareStage Beauty, inspired by OthelloThe King and the Clown, inspired by Hamlet. Twelfth Night, and Taming of the ShrewAdapting Shakespeare for reparative purposesDepictions of vocal disabilityThe King’s Speech, recitation of “to be or not to be” in a sceneTeaching Shakespeare in a time of hateInclusive pedagogiesStrategies to de-colonize ShakespeareOpen-access interactive textbook on Shakespeare and film studies

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Richard Strier of the University of Chicago about his recent book, Shakespearean Issues: Agency, Skepticism, and Other Puzzles.

Thomas Dabbs speaks with William Carroll of Boston University about Bill’s recent book, ‘Adapting Macbeth: A Cultural History’.

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Peter Holland of the University of Notre Dame about Peter’s recent book, ‘Shakespeare and Forgetting’. 

This is a talk with Michael Dobson, Director of the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, located in Stratford-upon-Avon. Here we talk about the Shakespeare Institute’s programs and mission and also about Michael’s recent work on Shakespeare in national repertories across the globe.

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Stephen Wittek of Carnegie Mellon University about conversion, religious and otherwise,  during the early modern period and also about recent developments in Shakespeare and virtual reality.