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 - Intro 00:02:18 - Balliol College sabbatical, current research 00:06:12 - Why humanities, arts, and social science at MIT 00:12:50 - Shakespeare and digital pedagogy 00:22:33 - Shakespeare and adaptation 00:40:09 - Shakespeare in film, Shakespeare/Sense 00:48:21 - Preserving theatre with recordings and records 00:58:30 - Diana’s work as a dramaturg 01:03:10 - Passions Made Public/ made feminism in academia 01:11:11 - Genealogies of literary criticism 01:14:33 - 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 - Intro 00:01:00 - The Speaking of Shakespeare Series 00:06:40 - Aoyama Gakuin, Tokyo, and how Dabbs got to Japan 00:16:45 - “Genesis in Japan: the Bible beyond Christianity” 00:34:14 - St Paul’s, Paul’s Cross and Shakespearean drama 00:47:03 - Digital Humanities, AI, AGU Digital Project, Archives, Meisei 00:56:17 - “Waiting for Will,” avant-garde drama in Japan, prison 01:04:02 - “Playing with Shakespeare in Japan” 01:14:27 - “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” and the Office of the Revels 01:18:12 - 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.com David Sterling Brown VR Gallery: https://hubs.mozilla.com/p963Ga4/david-sterling-gallery-vrv The Republic of Yarnia: https://www.republicofyarnia.com [SEGMENTS] 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:55 - ‘Shakespeare’s White Others’ 00:30:07 - Personal elements in David’s writing 00:31:25 - Trinity College and teaching 00:42:32 - White Others VR Art Gallery 00:51:44 - Hood Pedagogy 00:56:48 - Claudia Rankine: The Racial Imaginary Inst. (TRII) 01:07:45 - Promotion and mini-book tour 01:15:16 - Upcoming panel: In Plain Sight 01:18:07 - Stopped by the police, generational racism 01:32:45 - Rest and mental health 01:39:11 - 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 - Introduction 00:01:30 - CNRS and IRCL: Roles in research 00:08:58 - Human beings in history: materialism and theory 00:21:48 - Trans-disciplinary research 00:26:00 - Shakespeare in Japan 00:27:24 - Montpellier 00:28:48 - First Folio in Japan: Meisei, Used Books 00:42:32 - Early readers: Finding yourself in a book 00:51:03 - Elizabeth Montague and Voltaire 00:57:10 - Popular theatre: Shakespeare, Molière 01:09:07 - The early modern print industry 01;14:35 - Reception theory and appropriation 01:18:04 - The Tempest: Here and There 01:21:34 - English drama and the French 01:27:25 - Cahiers Élisabéthains and literary journals 01:35:00 - 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 - Intro 00:00:00 - Drama during the English Civil Wars 00:05:46 - Old drama/new drama, when Shakespeare wasn’t first 00:08:45 - Periodization of drama 00:13:10 - Secret or underground performance 00:17:01 - Plays becoming literary and commercial products 00:21:50 - The effort to kill off drama and theatre and fun 00:27:28 - Elevating/ destroying drama politics/ pandemic 00:33:12 - Historic preservation and the digital age 00:36:45 - Early Modern Dramatic Paratexts (EMDP) 00:42:18 - Linked Early Modern Drama Online (LEMDO) 00:51:00 - The value of preservation 00:52:20 - The Last Age and Old Plays 00:56:26 - The value of the archive, Folger et al. 00:58:46 - Heidi’s current position/ the scholarly community 01:05:00 - Upcoming projects/ rags and paper 01:11:10 - 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 - Intro 00:02:10 - ‘Reading Robert Greene’ 00:07:27 - Thomas Kyd, ’Shakespeare’s Tutor’ 00:14:20 - Authorial attribution—digital vs critical 00:22:50 - Collaboration—Shakespeare, Kyd, and others 00:28:40 - The art of adapting known narratives 00:31:48 - Thomas Kyd, and the Ur Hamlet 00:36:32 - Influences on Shakespeare—Kyd, Greene, others 00:43:00 - Elizabethan playwrights and educational backgrounds 00:49:30 - Darren’s as creative writer and actor 00:56:10 - The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and Darren's role 01:07:15 - Next--Shakespearean influences and the other dramatists 01:16:00 - 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 - Intro 00:01:11 - Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage 00:27:20 - Shakespearean Horizons: The Worlding of Shakespeare 00:34:06 - Arthur Kinney 00:35:68 - Jane’s background, and fortune and chance 00:43:48 - Conversion, and fictional Islamic conversation 00:49:00 - Jane’s teaching, gender and women’s studies 00:53:30 - Shakespeare and the left, Pericles 01:00:04 - 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 - Intro 00:01:11 - Shakespeare and East Asia 00:08:52 - Constructed “foreignness”, invisible and visible 00:28:58 - Critical race studies and racial identity 00:27:41 - Reparative transgender Shakespeare 00:34:04 - Stage Beauty, inspired by Othello 00:38:45 - Transgender theory and Stage Beauty 00:47:50 - The King and the Clown, inspired by Hamlet, 12th Night, and Shrew 00:54:13 - Adapting Shakespeare for reparative purposes, vocal disability 00:57:05 - The King’s Speech, reparative adaptations 01:03:09 - Onscreen Allusions to Shakespeare 01:10:04 - Teaching Shakespeare in a time of hate, inclusive pedagogies 01:15:49 - Screening Shakespeare, an open-access textbook 01:17:43 - Closing remarks [KEYWORDS AND PHRASES] Shakespeare and East Asia How perception of “foreignness” is constructed in intercultural work Critical race studies and racial identity Being invisible and visible Reparative transgender Shakespeare Stage Beauty, inspired by Othello The King and the Clown, inspired by Hamlet. Twelfth Night, and Taming of the Shrew Adapting Shakespeare for reparative purposes Depictions of vocal disability The King’s Speech, recitation of “to be or not to be” in a scene Teaching Shakespeare in a time of hate Inclusive pedagogies Strategies to de-colonize Shakespeare Open-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.