Queen’s University Belfast recently hosted the international conference ‘Women and Indian Shakespeares: Exploring Cinema, Translation, Performance’ (30 October to 1 November 2019). This unique gathering brought together academics, practitioners and creatives to discuss and debate for the first time the contribution of women to India’s Shakespeare, across film, text, theatre and dance. There were three plenary talks, a practitioners’ plenary roundtable, and screenings of feature films and dance drama adaptations. Delegates attended from all over India and also from Hong Kong, England, France, and the USA. The conference was organised by Dr Thea Buckley, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow; Dr Rosa Maria García-Periago, Marie Curie Fellow; and Professor Mark Thornton Burnett, PI of the Indian Shakespeares project, all staff of QUB.

Prof. Mark Thornton Burnett remarks: ‘This was a major international gathering that brought together academics and creatives from around the world to discuss and reflect on Shakespeare in his Indianised habitations’. Thea Buckley said that ‘It was a pleasure to co-chair the first conference on women and Indian Shakespeares, proof of our discipline’s continuing innovation and widening diversity, and of Queen’s commitment to gender equality in hosting such an event!’

https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/ael/Research/ConferencesandSymposia/WomenandIndianShakespearesConference301019-011119/ - website

https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/ael/Discover/Conferences/WomenandIndianShakespearesConference301019-011119/FileUpload/Filetoupload,887788,en.pdf call for papers including a list of the speakers

The conference included public screenings at Queen’s Film Theatre in Belfast of the Indian Shakespeare film adaptations The Hungry (Titus Andronicus) on 31^st October, and Life Goes On (King Lear) on 30^th October. These were accompanied by public interviews and Q&A with directors Bornila Chatterjee and Sangeeta

Datta respectively. These provided an insight into the process of adapting Shakespeare’s tragedies for an Indian context.

Also screened for conference delegates, on 1^st November in the Senate Room, Lanyon Building, Queen’s University Belfast, was a recorded performance of the latest version of Kathakali King Lear. The show was recorded in Paris in April 2019 and directed by David McRuvie and Annette Leday. For more information, contact annette.leday@gmail.com

For more information on the project or WISE conference, contact the organisers Rosa Garcia-Periago, Thea Buckley, Mark Burnett at indianshakespeares@gmail.com

Project and conference Twitter: @IndianShakes   #wiseshax