Dr Thea Buckley is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, mentored by Professor Mark Thornton Burnett, working on the research project 'South Indian Shakespeares: Reimagining Art Forms and Identities.' 

 

The three-year project examines Shakespearean productions across media and forms in South India -- the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana -- exploring art forms that no longer adhere to fixed boundaries of language, caste and place.

Through outputs including publications and an international conference, the project highlights a range of representative examples of art forms that range from the hybrid colonial Christian mystery-based chavittunatakam dance-drama to endangered hereditary kutiyattam Sanskrit theatre and the modern-day ‘Hamara Shakespeare’ Festival. In so doing, the project goes beyond the typical approach of subsuming all local productions under the label of ‘Indian Shakespeares’, establishing South Indian Shakespeares as a significant sub-field of enquiry.