Shakespeare and Representation

SHAKESPEARE AND REPRESENTATION

This Shakespeare Study Day, led by Dr Eoin Price (Swansea University), explored who and what Shakespeare chooses to represent in his plays, how and why he chooses to represent them, and how we might represent Shakespeare today.

The first session, called 'Performing Shakespeare' (10-12pm), focused on the range of ways that Shakespeare's plays could be performed. Drawing on the expertise of actors, we showed how even small performance choices can have significant effects on the meanings of Shakespeare plays. The second session, 'Diversifying Shakespeare' (1-2:30pm) entailed a wider panel discussion featuring academics and theatre practitioners and focused on the issue of representing Shakespeare today, taking on the issue of non-traditional casting.

The day featured discussion of several texts on the A-Level syllabus, including King Lear, Hamlet, and The Tempest but the topics were relevant beyond individual texts and beyond Shakespeare. 

These events for schools were aimed at Year 12 (and year 11 who will take A Level English and Year 13 who will read English at University).

Organised by Swansea University in collaboration with Seren Network.

Dr Eoin Price is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Swansea University. He specialises in Shakespeare and the drama of the sixteenth and seventeenth essays. With Prof. Farah Karim-Cooper (Shakespeare's Globe) he is the co-editor of a special issue of Shakespeare on race and nation emerging from the British Shakespeare Association Conference he organized at Swansea in 2019.

Actors:

Joanna Lucas trained at Drama Studio London and has since performed in a variety of theatre, television, voiceover and commercials. Highlights include Romeo and Juliet for the Bedouin Shakespeare Company (Globe Theatre Rome/West End) Europe, The Ruling Class and High Society (Pitlochry Festival Theatre) and working on screen for the BBC and Paramount Pictures. She is the voice of Catherine Howard in the National Archives, bringing to life a letter that doomed the Tudor queen. Joanna works extensively with theatre students as a teacher and workshop facilitator both in the UK and The Netherlands, with a particular focus on Shakespeare—for many years she has been an associate of The Globe Players, a theatre company that tours Shakespeare plays to schools all over the UK, recently broadcasting their productions all over the world.

Edward Llewellyn has been a passionate, professional performer for over 10 years working in various mediums from Theatre, TV & Voiceovers. He’s worked on high profile projects such as The Pembrokeshire Murders, Stella, Rownd a Rownd, Pobol Y Cwm, and the upcoming second series of Manhunt as well as collaborating with acclaimed playwright and documentary filmmaker, Tracy Harris, on her recent Lockdown project Reminders. He has also voiced several TV campaigns for Brita Filter, Aardman Animation, Bluestone National Park Resort and many others. Edward is a massive fan of Shakespeare ever since seeing his plays in the Theatre and is excited to be involved in this event.

James Scannell trained at the National Youth Theatre of Wales and the University of Wales, Trinity St David, where he gained BA 1st Class Honours in Theatre Studies. He has worked extensively as an actor, workshop leader, role-player, drama facilitator, tutor, lecturer, director, and more recently as a creative practitioner with the Arts Council of Wales. As a Creative Practitioner for the Arts Council of Wales, his first Lead Creative Schools Scheme project was a student-lead film titled Path to Glory, which was highlighted for excellent practice among the ACW and beyond, and was selected to be shown as the part of the ‘Tate Exchange’ at the Tate Modern Gallery in 2018. 

Participants:

Rebecca Gould is the Head of Arts, British Council Wales. She was previously the Creative Producer at the Soho Theatre, London. Originally from Cardiff, Rebecca is the current chair of Theatre Iolo and also an education associate artist for the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has worked extensively as a theatre director, including as an associate director at the Theatre Royal Plymouth, as young people’s project director at the National Theatre, director of the Education Company at the English Shakespeare Company and as associate director at the Made in Wales Stage Company.

Rowena Lefebvre Pearson is a postgraduate research student at Swansea University. Her PhD is entitled ‘Trans* Temporality: The Representation of Transgenderism within Contemporary Literature’.