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Why have Shakespeare’s works proved so durable in their emotional power? What is it about them that has seen them adapted for opera, music, film and dance?These and other questions will be addressed at an international conference on Shakespeare to be held at UWA next month.

John Bell, Artistic Director of the Bell Shakespeare Company, is one of the keynote speakers. He founded the company in 1990 and has played all the major Shakespearean heroes. In 1997 he was named by the National Trust of Australia as one of the nation’s Living Treasures and won the JC Williamson Award in 2009 for his extraordinary contribution to our live entertainment industry.

Philippa Kelly, who is Resident Dramaturg at the California Shakespeare Theatre and has written extensively about early modern English lives, is another keynote speaker, along with Steven Mullaney, Associate Professor of English at the University of Michigan. He is working on two books: The Reformation of Emotions in the Age of Shakespeare and Emotion and Its Discontent .

One of the most prominent international Shakespearean actors, Andrew Jarvis, will also speak at the conference. He is writing a book on the actor’s approach to Shakespeare and recently played Gonzalo in the Ralph Fiennes production of The Tempest .

During the conference, practice performances will be held at the New Fortune Theatre, built in 1964 in our Arts faculty to the exact dimensions of the Fortune playhouse in 17th century London.

The 11th Biennial International Conference of the Australia and New Zealand Shakespeare Association , in collaboration with the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions , will be held from 28 to 30 November.

Published in UWA News , 29 October 2012