Between 9-11 June, UK Cypriot Dr Chris Laoutaris co-launched the Shakespeare Beyond Borders Alliance, which he co-Chairs with Professor Michael Dobson, Director of the Shakespeare Institute, and Dr Rowan Mackenzie, Artistic Director of Shakespeare UnBard. Together, the co-creators of this new and exciting initiative, hosted by the Shakespeare Institute (University of Birmingham), welcomed close to 60 speakers and over 600 delegates in a global online event which included contributors from Cyprus, Greece, China, Japan, Singapore, Russia, Romania, Poland, Germany, Mexico, the USA, Canada and beyond.
The gathering hosted distinguished academics and professors, directors, film-makers, theatre practitioners, publishers, editors, members of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, ambassadors, High Commissioners, and representatives from a broad range of other organisations, charities and foundations.
Speakers included Dr Paul Edmondson, Head of Research and Knowledge at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust; Sir Sebastian Wood KCMG, former British Ambassador to Germany (2015-2020) and British Ambassador to China (2010-2015); Professor Cong Cong of Nanjing University, co-collaborator with the Shakespeare Institute and Yilin (Phoenix) Press on the Birmingham-Nanjing-Phoenix Shakespeare Centre in China (a collaboration headed by Prof. Dobson and with which Dr Laoutaris is involved); Kelly Hunter MBE, Artistic Director of Flute Theatre; Professor Claudia Olk, President of the German Shakespeare Society; Professor Nori Morita, Vice-President for International Affairs, Waseda University, Japan; Ian Wainwright, Director and Royal Shakespeare Company Project Manager; Shihui Weng, Cultural Advisor (UK-China) and Royal Shakespeare Company Shakespeare Folio Translation Project Manager; Stratis Panourios, theatre and cinema director, Greece; Aileen Gonsalves, Artistic Director of Butterfly Theatre; Darren Raymond, Artistic Director of Intermission Youth Theatre; and editors from Arden Bloomsbury publishers; to name just a few in a very long list of esteemed guest-panellists.
The event also featured a poignant memorial to the late Professor Jerzy Limon OBE, founder of the Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival, builder of the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre, and initiator of the European Shakespeare Festivals Network, led by Professor Michael Dobson and Dr Aleksandra Sakowska, Executive Director of the Gdańsk Theatre Trust, UK.
Remembering Professor Limon, who was jointly awarded the prestigious Pragnell Prize by the Shakespeare Institute, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2019, Dr Laoutaris reflected, “Professor Jerzy Limon was a remarkable man, a force of nature and a true visionary. In one of the last conversations I had with him, before his tragic passing, he mentioned to me his earnest desire that Cyprus would be added to the European Shakespeare Festivals Network. I want to achieve that aim to augment the European Shakespeare community he helped to create, and see this partly as a way of honouring the memory of a great and irreplaceable man whose legacy will live on through the vital cross-national work he inspired.”
Towards this endeavour, Dr Chris Laoutaris put together a panel for the launch of the Shakespeare Beyond Borders Alliance entitled ‘Crossing Borders, Re-Building Communities: Developing the Shakespeare in Cyprus Collaboration’, which he hosted with Dr Eleni Pilla, with whom he is co-creating the Shakespeare in Cyprus Collaboration. The panel featured Mr Stephen Lillie CMG, the British High Commissioner to Cyprus; Dr Marios Psaras, Cultural Counsellor with the Cyprus High Commission in the UK; Paris Erotokritou, Artistic Director of Target Fresh Theatre Ensemble and Director of THOC’s highly successful Richard III production in 2019; Nihal Soğancı, Co-creative Director of the Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival and Administrative officer of the Home for Cooperation in Cyprus; and Maria Varnakkidou, a theatre director, film-maker and Co-creative Director of the Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival in Cyprus. Together the panellists discussed the benefits that a Cyprus Shakespeare Festival would bring to the island as a way of bridging divides and bringing communities of all nationalities and backgrounds together.
During the Shakespeare Beyond Borders Alliance online event Dr Chris Laoutaris launched his new initiative, EQUALityShakespeare (EQUALS), which he is co-creating with Dr Yasmin Arshad, Honorary Research Fellow of University College London. This will work, as part of the SBBA, concertedly towards using Shakespeare to foster equality across the arenas of race, gender, sexuality, class and physical ability. Inviting a group of world-renowned scholars and practitioners to discuss the question, ‘How can Shakespeare help us create a more equal society?’, Laoutaris was joined by Wendy Lennon, founder of the Shakespeare, Race and Pedagogy network; Professor Ania Loomba, Catherine Bryson Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania, USA; Professor Valerie Traub, Adrienne Rich Distinguished University Professor of English, Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Michigan, USA; and Professor Katherine Schaap Williams, Department of English, University of Toronto, Canada. EQUALS will continue to promote equality through Shakespeare in a series of up-coming public events with scholars, actors, practitioners and creative artists.
Commenting about the success of the Shakespeare Beyond Borders Alliance launch event, Dr Laoutaris said: “The SBBA launch was an inspirational and timely global gathering, which stressed the value of using Shakespeare to encourage cooperation, collaboration, mutual understanding and empathy across borders of many kinds, all underpinned by a total commitment to equality and inclusivity. My co-Chairs and I believe that, together with everyone who wants to join us on this exciting journey, we can co-create a Shakespeare network without limits!” Dr Mackenzie concurred, adding: “The launch of SBBA brought together such a diverse range of people with a shared interest in Shakespeare and in humanity; making it apparent that these conversations and collaborations are so important to enable working together to bridge divides and break through barriers into a more equitable and inclusive place.”
Professor Michael Dobson, the Director of the Shakespeare Institute (University of Birmingham) which hosted the event, stated: “Shakespeare is much bigger than academic scholarship, and the Shakespeare Institute has always been interested in exploring and furthering the entire various and enabling presence of his works in the wider world. We are all delighted to be part of an alliance which brings together so many people and organizations who share our commitment to cross-cultural communication and social inclusion.”
Find out more about the Shakespeare Beyond Borders Alliance – A Shakespeare Network Without Limits – on twitter: @BordersAlliance #ShaxBBA @DrCLaoutaris
Photo 1: Participants at the ‘Shakespeare in Cyprus Collaboration’ panel (from top left), Dr Chris Laoutaris; Matt Clulee (technical manager of the event); Dr Eleni Pilla; Paris Erotokritou; Stephen Lillie CMG; Maria Varnakkidou; Nihal Soğancı; and Dr Marios Psaras.
Photo 2: Dr Chris Laoutaris, Professor Michael Dobson, and Dr Rowan Mackenzie introducing the Shakespeare Beyond Borders Alliance
