The members of the Shakespeare and Performance Research Team endeavor to shift the study of Shakespeare back to the central features of his theatrical and literary art. To provide professional Shakespeareans and others with a newly thought-through account of Shakespeare’s art is not to turn back to the depoliticized formalism of an earlier generation, a formalism that treated art as a world apart from real-life concerns; to the contrary, the Shakespeare Team seeks to restore a robust picture of Shakespeare’s art in order to develop an account of his influence in terms that do justice to the particular character of his writing and to the specific practices of reading, rewriting, playing, and playgoing that have fostered his continuing and formative presence in the world.
The team has worked to redefine established and foundational categories in Shakespeare studies by combining historical-literary scholarship with theatre history and performance studies. It has participated with the McGill Drama and Theatre Program in productions of works by Shakespeare, such as The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, Julius Caesar, and Measure for Measure. In workshops that are open to the public, team members have consulted with, and learned from, the undergraduate actors who perform in these productions.
With the generous support of FQRSC, the Québec humanities funding agency, SPRITE has supported the research and publication of more than ten young scholars and has organized conferences at McGill that brought together scholars and theatre artists on topics such as Shakespeare and Modernity and Shakespeare and Language. Members of the team have published scores of essays, book-chapters, and books.
Please find more information on SPRITE’s earlier activities here: https://mcgillshakespeare.wordpress.com/
Shakespeare and Performance Research Team 