Shakespeare's global communities: a research review of the 2012 World Shakespeare Festival

'Shakespeare's global communities' examines the current role Shakespeare plays in global theatrical and literary culture, taking the 2012 World Shakespeare Festival (WSF) as a core case study. Produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), developed by major institutional partners such as Shakespeare's Globe and the British Museum, and funded through public and private initiatives related to the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the WSF announces itself as 'a celebration of Shakespeare as the world's playwright' and brings together work from over 50 arts organizations from across the globe (http://www.worldshakespearefestival.org.uk/).

'Shakespeare's global communities' intends to both document and critically evaluate the creative performances and public initiatives that will be part of the WSF, questioning the way in which these activities influence or even reshape current understandings of Shakespeare as a shared cultural touchstone. While other academic projects have sought to analyse the ways in which different cultures interpret Shakespeare, the question of audience reception and interpretation of intercultural performances has received less attention. 'Shakespeare's global communities' will redress this balance by analysing the wider conversation that emerges from the WSF, analysing how the viewpoints of different communities of performers, translators, readers, and audience members all shape the significance and value Shakespeare holds for intercultural communities today.

In order to achieve these ends, 'Shakespeare's global communities' includes three parts. First, it includes a research review of existing work on intercultural Shakespeare, paying particular attention to how the ideas of 'global culture' and 'community engagement' are being framed within the discourse of the Cultural Olympiad and the way in which Shakespeare fits into this picture. An important focus of the review will be on the ways in which new communications technologies have influenced the creation of different global communities related to Shakespeare.

The second part of the project will build on this emphasis, creating a new online platform in partnership with The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) (http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/home.html) and Misfit, Inc. (http://misfit-inc.com/) that will allow for reviews of and reactions to WSF performances to be posted by a variety of community stakeholders, including theatre practitioners, academics, audience members, and representatives of cultural institutions. The primary source material generated from the platform will form part of the permanent archive of the WSF that will be hosted by The SBT, and it will also inform the directions the scoping study takes in suggesting areas for further research.

Thirdly, the project will include two one-day workshops in which members of the core collaborative team will meet in person to discuss WSF performances. Because of the size and scope of the initiatives it is necessary to assemble a networked team of 16 researchers to attend WSF performances, post 'provocations' on the online platform for these performances, and facilitate the broader conversations that will take place. At the workshops members of the team will share findings and reflections from different parts of the WSF, and audio podcasts of this work in progress will be linked to the central online platform so as to continue informing the debate.

The end result of 'Shakespeare's global communities' will be a thorough review of where academic work is now on the question of Shakespeare as catalyst for global community building, particularly in a digital age, as well as the way in which the primary material collected from the unique event of the WSF furthers our understanding of how different members of such communities understand the value of public-sector community engagement.

Beneficiaries within publicly-funded culture sector:

This project will offer a wide variety of people working in the culture sector - including theatre practitioners, arts administrators, and cultural policy makers - the opportunity to examine from multiple points of view the reception and perceived success of the World Shakespeare Festival (WSF) performances and public initiatives, which form a significant part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Given the emphasis the London Olympic planning committee has placed on its Cultural Olympiad, which it has described as 'the largest cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements' (http://www.london2012.com/cultural-olympiad), it is important that different stakeholders involved in the events have the opportunity to respond to its outputs and also to begin to evaluate their cultural impact and legacy.

'Shakespeare's global communities' will create a public space in which such responses can be presented, generating diverse forms of user feedback for policy makers and arts administrators that will be available for analysis long after the festivities have finished. In the past, other major theatrical and cultural events such as the Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) 'Complete Works Festival' in 2006/7 have not received comprehensive critical and academic review, making it difficult to understand in detail the impact and benefits such publicly-funded cultural (and intercultural) events may have for the broader public. The project team is already engaged in collaborative conversations with staff members at the RSC (producers of the WSF), who have offered to help support the project's impact in the culture sector by putting the team in contact with relevant theatre practitioners and festival producers taking part in the WSF.

Beneficiaries within wider public:

Members of the wider public, both within and without the UK, will also benefit from the project, which will provide a democratized space in which critical feedback about WSF performances and initiatives can be shared. While it is anticipated that many of the participants in the forum will have some direct contact with WSF events, whether as a practitioner or audience member, the online platform will also facilitate a larger discussion about Shakespeare's global significance that can accommodate participation from interested observers unable to attend WSF events, thus increasing accessibility. Our project partner, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT), is a leading figure in the move towards 'embracing Shakespearean conversation in a digital age' (http://bloggingshakespeare.com/), and they will be instrumental in furthering the project's impact among the wider public sector. The SBT has already established a wide global audience through social media channels including Twitter, Facebook, and institutional and guest blogs, and they are committed to using this reach to publicize the online platform by directing user traffic to it and by encouraging national and international public engagement with it.

The outputs emerging from 'Shakespeare's global communities' will also specifically impact those involved in primary, secondary, and tertiary education in the UK, where Shakespeare continues to have a major presence in the national curriculum. School groups attending WSF performances will have the opportunity to offer responses via the online platform, a mode of critical and personal reflection that could be used to help deepen student engagement with the plays. Shakespeare is now the only named, single author that is mandatory in the British national curriculum, and the research conducted as a part of 'Shakespeare's global communities' will inform current thinking on what relevance these 400 year-old texts hold for students today coming from diverse cultural backgrounds.