Macbeth in European Culture, International Symposium

Despite its Scottish-Anglo setting and its close relationship to the politics of the Stuart regency, Macbeth has proven one of Shakespeare’s most suggestive plays for practitioners and artists working far beyond its original Anglophone context. The play’s potential for violence, its exploration of hierarchy and power, its conflicting gender dynamics and its supernatural dimensions are just some of the elements that have been appropriated on stages around Europe. They have also prompted the transformation of the play into different shapes, formats and media, and so this symposium intends to inspect the multiple afterlives of Macbeth beyond its initial historical and cultural resonances. We are looking for innovative work that approaches the play from regional, national, continental and intercontinental angles as we try to chart Macbeth’s reception in or in relation to Europe from the seventeenth century to the present. Among other possibilities, we invite discussions concerning the relocation of the play’s ideological, gender/sexuality, regional/ethnic/racial/religious boundaries within specific historical and theoretical contexts.

The symposium will be held at the La Merced Campus of the University of Murcia (Spain), yet online participation will be available for those facing traveling restrictions.