Wednesday, 4 December
9:00-9:30
Registration
9:30-10:00
Opening Ceremony
10:00-11:00
Keynote Speech 1: Against the Current: How We Read Shakespeare’s Animals
11:00-11:30
Coffee Break
11:30-12:30
Special Panel in Honor of Ricardo G. Abad
12:30-13:30
Lunch
13:30-15:00
Panel 1: Shakespearean Trespassing and Transgression
Panel 2: Teaching Shakespeare
Panel 3: Transadapting and Rewriting Shakespeare
15:00-15:30
Coffee Break
15:30-17:30
Panel 4: Cross-Media and Interdisciplinary Shakespeare
Panel 5: Shakespeare and Politics
Symposium 1: Intercultural, Interdisciplinary, and Intersectional Shakespeare
17:30-19:00
Welcome Reception
Thursday, 5 December
9:00-9:30
Graphic Shakespeare Award Ceremony
9:30-10:30
Keynote Speech 2: Between Technology and Ecology: Reflecting on the Trans-human in Gilgamesh, Suzuki and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
10:30-11:00
Coffee Break
11:00-13:00
Panel 6: Intercultural Dialogues on the Shoreline
Panel 7: Shakespeare on the Shore
Symposium 2: Experimental, Multimedia, and Digital Shakespeare
13:00-14:00
Lunch
14:00-18:30
Cultural Tour
19:00-21:00
Performance 1 and Q&A: Titus Tan
Friday, 6 December
9:00-10:30
Roundtable: Shakespeare from Shore to Shore
10:30-11:00
Coffee Break
11:00-12:30
Panel 8: Division by Race and Class
Panel 9: Shakespeare, Gender and Women
Symposium 3: Translation, Adaptation, and Hybrid Shakespeare
12:30-13:30
Lunch
13:30-15:00
Panel 10: Adapting Shakespeare
Panel 11: Colonial and Postcolonial Shakespeare
Panel 12: Shakespeare and Artificial Intelligence
15:00-15:30
Coffee Break
15:30-17:30
Performance 2 and Q&A: Caesar’s Maze
17:30-18:30
General Meeting and Closing Remarks
19:00-21:00
Farewell Dinner and Party
Wednesday, 4 December
9:00-9:30 Little Theater
Registration
9:30-10:00 Little Theater
Opening Ceremony
10:00-11:00 Little Theater
Keynote Speech: Against the Current: How We Read Shakespeare’s Animals
Karen Raber, University of Mississippi, USA
Moderator: Lily Rose Tope, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
11:00-11:30 Little Theater
Coffee Break
11:30-12:30 Little Theater
Special Panel in Honor of Ricardo G. Abad
Judy Celine Ick, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
Pure Love in Flux: (Re)Choreographing Ricardo G. Abad’s Sintang Dalisay, a Filipino Adaptation of Romeo and Juliet
MCM Santamaria, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
Yong Li Lan, National University of Singapore, Singapore
12:30-13:30 Little Theater
Lunch
13:30-15:00 Little Theater
Panel 1: Shakespearean Trespassing and Transgression
Chair: Kok Su Mei, University of Malaya, Malaysia
“This sceptr’d isle’: England’s Insularity, Precarity and Siege Psychosis as Represented in Shakespeare’s King Lear
Ananya Dutta Gupta, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, India
Trans-figuring Shakespeare: Using Transgressive Performance in Asia to Transect the Binary Shoreline of Gender Liminality and Narrative
Bruce G. Shapiro, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
When the Womb Heats Up, the Vapors Rise, and the Mother Suffocates: The Question of Lear’s “Shoreline” “Mother”
Su Tsu-Chung, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
13:30-15:00 OICA Conference Room
Panel 2: Teaching Shakespeare
Chair: Maria Lorena M. Santos, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
Teaching Shakespearean Acting in Indian Theatre Departments: Problems and Possibilities
Santanu Das, Rabindra Bharati University, India
Shakespeare and the Shorelines of Spaces and Stages
Alfredo B. Diaz University of the Philippines Visayas, Iloilo City
Shakespeare, Education, and Freedom in Modern Japan
Uchimaru Kohei, Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan
13:30-15:00 GCEB Training Room
Panel 3: Transadapting and Rewriting Shakespeare
Chair: Mutsuyama Kyoko, Komazawa Women’s University, Japan
“Whatever it was, it wasn’t Shakespeare”: Rolando Tinio’s Macbeth 1964 Adaptation with the Ateneo Experimental Theatre
Ian Harvey Claros, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines
Displaced Tales/Tales of Displacement: Kalyan Ray’s East Words as Shakespearean Adaptation
Taarini Mookherjee, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Tamwa-anay sa balkonahe: An Inter-Island Tradaptation of Romeo and Juliet in Bikol and Hiligaynon
Irish Joy G. Deocampo, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
Julie B. Jolo, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
15:00-15:30 Little Theater
Coffee Break
15:30-17:30 GCEB Training Room
Panel 4: Cross-Media and Interdisciplinary Shakespeare
Chair: Roweena Yip, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Performing the Shakespearean Eloquence: Case Study of Classic Speeches/Debates in Shakespeare: The Animated Tale
Vivian Ching-Mei Chu, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Shakespearian Case Studies: Business Readers’ Responses
Alan Thompson, Gifu Shotoku Gakuen University, Japan
15:30-17:30 Little Theater
Panel 5: Shakespeare and Politics
Chair: Ted Motohashi, Tokyo University of Economics, Japan
“Citational Opportunism”: Shakespeare in the U.S. Presidential Elections
Kim Kang, Honam University, South Korea
Where Shakespeare Meets Sejarah Melayu: Julius Caesar on Malaysian Shores
Kok Su Mei, University of Malaya, Malaysia
A Thousand Several Tongues: Notes on Sound and Noise in RD3RD
A. X. Ledesma, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
Reception of Shakespeare as a Shoreline in Okinawa
Suzuki Masae, Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan
15:30-17:30 OICA Conference Room
Symposium 1: Intercultural, Interdisciplinary, and Intersectional Shakespeare
Chair: Yoshihara Yukari, University of Tsukuba, Japan
Shores of Departure: Imagining the Initiation of Conquest in Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Henry V
Ari J. Adipurwawidjana, Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia
To Dissonate or to Hybridize? The Ambiguity of Interculturality in Ong Keng Sen’s Lear Dreaming
Dong Qingchen, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Arbaayah Ali Termizi, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Thinking Shakespeare and Korean English Education with Hannah Arendt
Jang Seon Young, Kongju National University, South Korea
From Jacob’s Sheep to Manna from Heaven: The Changing Perception of Money and Profit in The Merchant of Venice
Okuyama Atsuko, Nagoya University, Japan
Hamlet through the Philosophical Lens of Scruton
Gino Pinga, University of Asia and the Pacific, Philippines
Who is Macbeth: Boundary, Interaction and Political Anxiety in 21st-Century Chinese Operatic Shakespeare
Yin Yuanwei, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
17:30-19:00 Little Theater
Welcome Reception
Thursday, 5 December
Graphic Shakespeare Award Ceremony
Host: Yoshihara Yukari, University of Tsukuba, Japan
Keynote Speech: Between Technology and Ecology: Reflecting on the Trans-human in Gilgamesh, Suzuki and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Coffee Break
Panel 6: Panel: Intercultural Dialogues on the Shoreline
Panel 7: Panel: Shakespeare on the Shore
Symposium 2: Symposium: Experimental, Multimedia, and Digital Shakespeare
Lunch
Cultural Tour
The tour will conclude at a location where you’ll have the opportunity to purchase your own dinner.
Performance 1 and Q&A: Titus Tan
Friday, 6 December
Roundtable: Shakespeare from Shore to Shore
Coffee Break
Pane 8: Division by Race and Class
Panel 9: Shakespeare, Gender and Women
Symposium 3: Symposium: Translation, Adaptation, and Hybrid Shakespeare
Hsu Yi-Hsin, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Lunch
Panel 10: Panel: Adapting Shakespeare
Lee Hyon-u, Soon Chun Hyang University, South Korea
Panel 11: Colonial and Postcolonial Shakespeare
Panel 12: Shakespeare and Artificial Intelligence
Coffee Break
Performance 2 and Q&A: Caesar’s Maze
General Meeting and Closing Remarks
Dinner and Party
Against the Current: How We Read Shakespeare’s Animals
How should our methods for interpreting Shakespeare’s plays adapt to our experience of the catastrophes that mark the Anthropocene? We face rising waters, eroding shores, mass extinctions, the wholesale destruction of forests and the poisoning of oceans and soil: in the face of these threats, an unthinking acceptance of the disciplinary constraints that have traditionally shaped literary and scholarly practice seems wholly inadequate. We have been trained to obey Frederic Jameson’s injunction to “always historicize!”; we curb the temptation to anthropomorphize and reject the possibility of a positive zooerotics; sometimes we simply forget to track Shakespeare’s own omissions and oversights and assume these are of negligible importance. But “going with the flow” in these and other ways may not serve the interests of an environmental humanities that addresses current crises and concerns. In this talk, I reflect on three examples of how past and present scholarship on Shakespeare’s animals can instead be disrupted in order to advance an ecologically-oriented hermeneutics of kinship, compassion, and humility. Arcite’s mount in Two Noble Kinsmen, the Dauphin’s palfrey in Henry V and Theseus’ hounds in A Midsummer Night’s Dream afford us opportunities to rethink the way we engage with nonhuman creatures in Shakespeare’s plays. By extension all three examples also offer the opportunity to “renew, reuse, and recycle” (to quote the three R’s of the environmental movement) Shakespeare’s representations of nature and humanity for our own and future generations.
Karen RABER is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Mississippi, and Executive Director of the Shakespeare Association of America. Her work spans the areas of posthumanist theory, ecostudies, animal studies, and gender studies. Her book publications include Shakespeare and Animals, A Dictionary (2022), Shakespeare and Posthumanist Theory (2018), and Animal Bodies, Renaissance Culture (2013); she has also written over forty articles and book chapters and has edited or coedited seven collections, including The Routledge Handbook of Shakespeare and Animals (2022) coedited with Holly Dugan; Performing Animals: History, Agency, Theater (2017) coedited with Monica Mattfeld; and Early Modern Ecostudies: From Shakespeare to the Florentine Codex (Palgrave 2009) coedited with Ivo Kamps and Thomas Hallock. She is series editor of Routledge’s Perspectives on the Non-Human in Literature and Culture. Her current projects include The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and the Natural World, coedited with Todd Borlik, and a monograph on early modern meat. See www.karenraber.com for more information and a full cv.
Between Technology and Ecology: Reflecting on the Trans-human in Gilgamesh, Suzuki, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
This paper intends to explore the role of technology within the art of theatre, which is fundamentally a form of bodily expression. For that purpose, I will examine the historical context while also providing contemporary examples from Japan to investigate the relationship between theatre and technology, by referring to a theatrical representation of the Epic of Gilgamesh and theatrical practices of the Suzuki Company of Toga. In doing so, I will refer to the concept of ecology, which has been increasingly influential, socially and philosophically, in terms of the recent global environmental crisis, and examine its fundamental role in revitalizing our renewed commitment to theatre particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, I will discuss Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in order to illuminate the historical antecedents of modern ecological consciousness within our own trans-human existence.
Ted MOTOHASHI is Professor of Cultural Studies at the Tokyo University of Economics. He received his D.Phil. in Literature from the University of York, UK in 1995. He is the incumbent president of the Japan Section of the International Association of Theatre Critics. His publications include several books on drama, cultural and postcolonial studies, and most recently “‘Our Perdita is found’: The Politics of Trust and Risk in The Winter’s Tale” in Shakespeare and the Political edited by Rita Banerjee and Yilin Chen (Bloomsbury, 2024). He is a leading translator into Japanese of works by Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky, Arundhati Roy, among others.
Titus Tan
A Teatro Tayo’s (College of PESCAR, West Visayas State University) devised adaptation of the Bard’s Titus Andronicus inspired by Iloilo political narratives, Philippine historical ruptures, and Layeta Bucoy’s “Tinarantadong Asintado” (The Mad Sharpshooter). Shakespeare’s most violent work is relocated within the Philippine context of death squads, elections, POGOs, and authoritarian regimes.
Teatro Tayo
Teatro Tayo aims to create interdisciplinary performances deeply rooted in local research, reared by culture and the arts, relevant and responsive to societal concerns, and committed to a culture of excellence as a Taga-West.
Director:
Anton Juan
Co-Directors:
Jemuel B. Garcia
Ryan Puljanan
Special Thanks to:
Dinagyang Foundation
International Playwrights Forum
International Theater Institute
Women’s Playwrights International
Anton JUAN is an internationally recognized playwright/director/filmmaker for work that challenges convention, stunning visual poetry and language in space. He is Tenured Professor/Theatre director at University of Notre Dame du Lac, Department of Film, Television, and Theatre: Ph.D. in Semiotics from the Kapodistrian and Panhellenic University of Athens, highest mark of Arista; post-doctoral studies in Butoh (Kazuo Ohno Institute), and NOH (Kita School). To honor his contributions to the arts, the French Republique knighted Juan Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres and Chevalier de l’Ordre National de Merit. Honors/Awards include: Alexander Onassis International Award for Theatre; Philippine Centennial Honors for the Arts, Cultural Centre of the Philippines, 100 Philippine Artists, 1898-1998, contributing significantly to and having impact on Philippine culture; Balagtas Award, National Writers’ Union of the Philippines for body of work; Carlos Palanca Literary Awards for Taong Grasa, Sakurahime, Death in the Form of a Rose; Senior Research Fellow, Rockefeller-Bellagio Foundation; Senior Research Fellow, Fulbright Foundation; Post-Graduate Fellow, Hitachi Foundation; Jack Lang Scholarship for Theatre, France; Research Fellow, Asian Cultural Council; Mission Speciale, Association of French Artists; Grantee, Ministry of Culture, France; Grantee, Ministry of Education, Greece; Grantee, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Grantee, British Council; John Ganey Award for social engagement, Theatre and Social Concerns project with Juvenile Prison Residents and migrant workers; View into Asian Cinema, Busan International Film Festival 2016; Best Director/Best Film, Canada International Diversity Film Festival 2017; Best Dramatic Feature/Best Actress, Chandler International Film Festival 2017 for Woven Wings of Our Children (Hinabing Pakpak ng Ating mga Anak); International Jury, Bangkok International Documentary Film Festival, 2021.
The Forum Scene from Caesar’s Maze
Premiered at the 2024 Hong Kong Arts Festival and performed in Shanghai and Taipei, Caesar’s Maze is a creative adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, blending traditional Chinese xiqu theatre (jinju and kunqu), Western opera, and multimedia and imbuing the Roman tragedy with contemporary relevance. This special conference presentation is an international, intercultural and bilingual collaboration and experiment.
Contemporary Legend Theatre
Contemporary Legend Theatre is a pioneering performance group in Taiwan that blends jingju with modern Western theater. Since their debut in 1986, The Kingdom of Desire based Macbeth, they have staged numerous adaptations of Shakespearean titles and other Western classics around the world.
Director/Artistic Director:
Wu Hsing-kuo
Cast:
Wu Hsing-kuo as Antony
Anton Juan as Brutus
Chu Po-Cheng as Traveller
Raitlyn Bedia, Roxanne Dela Cruz, Robert Pineula, Ronaldo Rivera, and Ranee Sclavia as Citizens
WU Hsing-kuo is an actor, playwright, director, and Artistic Director of the Contemporary Legend Theatre. He is a holistic performing artist exemplifying total theatre across the fields of film, television, traditional xiqu, modern theatre, and dance. He taught as a full professor at the Graduate Institute of Performing Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts and have received fellowships and grants from the Fulbright Program and the Asian Cultural Council. He has been awarded the Taipei Culture Awards in 2005, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres-Chevalier in 2011, the National Literary and Art Award in 2014, the Grand Cordon Order of Brilliant Star in 2015, and the New Taipei Cultural Award in 2018. For his film and television works, Wu has been nominated for Best Actor for Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards and Best New Actor for the Hong Kong Film Awards. He has won Best Sheng Actor for the Golden Statue Awards for Literature and Art three times for his jingju performance. His film credits include Eighteen, Temptation of a Monk, The Green Snake, God of Gamblers 2, The Soong Sister, The Accidental Spy, Four Hands, etc. His television works include Love, Sword, Mountain & River, Everlasting Regret, Danger Zone, etc. He founded the Contemporary Legend Theatre in 1986. Its debut The Kingdom of Desire has been invited to perform abroad multiple times. He is a pioneer in innovative xiqu, crossing borders between East and West, ancient and modern. His 25+ works have been performed in over 20 countries. His is the only Taiwanese performance group that has attended all major festivals: the Edinburgh International Festival, the Festival d’Avignon, and the Lincoln Center Festival. The UK Times lauded Wu’s remarkable performance “which reminds us of the English famous actor Lawrence Olivier.” The Guardian acclaimed him as “Taiwanese answer to Orson Welles.” The Wall Street Journal compared his work to an epic. In his celebrated solo King Lear, created in 2001, he played all ten roles. In 2007 and 2008, he performed with Placido Domingo in The First Emperor at Metropolitan Opera. In 2007, he produced rock jingju 108 Heroes and the kunqu opera The Butterfly Dream. In 2010, he adapted 14 short stories by Anton Chekhov to make Run! Chekhov! In 2011, he brought King Lear to the Edinburgh International Festival and in 2013 he was invited back to perform Metamorphosis under the theme of technology and art. In 2017 he adapted Goethe’s Faust and was invited to Romania’s Sibiu International Theatre Festival for the second time. Blending performing art with technology, the groundbreaking immersive show 108 Heroes III at Taiwan’s landmark Taipei 101 in 2021 won great acclaims. In 2023, Goddess Xiwangmu employs cutting-edge imaging technology to give an ancient legend a fresh interpretation with unique theatrical aesthetics.
Iloilo Cultural Tour
Thursday, December 5
Free for conference participants.
Guimaras Island with Island Hopping
Guimaras Island is a tropical paradise famous for its unspoiled beaches, crystal-clear waters, and the world’s sweetest mangoes. It’s an ideal day trip destination from Iloilo City, offering a peaceful escape into nature.
Saturday, December 7
Price: 2,600 PHP
Inclusions:
✓ Exclusive Guimaras Island Hopping Day Tour
✓ Roundtrip hotel pick-up and drop off to port
✓ Airconditioned 10 seater van
✓ Service of DOT Accredited English-speaking Driver Cum Guide
✓ Roundtrip Boat Fee
✓ Assistant of Tour Coordinator
✓ Bottled Water
✓ Lunch at Olivia’s Restaurant
✓ Entrance Fee
✓ Environmental Fee
✓ Shower’s Fee
✓ Charlie’s Floating Cottage
Exclusions:
❖ Any meals not mentioned
❖ Any tours not mentioned
❖ Any personal expenses
Itinerary: Places to visit for Island Hopping:
✓ Natago Beach
✓ Naburot
✓ Baras Cave
✓ Ave Maria
✓ Charlie’s Floating Cottage