“Then fate o’erruled”: Change in Shakespeare – biennial conference of the European Shakespeare Research Association (ESRA), Budapest 2023

Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest – 6-9 July 2023

Deadline for proposals: 1 June 2022

The Call for Seminars is now open for the next biennial conference of the European Shakespeare Research Association (ESRA), to be held on 6‒9 July 2023 in Budapest, Hungary, at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. 

The main theme of the conference will be “change”. Our present and recent past have been characterised by all kinds of unexpected change: from Brexit to the global pandemic that forced theatres and cinemas, even research institutions to close, and education to move online. In this shockingly virtual world, global inequalities have been brought to the surface, our lives as researchers, educators, and Shakespeare scholars have been affected in various and significant ways. At the same time, our forced immobility also allowed us to reflect on what change means to us and how we can make sense of it with the help of Shakespeare. 

We are now inviting members of ESRA to propose seminars that they would be interested in convening. Seminar proposals should be appr. 250‒300 words, submitted by 2 or 3 potential convenors from different countries for each seminar that reflect the topic of change, and its possible interpretations in terms of Shakespeare scholarship. Discussion forums or open workshops that include educators, researchers, and theatre practitioners are also encouraged. 

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Change as a topic or a recurring theme in Shakespeare’s work
• Change of genres and topics within Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatic genres and modes of theatricality
• Change as political, social and mental transformation 
• Changes in the media of the reception and presentation of the Shakespearean oeuvre
• Change in concepts of nationality and internationality, solidarity and compassion – either as manifested within the Shakespearean oeuvre, or in its afterlife, looking at the ways Shakespeare has been employed to express local and regional, social and humanitarian concerns over time and in a variety of locations
• Change in performance trends – then and now 
• Change in research – what has happened, what is coming in terms of research questions, directions, or methodology
• Change in our understanding where European Shakespeare research is at and where it is going

Please send your proposals until 1 June 2022 to the following email address: esra2023@btk.ppke.hu 

To encourage and allow for a broader selection of seminars at the conference, we will accept only one proposal by each ESRA member. 

The conference organisers and the Board of ESRA will confirm their final choice of seminars by 1 July 2022. All convenors will be personally informed of the choices made and the list of seminars will be made available on the ESRA and the Conference websites.

Should you have any questions, feel free to contact the organising team at the above email address (esra2023@btk.ppke.hu). 

Conference convenors: 

• Zsolt Almási
• Kinga Földváry
• Gabriella Reuss
• Veronika Schandl

Advisory committee: 

• Prof. Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin (University of Montpellier III Paul Valéry)
• Prof. Efterpi Mitsi (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) 

Important dates: 

• Call for Seminar proposals: January 2022
• Seminar Proposal deadline 1 June 2022
• Proposal acceptance notification 1 July 2022 
• Call for Papers opening 6 July 2022 
• Early Bird Fee Opening October 2022 
• Call for Papers Deadline 1 December 2022 
• Call for Papers Acceptance Notification 15 December 2022 
• Early Bird Fee Expiration 15 March 2023

We are looking forward to your proposals, and even more to meeting you in Budapest in 2023, 

The Board of ESRA and the ESRA2023 Budapest Conference Team:
Zsolt Almási, Kinga Földváry, Gabriella Reuss and Veronika Schandl