I am in Tbilisi, Georgia, for the Shakespeare 450 International Conference which commenced on Thursday May 1, 2014, at the Ivane Javakhaishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU), and will conclude on Saturday May 3 at The Rustaveli Theatre.
The
conference, dedicated to the 450th anniversary of the birth of English
playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was organized by TSU’s Centre
for Shakespeare Studies in the Faculty of Humanities and the Rustaveli National
Theatre. Many Shakespeare conferences have been, and will be, held this
milestone year, but the Tbilisi conference will focus on an inter-disciplinary theme. For three
days, scholars, students, thespians, and Shakespeare devotees will present
sessions related to Shakespeare’s influence on literature, Shakespeare on stage
and in movies, translations, research, and the issues in teaching Shakespeare
across disciplines, such as drama, education, music, modern languages,
classics, history, art and film.
Professor
Manana Gelashvili opened the conference under the spectacular painted dome of
the Museum Hall. Presenter, translator and English lecturer Maya Kiasashvili
commenced with an introductory session on Shakespeare’s impact on Georgian
culture, fittingly, coming from a long line of authors and actors, such as Nico
Kiasashvili, one of the leading Shakespearian scholars and author of The
Georgian Shakespeariana. She discussed the importance of translation and
interpretation in the bard’s works. Tinatin Margalitaze followed this with a
presentation on lexiconography and the importance of English-Georgian dictionaries
in the translation of Shakespeare into Georgian.
John
F Bourke of Australia discussed the function of the author in poetry, in reference to Shakespeare's sonnets, and whether poetry is determined by the poet or self-determining,
organic or mechanical, true genius or not. Other presentations included
mythical allusions to Shakespeare in James Joyce’s Ulysses; allusions of
Midsummer Night’s Dream in Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake; allusions in Aldous Huxley’s
Brave New World; Quentin as a parody of Hamlet in The Sound and the Fury;
reception of Shakespeare by Henry James; and Shakespeare’s glitch makes Tom
Stoppard rich - in reference to the British playwright's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966-67) from the perspective of two characters in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
With
medical student Tamar Zhghenti, I presented a session entitled Shakespeare and
Medicine focusing on physical ailments across a diverse range of Shakespeare’s
plays.
The
conference concludes on Saturday with an exhibition in the Rustaveli Theatre of
books, stage design and theatrical costumes, and performances of the bard’s
plays, including a video-show of The Tempest directed by Robert Sturua.
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| The domed ceiling in the Museum Hall of Tbilisi State University |
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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