Detailed Report

Literally from Kashmir to Kanykumari and Guwahati to Gujrat came the Indian Delegates together with the Shakespeare lovers from our state of course; while the foreign participants came from Asia, Europe, Australia, UK and all across the Globe. The proceedings began at the Uday Sankar Savaghar with the inaugural songs from the Shakespeare Choir, the traditional Indian style welcome and ‘baran’ of the guests with the sound of conchshells followed by the lighting of the lamp and the erudite and heartfelt inaugural lecture by the Vice-chancellor. After the president and secretary’s speeches by Profs Amitava Roy and Subir Dhar and addresses by Prof Sanjukta Dasgupta, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Calcutta University, Dr. Stephen Simms and Prof Sheila Cavanagh, USA and Dr. Awanish Rai representing the Indian Delegates, Dr. Amita Dutt, International Renowned Dance Maestro and UdaySankar Professor of Dance RBU performed scenes from Sita Haran (the abduction of the Sita) from Ramayana through a excellent solo dance rendition.

After this till the 17th 12 technical sessions ran parallel at the UdaySankar Sabha Ghar, Kshitindranath Tagore Library Auditorium and the Jorasanko Museum where the Shakespeare experts explored Shakespeare in performance, in translation, Renaissance, modern, colonial and postcolonial Shakespeare and related topic areas. Among the paper presenters and the discussants were Marie Angela Tempara and Allessandra Marino (from Italy) Maureen MacDonnell, Sheila Cavanagh and Pompa Banerjee (USA), Jennifer Hamilton (Australia) Stephen Simms (UK) S. Chitra and Stherin Choden (Bhutan) Proveen Bhole (Maharastra) Satyamvada Singh (Allahabad), M. Prabakar (Andhra Pradesh), N Rama Devi, S Chinnadevi (Hyderabad), Deepasree Das Sarkar and Jayashree Choudhury (Assam) P.P. Sing and Prasant (Jharkhand), Goutam Ghosal, Sarit Bandhopadhaya et al (West Bengal)
Apart from the Business sessions two workshops on Teaching Shakespeare in the Indian Classroom involving 100 delegates from India and abroad were held. The Workshops were conducted by Profs Amitava Roy and Subir Dhar and Dr. Saibal Basu from North Bengal and generated exciting interactions among the delegates.

A special feature of the World Conference was Shakespeare in performance. Under the direction of Prof Amitava Roy the students of Rabindra Bharati University and the educational staff put on in Bangla translation Jatra type performances of scenes from Shakespeare’s plays (As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Macbeth) in the Temple space (Thakur Dalan) of the Tagore House set aside traditionally by the family for religious and theatrical rites and performances for the last two hundred years.
Dr. Saibal Basu and his troupe from North Bengal kept the audience enthralled by presenting scenes from Shakespeare using the Bishohori Folk tradition – a style and mode of performance long entrenched in the Himalyan foothills region of North Bengal and particularly suited for a ‘mix and match’ with Shakespeare.

The five day proceedings were brought to a harmonious close with the Shakespeare Choir accompanied by musicians Bimal Pal and Samidh Banerjee regaling the full house auditorium in the UdaySankar hall with Bangla and English Versions of the Bard’s songs from all his plays.

The tremendous success of the International Shakespeare Walk and the Fifth World Shakespeare Conference proved once more Prof Amitava Roy’s closing words : “Yes, Shakespeare is the originary source, the mastertext that writes and creatss the world for us. Hail to thee Global and Indian Bard! You have ‘translated and ‘globalised’ yourself and us.”

Note: All the world Conferences begin with a Shakespeare Walk with the participants, a colourful pageant across Kolkata, culminating with garlanding the bust of Shakespeare at Shakespeare Sarani and festive performances and readings in the open air grounds of RabindraSadan-Nandan cultural complex, the Arts centre of the city.
At all the conferences the Shakespeare Choir of the SSEI present song and music programs based on Shakespeare’s plays and poems relating them to various Indian cultural forms and traditions. The Shakespeare Walks , the conferences, the choir programs and performances are extensively covered by the print, visual and the broadcast  media.

The 6th World Shakespeare Conference @ Kolkata (in collaboration with Shakespeare Centre for Advanced Research) 11/12/2008 to 15/12/2008 Venue: TagoreHouse, Jorasanko Campus

Sixth World Shakespeare Conference hosted by the Shakespeare Society of Eastern India and the Shakespeare Centre, Rabindra Bharati on the Theme ‘Shakespeare in the Land of Tagore’ at the Jorasanko Campus, RBU from 11th -15th December, 2010.
11 Dec.  2pm. at Jorasanko Campus; Great International Shakespeare and Tagore Walk with delegates from all over the world and school children dressed in colorful costumes and masks.
12 Dec.11am at Jorasanko: Innaguration by dignitaries and dance by Prof. Amita Dutta
13 Dec. 4pm dance programme by Dr. Lipika Sikdar  on Shakespeare and Tagore character. Followed by dance programme by Souraja Tagore of Tagore family.
14 Dec 2.30 pm Jorasanko : Songs from Shakespeare and Tagore by Shakespeare Choir
15 Dec 1pm Jorasanko Thakurdalan: Internationally renowned actress from Canada

Emily Nixon plays Lady Macbeth in open air performance of Macbeth directed by Amitava Roy.

Delegates  to the  6th World Shakespeare Conference, 2010 included the following.
Antony Johae, Retd. Professor England; Mrs Antony Johae, England; Emi Hamana, Professor, University of Tsukuba, Japan; Emily Nixon, Canada, Ryerson University; K.R.Rahaman, Vice-Chancellor, IBAIS University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Shreyosi Mukherjee, National University of Singapore; S Ramaswami, Yale U, USA; Anindita Chatterjee, Assistant Professor, Dept.Of English, Taki Government College, West Bengal; Aparajita Hazra, Senior Lecturer &  Head of the Department of English, Nistarini College, Purulia, West Bengal; Banibrata Mahanta, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; Chandam Deb, Associate Professor of English,J.K.College, Purulia,West Bengal; Deepasree D. Sarkar, Associate Professor, Deptt. of English,Margherita College, Assam; Dipendu Das, Reader & Head, Department of English, Assam University, Silchar;  G.A. Ghanshyam, Head, Dept. of English, Govt. M.L. Shukla College, Seepat, Bilaspur (C.G.) India; Goutam Ghosal, Professor of English, Visva-Bharati,  Santiniketan, West Bengal; Hardeepsinh R. Gohil, Lecturer in English, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open Uni., Ahmedabad; Indrajit Chattopadhyay, Assistant Professor in English, Balurghat College, Dakshin Dinajpur, West Bengal; Indrani Das, Reader in Italian, Department of English and MEL, Viswa Bharati, Santiniketan; Indrani Deb, Principal, Nistarini College, Purulia, West Bengal; Joyashri Choudhury, Head, Department of  English, Khagarijan College, Nagaon, Assam; Lipika Das, Sr Lecturer, English, IIIT Bhubaneswar, India; M. Prabhakar, Assistant Professor of English, Kakatiya University, Warangal, Andhra Pradesh,  India; Meeta Ajay Khanna, Asstt. Professor, C. M. D. P. G. College, Bilaspur (C.G); Ms. Koyel Chakrabarty, Senior Lecturer, Ansal Institute of Technology, Gurgaon, Haryana, India; Namrata Dey Roy, Lecturer in English, Susil Kar College, Champahati, West Bengal; Nikhil Kumar, Reader, Univ. Dept. of English, V.K.S. University, Arrah (Bihar); Nishi Pulugurtha, Brahmananda Keshab Chandra College, Kolkata, India; Pinaki Roy, Assistant Professor of English, Malda College, West Bengal; Prakash Joshi, Associate Professor, Dept. of English & MEL; Banasthali University, Banasthali; Prantik Banerjee, Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Hislop College, Nagpur; Purnendu Chatterjee, Asstt-Master, Hooghly Collegiate School, West Bengal; R. K. Satpute, Retired Principal, Pune, Maharastra, India; Rajan Joseph Barrett, Department of  English,  M.S. University, Baroda,Vadodara;  Satyamvada Singh, Associate Professor & Head, Deptt. Of English, C.M.P. College, University of Allahabad; Saumitra Chakravarty, Bangalore; Sayali Godbole, Faculty Member, English, Tilak Maharashtra University; Shahida Khan, Ph.D Scholar, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Orissa; Sharmistha Chatterjee (Sriwastav), Asstt. Professor in English, Rishi Bankim Chandra College for Women, Naihati; Sudeshna Chakravorty, Head, Dept of English, Susil Kar College, Champahati , West Bengal; Sukla Basu (Sen), Professor of English, Visva-Bharati,  Santiniketan, West Bengal; Sunita Sinha, Department of English, Women’s College Samastipur, Bihar; Vipan Pal Singh, Lecturer in English, Govt. Brijindra College, Faridkot, Punjab;