In 2021, Dr. Rob Conkie, the new Robinson Distinguished Professor of Shakespeare Studies in the Department of Theatre, participated in an international project about Shakespeare and the climate crisis, Cymbeline in the Anthropocene. For the project, Conkie directed Cymbeline at LaTrobe University in Melbourne, Australia -- one of seven different productions of Shakespeare's play that took place in countries around the world. As the project launched, both Australia and California were battling massive climate-aggravated fires, so fire became central to Conkie's production.
With the help of student actors and faculty colleagues, Conkie will reflect on that production specifically, and artistic approaches to the climate crisis in general, in a unique presentational format: a performative comic book. Having created a graphic novelesque version of his Cymbeline production with accompanying reflections and analysis, Conkie will project pages from the "comic book," while he and the actors voice narration and characters to tell the story and consider its impact. Unfolding in three one-hour episodes -- Part 1 is on November 28, while Part 3 will wrap things up next semester -- each program of Shakespeare on Fire will offer 30-minute readings followed by discussion.
This event is FREE.
