Shakespeare and Popular Cultures The Spring Conference centres on the topic Shakespeare and Popular Cultures and will be taking place from 25-27 April 2025 in Weimar. On the evening before the official beginning of the conference, on Thursday, 24 April, the award ceremony of the German Shakespeare Prize will take place at 6 pm in the [...]

Troilus and Cressida The autumn conference will centre on Troilus and Cressida, or, to quite Michael Dobson's paper title, „the most unperformed performed play in world drama“. Addressed to an „eternal reader“, placed between tragedies and histories in the Folio Edition, often referred to as problem play or „bitter war comedy“ – Troilus and Cressida [...]

Diversity and Community Spring conference 19.-21.04.2024 in Bochum. „He was not of an age, but for all time” – Ben Jonsons often-quoted description of Shakespeare hints at the plurality of themes, characters and worlds that characterise Shakespeare's works and establish their popularity until today. Diversity and Community are not only central themes in Shakespeare's works [...]

Shakespeare’s Libraries 21.-23.04.2023 in Weimar. The first printed edition of Shakespeare's collected plays was released in 1623 with the title Mr William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. Previously, only a few of Shakespeare's plays had been published at all. Without the First Folio, large parts of Shakespeare's works, like Macbeth or The Tempest, would probably have [...]

Shakespeare's Odysseys Here you can download the programme, the invitation letter of the president and further information. Please use this link for room bookings.

Shakespeare and Politics The topic of this year's conference, "Shakespeare and Politics" could not be more topical in the elction year 2021. Conceptions of the political in Shakespeare and the related questions of legitimations of power, governance and justice, of freedom and tyranny have, as Stephen Greenblatt has recently demonstrated in Tyrant, geopolitical relevance even today.   Our [...]

Romeo and Juliet Our conference theme "Romeo and Juliet" takes on unexpected topicality. In the fifth act, Friar John and his brother in Mantua are suspected of being in a house where the infectious plague is raging and are locked up there, preventing them from delivering the letters to Romeo in which Friar Laurence informs [...]

Shakespeare and Translation The conference on "Shakespeare and Translation" takes a twofold approach. On the one hand, it looks historically at the translation theories and practices of Shakespeare's time, which is characterised more than almost any other epoch by its translation activity. English literature in particular occupies a special position among the cultural areas of [...]

Othello "Othello" is the theme that we want to explore in performances, lectures and discussions during the Bochum Autumn Conference from 23 to 24 November 2018. Here you can download the Programme and the President's invitation letter.

Flight - Exile - Migration The Shakespeare Days from 20 to 22 April 2018 in Weimar are dedicated to the highly topical subject of "Flight - Migration - Exile". The academic lectures will focus on flight, migration and exile in Shakespeare's plays (for example in the romances), but also on the migration of these dramas [...]

Shakespeare and the Reformation In the year of the Reformation anniversary, the annual conference of the German Shakespeare Society from 20 to 23 April 2017 in Weimar will be dedicated to the topic of "Shakespeare and the Reformation". Hardly any other playwright of the 16th and 17th centuries dealt with the role of religion, its [...]

Shakespeare’s Endings The autumn conference of the German Shakespeare Society will take place on November 25 and 26, 2016, in Weimar. The year 2016 marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, who has shaped literature and culture worldwide to the present day. Johann Wolfgang Goethe, in "Shakespeare und kein Ende", describes the nearly inexhaustible [...]

Shakespeare's Green Worlds The German Shakespeare Society cordially invites you to the 2016 Spring Conference, which will take place from April 22-24 in Bochum. To mark the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, it will be dedicated to the theme of "Shakespeare's Green Worlds" and will examine the many metaphorical, rhetorical, botanical and poetic manifestations [...]

Shakespeare's Heroes and Heroines The German Shakespeare Society cordially invites you to the 2015 Spring Conference, which will take place in Berlin from April 23-26. Under the current theme of "Heroes and Heroines in Shakespeare", it is once again offering a variety of events, including lectures, discussions, the Shakespeare & School Forum, the Academic Seminar [...]

War and Commemoration The year of anniversaries continues. Our impressions of the lavish festivities at our major conference to mark the 150th anniversary of the German Shakespeare Society in Weimar have not yet faded, but we are also looking ahead to other days of remembrance this year, in particular the commemoration of the start of [...]

Celebrating Shakespeare April 23, 2014 marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of the German Shakespeare Society with Shakespeare's 450th birthday. To mark this great occasion, we are inviting all members and friends to the Shakespeare anniversary in Weimar from April 24 to 27, 2014. Under the theme "Shakespeare Feiern - Celebrating Shakespeare" (Celebrating Shakespeare), [...]

Money and Power The German Shakespeare Society, in cooperation with the Cultural Department and the Literaturhaus München, cordially invites you to the 2013 Spring Conference, which will take place in Munich from April 26-28. Under the current theme "Money and Power: Shakespeare's Balance Sheets", it will once again offer a wide range of events, including [...]

The Sonnets Shakespeare's sonnets, first printed in 1609, have been among the author's most popular, most read, most annotated and most translated works for two hundred years. Their equally fascinating and irritating combination of raging passions such as love, jealousy and anger with profound reflections on transience and the ability of poetry to wrest moments [...]

Faith and Doubt Questions of faith shape our world. Anyone who would like to believe that we live in secular times in which religion is a private matter must now experience in many ways how political conflicts and debates revolve around religious affiliation and the affiliation of certain religions to our society. This return of [...]

Shakespeare’s Shipwrecks: Theatres of Maritime Adventure The 2011 spring conference of the German Shakespeare Society, organised in association with the European Shakespeare Research Association (ESRA), will take place 28 April – 1 May 2011 in Weimar (Germany).   Shakespearean theatre and drama show a world of maritime experience. Born from an early modern culture of [...]

Much Ado About Nothing On November 26 and 27, 2010, the autumn conference took place in cooperation with the Schauspielhaus Zurich. The conference focused on Shakespearean comedy. On the evening of November 26, the conference participants saw "Much Ado About Nothing" in a production by Karin Henkel (premiere on September 30, 2010). As always, an [...]

The Poet and the City From April 23 to 25, 2010, the members of the German Shakespeare Society met for the Shakespeare Days in Bochum, European Capital of Culture as part of RUHR.2010. This event was held under the motto "The Poet and the City" and offered numerous public lectures by well-known Shakespeareans, particularly from [...]

King Lear The autumn conference of the German Shakespeare Society took place on November 27 and 28, 2009 in Cologne.   Speakers: Jayne Archer/ Richard Turley (Aberystwyth) Margreta de Grazia (University of Pennsylvania) Ewan Fernie (London) Beate Neumeier (Köln) H.-J. Hermes/ Marcel Hartwig (Chemnitz) Björn Quiring (München) Workshop: Frank Rohde (Schauspiel Köln)       [...]

Shakespeare: The Dawn of Modernity Die Frühjahrstagung der Deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft fand vom 23. bis 26. April 2009 in Weimar statt.     Speech on occasion of the Shakespeare-Days Jonathan Bate, Warwick Speakers Jan Bürger, Marbach Therese Fischer-Seidel, Düsseldorf Peter Holbrook, Queensland Werner von Koppenfels, München Peter Marx, Mainz/Bern Claudia Olk, Berlin Richard Wilson, Cardiff Contributors [...]

Hamlet The autumn conference 2008 of the German Shakespeare Society took place on November 21 and 22 in Mainz.   Speakers: Catherine Belsey, Cardiff Stefanie Diekmann, Potsdam Hugh Grady, Philadelphia Friedemann Kreuder, Mainz Freddie Rokem, Tel Aviv Laurenz Volkmann, Jena Günter Walch, Berlin Cooperation partners: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz Institut für Theaterwissenschaft Staatstheater Mainz Stiftung Mainzer [...]

Shakespeare's Food: Stage and Banquet In cooperation with the University of Vienna, the Burgtheater Vienna, the Wiener Vorlesungen, the Kulturmagistrat der Stadt Wien and Art for Art, Theaterservice GmbH Vienna.     This year's Shakespeare-Days took place from April 24-27, 2008 in Vienna.   Speech on the occasion of the Shakespeare Day Daniel Kehlmann (Vienna) [...]

Othello The conference took place on November 23 and 24, 2007 in the Youth- and Culture Centre MonAmi in Weimar. Speakers: Tom Cornford (London) Balz Engler (Basel) Michael Neill (Auckland) Lena Orlin (Baltimore)   Programme   Programme Autumn 2007(537 K)    

Soundscape Shakespeare The Shakespeare-Days 2007 took place from April 20-22, 2007 in Bochum.   Speech on the occasion of the Shakespeare-Days Bruce Smith (University of Southern California) Speakers John Joughin (University of Central Lancashire) Doris Kolesch (FU Berlin) James Siemon (Boston University) Contributors Scholarly Seminar Philipp Hinz Judith Luig Carolin Roder Felix Sprang Katrin Trüstedt [...]

Autumn Conference 2006 A Midsummer Night’s Dream The conference took place on November 18 and 19, 2006 in the library of the Ruhrgebiet in Bochum. Speakers: Werner Habicht (Würzburg) David Lanier (New Hampshire) Laurie Maguire (Oxford) Peter W. Marx (Mainz) Susanne Rupp (Berlin) Susanne Schroeder-Thürauf (Erlangen) Programme

Shakespeare-Days in Weimar 2006 Violence and Terror The conference took place from April 20-23, 2006 in Weimar. The German Shakespeare Society thanks its members and Shakespeare enthusiasts from all around the world for their interest. Speech on the occasion of the Shakespeare Days: Elisabeth Bronfen, Zürich Programme

King Lear The conference took place on November 25 and 26, 2005 in Hamburg.    Speakers: Jochen Baier (Schwäbisch Gmünd) Julia Briggs (Leicester) Hanna Scolnicov (Tel Aviv) Johann Schmidt (Hamburg) Roland Weidle (Hamburg) Stanley Wells (Stratford-upon-Avon) Further contributors: Nina Stedmann und die University Players (Hamburg) Programme

Shakespeare – Teller of tales and myths Die Tagung fand vom 21. bis 24. April 2005 im Museum Bochum statt.   Speech on the occasion of the Shakespeare Day: Barbara Hardy, London Speakers: Ingeborg Boltz, München Stephan Laqué, München David Lindley, Leeds Kate McLuskie, Stratford Patricia Parker, Stanford Manfred Pfister, Berlin Roy Sommer/Ansgar Nünning, Giessen [...]

Henry IV – Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown The conference took place on November 12 and 13, 2004 in the library of the Ruhrgebiet in Bochum. Speakers: Jens Malte Fischer (Munich) Marta Gibinska (Krakow) Michael Hattaway (Sheffield) Ingrid Hotz-Davies (Tübingen) Norbert Timm (Münster) Wolfgang Weiß (München) Workshop: Norbert Kentrup/Vanessa Shormann, Shakespeare and [...]

Goethe – Schiller – Shakespeare: Three Weimar Classics The conference took place from 22 to 25 April 2004 at the "mon ami" cultural center in Weimar. It was sponsored by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Literarischer Gesellschaften und Gedenkstätten with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Thuringian Ministry of Science, Research and [...]