Over the mid-year break, eight SCA students participated in an international Shakespeare summer school in Rouen, France, co-organised by Dr Victoria Bladen (Lecturer in English Literature, SCA) and scholars from the Université de Rouen. Sessions included lectures, workshops, play readings, and excursions. Three of the UQ participants had the opportunity to present papers: Madeleine Dale (PhD candidate in poetry) presented on “The Afterlives of Shakespeare's Sonnets”, Erica Fryberg (2024 graduate of the Masters in WEP programme) presented on “Shakespeare in Opera: Evolving Interpretations,” and Charlotte Picker (currently undertaking a dual Law (Honours)/Arts degree at UQ) presented on “God’s Will and Female Leadership: Joan of Arc and Cordelia”. Partial travel funding for the UQ group was provided by the Université de Rouen. The international Shakespeare summer school programme is registered as an activity for the purposes of the UQ Employability Award [Category: Supplementary – Global and Cultural Experiences]. Erica Fryberg also participated in the University of Verona Shakespeare Summer school, at which Dr Bladen was a guest lecturer. SCA PhD candidate Steve Rohan-Jones, whose research explores Shakespeare and war, participated in a seminar on “The Temporal Affordances of Shakespeare’s Drama” at the European Shakespeare Research Association (ESRA) conference hosted by the University of Porto, Portugal. Dr Bladen also presented at ESRA in a panel on Creative Shakespeares and Time with scholars from the Universities of Roma Tre and Milan, Italy.
