Dates
| single appointment | Fr, 29.05.2026, 14:00 - Fr, 29.05.2026, 19:00 | extern |
| single appointment | Fr, 12.06.2026, 10:00 - Fr, 12.06.2026, 20:00 | C 12.009 Seminarraum |
| single appointment | Fr, 03.07.2026, 10:00 - Fr, 03.07.2026, 20:00 | C 6.316 Seminarraum |
Curriculum context
schriftlicher Text mit einem Umfang von 25.000 Zeichen mit Leerzeichen (= ca. 10 Seiten) (65%)
Resit date: : Keine selbständige Anmeldung zum Wiederholungstermin möglich. info_outline
Friday, 27.11.2026
Organizational information
Registration
Registration ends 07.4.2026 at 23:59 h
Persons
Content
What happens when a Shakespeare play is transferred into a different medium? What distinguishes the Elizabethan drama from contemporary forms of art like film? How can we describe and analyse the characteristics of both Shakespeare’s plays and their adaptations? This block seminar deals with the phenomenon of adapting Shakespeare and asks about the genre-specificities of each production while also considering their sociohistorical context. We will begin by looking at excerpts of selected Shakespeare plays and then move on to three primary film ‘texts’ that significantly contributed to the emergence of the cinematic Shakespeare renaissance in the 1990s: Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Luhrmann's William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Loncraine's Richard III (1995). All three films are also particularly suitable for a discussion of gender, which will serve as a leitmotif in this seminar. Having read all three Shakespeare plays before the sessions in class is not mandatory but highly recommended (any edition will do, I recommend the Norton, Arden or Oxford editions). Two of the films must have been watched before the sessions (see below).
Primary Sources (to be watched by session 2 at the very latest):
Much Ado About Nothing. Dir. Kenneth Branagh. BBC Films. The Samuel Goldwyn Company. USA/GB: 1993. DVD. (buy the DVD or check your streaming services)
William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. Dir. Baz Luhrmann. Bazmark Productions. 20th Century Fox. USA/GB: 1993. DVD. (buy the DVD or check your streaming services)
Richard III. Dir. Richard Loncraine. Bayly/Paré Productions British Screen. United Artists Pictures. GB: 1995. DVD. (optional, as we will discuss selected scenes in class)
Additional primary and secondary sources will be provided over the course of the teaching period.
Recommended Further Reading/Secondary Texts (optional):
Diana E. Henderson: A Concise Companion to Shakespeare on Screen. Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.
Linda Hutcheon: A Theory of Adaptation. London: Routledge, 2012.
To strengthen the following core competencies:
- media literacy
- drama and film analysis
- critical thinking
Evaluation
Further information on teaching evaluation: https://www.leuphana.de/en/teaching/quality-management/evaluation/course-evaluation.html