Digital Asian Shakespeare Festival, 11th World Shakespeare Congress, Singapore, 18–24 July 2021

Abstract

The 2021 Digital Asian Shakespeare Festival nested within the 11th World Shakespeare Congress in Singapore, ‘where communities of Shakespeare scholars, teachers and practitioners in over 40 countries’ gathered online. Lee Hyon-u, the Festival Director, arranged an astonishing array of Asian performances. Lee wrote of the festival as offering ‘rare opportunities for delegates to enjoy the diversity and depth of Asian Shakespeare while breaking through the barrier of the Covid pandemic’. This article argues that recent Asian Shakespeare productions included in the festival offer inspiration for those staging Shakespeare worldwide as the arts attempt to recover from the pandemic.