ESRA 2027: Shakespeare and Form

‘To set a form upon desired change’

Call for Papers Deadline: 5 June 2026

Confirmed Guest Speakers

• William E. Engel (Sewanee – University of the South, USA)

• Florence March (Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry, FR)

• Iman Sheeha (Brunel University, GB)

ESRA 2027 will explore the question of ‘form’ from a variety of angles, bringing together scholar, practitioner, school and collegiate communities as well as the general public. Interest in the wide-reaching question of form with regard to Shakespeare has a long and very varied history which looks back to Henry Ruggles’ The Plays of Shakespeare founded on literary forms (1895) and beyond. In the twentieth century, we may think of key interventions, such as C. L. Barber’s Shakespeare’s Festive Comedy. A Study in Dramatic Form and its Relations to Social Custom (1959), William Toole’s Shakespeare’s Problem Plays: Studies in Form and Meaning (1966), Emrys Jones’ Scenic Form in Shakespeare (1971), Robert Weimann’s Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition in the Theatre: Studies in the social dimension of dramatic form and function (1978) and Leo Salingar’s Dramatic Form in Shakespeare and the Jacobeans (1986), to name but a few. More recently, twenty-first-century examples abound, such as Douglas Bruster’s Quoting Shakespeare. Form and Culture in Early Modern Drama (2000), Lene B. Petersen’s Shakespeare’s Errant texts: Textual Form and Linguistic Style (2010), Ruth Nevo’s Tragic Form in Shakespeare (2015), Ralph Berry’s Shakespeare’s Comedies. Explorations in Form (2016) and Jonathan’s Sell’s Shakespeare’s Sublime Ethos: Matter, Stage, Form (2022). In all kinds of ways, the corpus of Shakespeare’s works urges us to think about form in a host of different contexts in research, practice, performance and pedagogy.

This ‘Shakespeare and Form’ conference honours ESRA’s foundational engagement with the place held by Shakespeare in European cultures, while also opening itself to a range of other approaches to the chosen theme. Potential lines of vision on this theme may thus include, but are not limited to, the following:

Members of ESRA are invited to propose a panel, roundtable or a seminar that they would be interested in convening. (NB: To become a member of ESRA, you just need to send a message to europeanshakespeare@gmail.com)

***ESRA 2027 is an in-person only event***

Panel proposals:

These should be conceived as a pre-organized event with 3-4 papers focusing on a subject related to ‘Shakespeare and Form’ in some manner. Proposals should be no longer than 350-400 words (stating topic, relevance, and approach). The proposal should be submitted by the panel convenor(s) with the names of the participants (no more than four speakers) and the name of a chair (who may be one of the panellists).

Roundtable proposals:

These should be conceived as a pre-organized discussion event, focusing on a subject related to ‘Shakespeare and Form’ in some manner. Proposals should be no longer than 350-400 words (stating topic, relevance, and approach). The proposal should be submitted by the roundtable convenor(s) with the names of the participants (no more than four speakers) and the name of a chair (who may be one of the roundtable members).

Seminar proposals:

These proposals are for thematic strands linked to ‘Shakespeare and Form’. Seminars are designed as a series of discussion sessions in which the selected participants share their research with each other in the group prior to the scheduled meeting in the conference programme. Each seminar proposal should be no more than 350-400 words and submitted by 2 or 3 potential convenors from different countries. To encourage and allow for a broader selection of seminars at the conference, we will accept only one proposal by each ESRA member. Once the seminar list has been agreed by the conference organizers, there will be a CfP for seminar participants.

Please send your proposals until Friday 5th June 2026 to the following email address: esra2027@bangor.ac.uk

The conference organisers and the Board of ESRA will confirm their final choice of panels and seminars by Friday 3rd July 2026. All convenors will be personally informed of the choices made and the list of seminars will be made available on the ESRA and the Conference websites.

Should you have any questions, feel free to contact the organising team at the above email address (esra2027@bangor.ac.uk).

Important dates:

•  Seminar, Panel & Roundtable proposal deadline: 5th June 2026

•  Proposal acceptance notification: 3rd July 2026

•  Call for Papers opening: 13th July 2026

•  Early Bird registration opening: 12th October 2026

•  Call for Papers deadline: 4th December 2026

•  Call for Papers acceptance notification: 16th December 2026

•  Early Bird registration expires: 2nd April 2027