Shakespeare as a window to the student’s views on contemporary world / Dr Tomasz Kowalski

The attention was centered on two Shakespearean productions: H. (2004, dir. Jan Klata) and Taming of the Shrew (1998, dir. Krzysztof Warlikowski), which in my department are usually included in the syllabus of the course on contemporary Polish theatre for the first year students. Moving into the background the matters such as their representativeness of treating Shakespeare as “our contemporary” and individual theatrical styles of their directors, the question considered here was how the selected scenes can be used to spark a discussion which, while focusing on interpretation, would at the same time encourage the students to express and exchange their personal views on political, social and moral issues raised by the above-mentioned productions.