Afterword: Shakespeare theorised and practised Jacek Fabiszak Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland T he twenty-first Gdan´sk Shakespeare Festival was special as it was combined with the 2017 European Shakespeare Research Association (ESRA) conference, which is organised every two years in a different European country and attracts scholars from all over the world. The leading theme of the conference, ‘AnAtomizing Text and Stage’, was fine-tuned to both the activity of ESRA and the venue: the Uni- versity of Gdan´sk and the Gdan´sk Shakespeare Theatre. The fact that delegates had a chance to see at least some of the performances presented during the Festival and interact with theatre artists (Luk Perceval gave the opening plenary talk on the stage of the Gdan´sk Shakespeare Theatre) affected conference discussions about Shakespeare and his (mainly) theatrical afterlives in a variety of European cultures. Delegates had an opportunity to see at least three productions: two theatrical per- formances and a pre-release screening of Macbeth, directed by Kit Monkman. The former included The Island by The Song of the Goat Theatre, an experimental theatrical company led by Grzegorz Bral, which presented their interpretation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest (the company has also adapted Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear), and a stripped-back Titus Andronicus 2.0, directed by Tang Shu Wing from Hong Kong. All three shows may certainly be deemed experimental, both in terms of the search for non-traditional forms and novel ways of bringing Shakespearean themes to audiences. This, once again, was very much in tune with what the scholars gathered for the con- ference were trying to achieve, literally dissecting Shakespearean lines and productions. Many delegates stayed on as festival-goers after the conference finished on 30 July, since the Festival continued until 6 August. They saw Hamlet, directed by Oliver Frljic´ from Zagreb Youth Theatre, a production where the action revolved around a table positioned in the centre of the acting area, which was surrounded by the audience. As Alina Botez, in her review of The Island, remarked, ‘The whole theatre – stage and auditorium – is a shapeshifter’ (https://playstosee.com/island-wyspa/). The Gdan´sk Corresponding author: Jacek Fabiszak, Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Ul. Wieniawskiego 1, 61712 Poznan´, Poland. Email: fabiszak@amu.edu.pl Cahiers E ´ lisabe´thains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies 2019, Vol. 99(1) 193–195 ª The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0184767819850753 journals.sagepub.com/home/cae