Published: 12:03 AM, 19 August 2026
Bangladeshi Scholar Presents Islamic Reading of Hamlet at World Shakespeare Congress
Diana Ansarey, Assistant Professor at ASA University Bangladesh, presented her paper "Interpreting Shakespeare through Spirituality: Bengali Shakespeare from an Islamic Perspective" at the 12th World Shakespeare Congress: Planetary Shakespeare, held 20-26 July 2026 at the University of Verona, Italy.
Presented in the seminar "The Planetary and the Sacred in Asian Shakespeares," chaired by Professor Yong Li Lan (National University of Singapore) and Professor Im Yeeyon (Yonsei University, Korea).
The paper analyses the 2017 Bangladeshi stage adaptation of Hamlet, directed by Ataur Rahman and adapted by Syed Shamsul Haq - which reimagines the play through Bengali politics, Jatra performance, Tagore's poetry, and Islamic ethics.
Ansarey argues the production exemplifies postcolonial intercultural Shakespeare, with adaptation functioning as cultural interpretation and ethical inquiry rather than imitation, according to a press release.
Fellow co-presenters included Daniel Gallimore (Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan), who proposed "Dream and the Potential of Shinto Shakespeare" framework for Japanese adaptations, and Hyon-u Lee (Soon Chun Hyang University, Korea), who presented a paper on "Why Hamlet in Korea: Historical Trauma and the Afterlives of Hamlet in Korean Theatre: Lee Sung-yeol's Hamlet A-bi" and examines Hamlet in relation to Korean historical trauma, shamanistic ritual, and han.
