Since classical antiquity, the Mediterranean has been a breeding ground for cultural formation and transformation, extraordinarily capitalised on by Shakespeare, who set many of his plays there, re-elaborating narratives, cultural models, theatregrams, epistemological perspectives, and visual and material art forms. In turn, Italy and the other Mediterranean cultures are nowadays responding to the aesthetic and cultural stimuli of those plays, with ever new interpretations and reinterpretations.
        The SaM Summer School will approach Shakespeare and the Mediterranean from a double perspective that integrates source studies and performance studies: from the Mediterranean sources of Shakespeare to Shakespeare as a source of new adaptations and rewritings in the heart of the Mediterranean.
         The sixth edition will be held in parallel with the 12th World Shakespeare Congress devoted to Planetary Shakespeares, and will be entitled:

Green and Blue Shakespeares
We will explore Shakespeare’s engagement with nature “twixt the green sea and the azured vault” (The Tempest 5.1.43).

    Focusing on the “green” and “blue” dimensions of Shakespeare’s drama—landscapes, gardens, forests, islands, seas, rivers, and maritime routes—the programme examines how nature, ecology, and the environment are represented across Mediterranean settings in the plays. Through close readings of a variety of plays set in the Mediterranean and his sonnets, participants will explore how Shakespeare’s Mediterranean becomes a space where land and sea, human and non-human life, politics and ecology intersect. The summer school invites students to rethink Shakespeare’s work in light of contemporary environmental concerns, highlighting the enduring relevance of his “green and blue” imaginaries within a planetary and Mediterranean framework.

        Besides the lectures and seminars scheduled during the week (17-25 July), participants will also be admitted to selected activities of the World Shakespeare Congress, including the Verona Shakespeare Fringe.