For a one-day tour to explore 20th century approaches to Shakespeare, the Shakespeare and Modernism Symposium held by Barbican Centre on 30th April was definitely a good choice. Don’t be scared by the word symposium, it was not a formal meeting as the name indicates. The symposium invited three Shakespeare scholars and one Shakespeare scenic designer to each give a short talk. The audience was mostly made up of Shakespeare enthusiasts, with of course some readers who had a rich academic knowledge of Shakespeare, which could be seen from the Q&A in the end.  
 
The modernism theme encouraged informal and enthusiastic discussion, no matter the topic of the lectures or the fullness of the schedule. I was very impressed by the Coriolanus excerpt performed by students from Queen Mary's University, when waiting in the hall. The non-professional young actors, wearing casual clothes and performing in the modernist hall of the art centre, really captured the modernism of Shakespeare.  
 
The Symposium was primarily divided into two parts, two lectures and two discussions. The first lecture was given by Cary DiPietro, the author of Shakespeare and Modernism. In the one hour lecture, he weaved a history of Shakespeare research, with the ideas of many brilliant writers and thinkers in the 20th century. It is not surprising to hear many familiar great names like Benjamin, T.S.Eliot, Sigmund Freud, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, which persuades us that Shakespeare is everywhere in modernism. This section was much more academic, looking at the role that different art forms and school of thoughts play in the study of Shakespeare.

Modernism can be simplified as making the Shakespeare play new, breaking with past, such as using the language in an entirely new fashion, or as T.S. Eliot did, reinterpreting Shakespeare to create new art. Many interesting examples were given, like the combining of Twelfth Night and cubism, Macbeth and engraving. Among them, the most impressed examples were Sigmund Freud’s character criticism of Hamlet, using the unconscious concept, as well as the Virginia Woolf ’s gender perspective, asking what would have happened if Shakespeare had been a woman.
 
The next part was more visual, focusing on scenography. It was great to hear a real scenic designer share his real experience and thoughts. The speaker, Stephen Brimson Lewis, won an Olivier Award for his set, and was nominated for a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for ‘Best Scenic Design’ and ‘Best Costume Design’ for the play Indiscretions on Broadway. He discussed with  Shakespeare scholar Bridget Escolme, about the balance of practicality and artificiality, the relationship between play and audience, digital technology, from a perspective of practical work. Christian Billing, who is senior lecturer in Drama and Theatre Practice at the University of Hull, gave another lecture on Czechoslovak Scenography from 1918-1968, providing the audience with massive amounts of scenic design drafts of great designers, like Josef Wenig, Vlastislav Hofman, Josef Capek and Josef Svoboda.