Shakespeare in Pakistan

Reviews / Votes

"Zakia Resshid Ehsen's comprehensive investigation of how Shakespeare has been staged, adapted, and taught in Pakistan offers a fascinating new angle on the topic of global Shakespeares"

--Lisa Hopkins, Professor Emerita of English, Sheffield Hallam University

"Shakespeare in Pakistan is an erudite study of appropriations as an "inversion tool" to amplify Pakistani Muslim experiences in theatre, cinema, and academia in the pre-partition and post-independence eras. Zakia Resshid Ehsen argues compellingly that Pakistani appropriations revive the Urdu language, redefine Muslim identities, and reframe dominant discourses about Shakespeare and the subcontinent. This book is a crucial intervention in the field that has thus far focused on India and, to some extent, Bangladesh."

--Alexa Alice Joubin, author of Shakespeare and East Asia

"Astute and far-reaching, this book represents a ground-breaking discussion of Shakespeare in Pakistan. Engaging with cinema, translation, television and theatre, including Urdu poetics, Zakia Resshid Ehsen powerfully argues for an approach attuned to gender, class and ethnicity and cognizant of the role the dramatist plays in constructions of national identity."

--Mark Thornton Burnett, Professor of Renaissance Studies, Queen's University Belfast

"Dr. Zakia Resshid Ehsen's work isn't just about Shakespeare-it's about us. What sets her apart is her focus on grounding Shakespeare's words in the lived realities of Pakistan-our history, our struggles, and our humanity. Her work connects people beyond academics to the enduring power of storytelling, resonating with many."

--Omair Rana, Former Teacher of Performing Arts and Actor/Director/Producer in Theatre, Television, and Film

"Zakia Ehsen's book is a testament to our shared humanity and the importance of Shakespeare's writings in the social and literary history of Pakistan. This book will further enhance the projection of art, culture and creativity of Pakistan on the World stage. A must read"

--Ahmed Jamal, film director and producer

"Zakia Resshid's new book is a much-needed intervention in the field of postcolonial Shakespeare Studies in the Pakistani context. Focusing on the different modalities in adaptation and appropriation of Shakespeare plays as performed on stage and film in recent years by upcoming indigenous theater companies such as Theatre Wallahs, as well as in her analysis of the shifting pedagogical strategies around the teaching of Shakespeare's plays, the author has created space for new decolonial readings of the erstwhile Master."

--Fawzia Afzal-Khan, University Distinguished Scholar, Montclair State University

"Shakespeare in Pakistan offers a remarkable must-study into the colonial to postcolonial and decolonial intersections. It debates agendas against legacies that are attached to the British "Bard" and his regional as well as global popularity."

--Professor Waseem Anwar, Director International Centre for Pakistani Writing in English, Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, Pakistan