The Faculty of Theatre at the George Enescu National University of Arts, Iași (UNAGE Iași), in partnership with the Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Art (ICMA), organised a one-day programme of workshops on Shakespearean adaptations, led by Nicoleta Cinpoeș, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Worcester, United Kingdom. Held on 23 October 2025 in the George Pascu Symposion Hall in the University’s Artes Building, the workshops were entitled:

‘I stand for judgement’
(Act 4, Scene 1): The Merchant of Venice

‘A tale … full of sound and fury’
(Act 5, Scene 5): Macbeth.

In addition, Nicoleta Cinpoeș took part in a dialogue with Lucian Ghiță, Principal Lecturer at Clemson University, United States of America, entitled:

‘Fair is Foul:’
Plague, Power, and Performance in Macbeth

This dialogue examined Shakespeare’s Macbeth as a drama of paradox and disorder, in which plague, corruption, and the struggle for power collide. The stage and film adaptations discussed showed how these themes continue to resonate, highlighting the play’s enduring relevance in times of crisis.

Nicoleta Cinpoeș is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Worcester, United Kingdom, where she teaches early modern literature; Shakespeare in print, on stage, and on screen; and Shakespeare in the classroom and in digital spaces. At Worcester, she serves on the University’s Academic Board and, in the School of Humanities, is the International Experience Lead and Director of the Doctoral Programme. In addition to her research in Shakespeare studies and early modern drama, she is a theatre historian, reviewer, and occasional translator. Her work has been published in books, chapters in edited volumes, and articles in international journals, including Shakespeare Bulletin, SEDERI Yearbook, Cahiers Élisabéthains, Theatralia, and New Theatre Quarterly. She publishes in English as well as in Romanian, Polish, and Ukrainian. Her latest book, Shakespeare on European Festival Stages (Bloomsbury, 2022), co-edited with Florence March and Paul Prescott, examines the socio-cultural role of Shakespeare at festivals across Europe. She is writing Romeo and Juliet: The Eastside Story, a book that traces the play’s rich history and roles within the Eastern European context, through case studies drawn from Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Ukraine.

She has been working with Shakespeare festivals in Romania, Poland, and the United Kingdom for almost two decades, and has been organizing the ESRA Shakespeare in Performance seminar at the International Shakespeare Festival in Craiova since 2010. She advised on the launch of two new Shakespeare festivals – in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine (June 2024), and Chișinău, Moldova (October 2024). She serves on the board of ESRA (the European Shakespeare Research Association) and was re-elected in 2021 for her second and final term.

Workshops coordinated by Associate Professor Ioana Petcu-Pădurean, held within the framework of the project International Promotion of UNAGE Iași in the Digital Environment and the Consolidation of European Values in Arts Education through Collaboration with Partner Institutions, funded by the Romanian National Commission for the Financing of Higher Education (CNFIS) through the Institutional Development Fund (FDI), under grant no. CNFIS-FDI-2025-0300.

Project Director: Professor Cristian Nae.