This essay collection examines the Shakespearian culture of Cold War Europe - Germany, France, UK, USSR, Poland, Spain and Hungary - from 1947/8 to the end of the 1970s. Written by international Shakespearians who are also scholars of the Cold War, the essays assembled here consider representative events, productions and performances as cultural politics, international diplomacy and sites of memory, and show how they inform our understanding of the political, economic, even military, dynamics of the post-war global order. The volume explores the political and cultural function of Shakespearian celebration and commemoration, but it also acknowledges the conflicts they generated across the European Cold War 'theatre', examining the impact of Cold War politics on Shakespearian performance, criticism and scholarship. Drawing on archival material, and presenting its sources both in their original language and in translation, it offers historically and theoretically nuanced accounts of Shakespeare's international significance in the divided world of Cold War Europe, and its legacy today.

List of figures.- Personal Acknowledgements.- Formal Acknowledgements.- List of Contributors.- 1. Introduction: Conflict, Commemoration, Celebration...; Erica Sheen.- 2. The Mystery in the Soul of State: Shakespeare in Airlift Berlin; Erica Sheen.- 3. Celebrating Shakespeare under the Communist Regime in Poland; Krystyna Kujawinska Courtney.- 4. The Cultural Politics of the Quatercentenary in Germany; Isabel Karremann.- 5. 'Here is my space': The 1964 Shakespeare Celebrations in the USSR; Irena R. Makaryk.- 6. Shakespeare's Theatre of War in 1960s France; Nicole Fayard.- 7. In from the Cold: Celebrating Shakespeare in Francoist Spain; Keith Gregor.- 8. Doublespeak and Realism: Shakespeare Productions in Hungary in 1976; Veronika Schandl.- 9. Anatomy of Commemoration: Anniversaries, Community, Temporality; Geoffrey Cubitt.-Bibliography.- Index.