The interactions between a dramatic text and its actual and potential performance-realizations in a specific artistic medium serve one of the fundamental points of departure for “Theatre and Performance Studies” (TAPS). This seminar will explore the dynamic relations between ‘text’, ‘medium’ and ‘performance’, exemplifying with some of Shakespeare’s key plays, in particular emphasizing his treatment of the magic of art/theatre, the appearance of supernatural figures, political power and social violence. The dramaturgical perspective for ‘staging’ these themes (on the stage, as theatre and opera; on the screen; or by radical textual adaptation etc.) theorizes the artistic practices of each particular medium (its ‘language’ or constitutive features) and the application of these practices for performing Shakespeare. The aim of this course is to examine and analyse existing realizations of some of Shakespeare’s key dramas in a broad range of media as well as to investigate the possibilities for making them meaningful today, through dramaturgical analysis in the class. By providing the tools for a self-reflective dramaturgical process where academic research methodologies, philosophical thinking, and artistic creativity are combined these investigations we will strive to integrate such a dramaturgical process in academic as well as artistic contexts.