"This collection of essays provides new perspectives on reading, reinterpreting, appropriating and popularising Shakespeare through the work of women - actresses, directors, designers, translators and scholars from different cultural, social and political, mostly non-English speaking, contexts. Raising a wide variety of urgent issues relating not only to Shakespeare but also to the arts, to gender matters, and to postcolonial and ethnic studies, this volume advocates both the illumination of the often neglected, forgotten and rarely appreciated women - who deserve the spotlight of attention on an international level - and the need for revisions in Shakespearean studies, which are dominated by cultural sameness of prevalently male professionals." (Prof. Dr. habil. Bozenna Chylinska, Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw)

The main purpose of this volume is to look into a wide spectrum of artistic ventures which cross boundaries and challenge habitual thinking, consequently involving an element of provocation. While it is true that not all great art is provocative, the most memorable artefacts are these which have confounded our aesthetic expectations or stirred our moral imagination. However, as the turn of the millennium witnessed ever more shocking artistic gestures of provocation, the question arises if there are any limits to artistic freedom. The essays collected in this book offer a truly interdisciplinary perspective and deal with creative acts of transgression from a broad range of fields: literature, theatre, visual art, film, anthropology, and others. This volume will appeal to readers interested in artistic and academic pursuits that are subversive and irreverent.