Introduction

‘Asian Shakespeare(s)’ is an area of Shakespeare scholarship that has flourished in the twenty-first century. Monographs, edited collections and themed journal issues on Shakespeare in, and from, Asia written in (or translated into) English encompass translation, theatre, and film, but rarely education. Shakespeare in Asian education, written in English, is occasionally dealt with in individual articles and chapters as well as the British Shakespeare Association’s Teaching Shakespeare magazine. This chapter introduces key works in these areas but also identifies their limitations and some ways in which this book redresses them. The chapter evidences the way in which the authors of this volume approach Shakespeare in East Asian education from a variety of disciplinary expertises, experiences and perspectives. It does so using the notion that all researchers are positioned somewhere along a continuum of insider-outsider and flows of influence are bilateral east-west. Finally, this introduction offers an overview of each chapter.