"Shakespeare and the Law" Conference Brings Justice Breyer to the Stage

On Friday and Saturday, the Law School will play host to a conference on "Shakespeare and the Law." According to the conference event listing, the event (organized by Chicago faculty Martha Nussbaum, Richard Posner, and Richard Strier,

will bring together thinkers from law, literature, and philosophy to investigate the legal dimensions of Shakespeare's plays. Participants will explore the ways in which the plays show awareness of law and legal regimes and comment on a variety of legal topics, ranging from general themes, such as mercy and the rule of law, to highly concrete legal issues of his time. Other papers will investigate the subsequent influence of his plays on the law and explore more general issues concerning the relationship between law and literature.

The highlight of the conference for many, we suspect (including the Tribune's theater blog), will be watching special guest Justice Stephen Breyer perform as the ghost of Hamlet's father in a series of scenes from the Bard's plays that will be staged as part of the conference. Of course, the keynote conversation between Breyer, Nussbaum, Posner, and Strier will likely be just as fascinating.

The conference is free and open to the public. All the world's a stage, but the Weymouth Kirkland Auditorium isn't exactly the Globe, so space may be limited. The scenes and keynote will be made available on the web once they're ready.

If you attend and happen to be tweeting at the event, please use the hashtag #bardlaw.