Kibria Nasir

• MA in English Literature (specialisation in Shakespeare and Linguistics), Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, 2019
• BA (Hons) in English Literature, Mass Media Communication, and Psychology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, 2017

Kibria Nasir is a PhD researcher at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham. A performer, she has been involved in theatre from a young age as an actor, writer, and director, which continues to inform her research on Indian Shakespeare.

She holds an MA and BA (Hons) in English Literature from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and has previously taught and mentored undergraduate students in literature and performance studies. Beyond academia, her background in journalism and educational training with the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Jammu and Kashmir, has shaped her interdisciplinary approach to research.

Kibria has presented her work at international academic conferences and is deeply interested in postcolonial studies, intercultural theatre, and global Shakespeares. Her creative and scholarly pursuits aim to bridge performance and research through intercultural dialogue and decolonial engagement.

My research examines adaptations of Shakespeare in Indian theatre through performance-based lens. It explores how Indian playwrights, directors, and performers reinterpret and expand Shakespeare’s texts within distinct regional and socio-political settings. The project addresses a key gap in scholarship by foregrounding regional performance traditions - often overlooked in Indian Shakespeare studies - and investigating how theatre-makers across India use vernacular languages and folk styles to create hybrid performances that articulate local identities and postcolonial negotiations.

It further highlights the symbiotic relationship between Shakespeare and Indian theatre, where regional adaptations not only bring local languages and endangered cultural forms to the global stage but also broaden the scope of global Shakespeare studies by revitalising intercultural exchange. Ultimately, the research seeks to understand how these performances foster cross-cultural dialogue and reshape global perceptions of both Shakespeare and Indian performance cultures.

Subsequent chapters employ performance analysis, adaptation theory, and postcolonial frameworks to trace the evolving relationship between Shakespeare and Indian theatre, foregrounding the creative agency of Indian artists and audiences in reimagining Shakespeare beyond Eurocentric paradigms.