We welcomed 2020 on Friday, January 24, at the NATIONAL ARTS CLUB, where
we relished a scintillating presentation by JIM
DALE, a remarkably versatile performing
artist whose work has been celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic.
This was our third event with Mr. Dale, who entertained us with hilarious
anecdotes and memorable vignettes from one of the most extraordinary careers
in the history of show business.
A few days later, on Monday, January 27, we gathered at THE PLAYERS with
actor, director, producer, and author
DAKIN MATTHEWS, who was riveting audiences as Judge Taylor in playwright
Aaron Sorkin and director Bartlett Sher's phenomenal Broadway adaptation
of novelist Harper Lee's To
Kill a Mockingbird. After hearing Mr. Matthews' remarks about that
remarkable drama, and discussing some of the other highlihgts of his extraordinary
career, we were treated to his informative observations about three Shakespearean
sonnets, which he analyzed as illustrations of the same rhetorical techniques
that a brilliant playwright employed in his dramatic masterpieces.
A few weeks later, on February 26 at THE PLAYERS we conversed with
two of America's most distinguished
visual artists, illustrators JAMES
MCMULLAN and EDWARD
SOREL. This exchange, which took place in the club's stately Hampden-Booth
Library, was recorded by Ed's son, Leo
Sorel, and thanks to him and his colleague James
Salzano we hope to make it available soon on YouTube.
Because of the Trumpidemic that followed
that special occasion, we were forced to postpone several SOS offerings.
Yet to be rescheduled, either as programs with in-situ audiences
or as online offerings, are conversations with
RON ROSENBAUM (a prolific
journalist whose publications include The
Shakespeare Wars), and with SCOTT
NEWSTOK (an esteemed scholar who draws on "Lessons from a Renaissance
Education" to explain How to Think Like Shakespeare).
Meanwhile we encourage you to revisit the online conversations we produced
in lieu of in-person events, beginning with a May 26 dialogue with JAMES
SHAPIRO of Columbia University.
Click here to watch an NAC discussion that explored Shakespeare
in a Divided America, a timely volume that the New York Times
has recently identified as one of The
Ten Best Books of 2020.
A few weeks later, on June 23, we arranged an afternoon session with F.
MURRAY ABRAHAM, a gathering that permitted the Guild to introduce an
actor who grew up in the Southwest to his admirers at Santa Fe's LENSIC
PERFORMING ARTS CENTER. To watch this conversation, click
here.
On August 12, we enjoyed a delightful NATIONAL ARTS CLUB exchange with actor
JOHN DOUGLAS THOMPSON. He had recently
portrayed the Duke of York in the New York Public Theater's WNYC
audio presentation of Richard
II, and that was one of the topics we addressed with him. To watch
this engaging dialogue, which was promoted by both Broadway
World and Thought
Gallery and elicited questions from viewers around the nation, click
here.
And click
here to watch a resonant NAC-hosted conversation with Harvard's STEPHEN
GREENBLATT that was recorded in late June but held for realease until
August 19. It was a wide-ranging exchange that commenced with a discussion
of the prescient op-ed that Professor Greenblatt published in the New
York Times a few weeks before America's 2016 presidential election.
It then focused on Tyrant, his 2018 volume about Shakespeare's
insights into how corrupt authoritarians seize and maintain power. From
there it proceeded to a broader consideration of the classical education
a budding playwright received in grammar school, and the ways in which it
equipped him to produce the masterpieces that led a fellow dramatist, Ben
Jonson, to eulogize him in the 1623 First Folio as an artist who was "not
of an age, but for all time." For a vivid illustration of how Professor
Greenblatt's books and articles are influencing today's political discourse,
see a recent Times column by Maureen
Dowd.
On September 13 the Guild joined Santa Fe's LENSIC PERFORMING ARTS CENTER,
for another lively dialogue with JIM
DALE, a celebrated and remarkably versatile performer
who garnered an Oscar nomination as lyricist for the theme song in "Georgy
Girl," who won a Tony Award for his title role in "Barnum," and who holds
multiple Grammy Awards for his evocative recordings of "Harry Potter." Click
here to enjoy the charming anecdotes he shared with Lensic executive
director Joel Aalberts and Guild president John Andrews about his brilliant
career as a singer, composer, actor, director, raconteur, and narrator.
In late December, under NAC auspices, we saluted
RICHARD EYRE, who oversaw Britain's National Theatre during a decade
that featured such triumphs as a touring Richard III, with Sir
Ian McKellen in the title role, and the global premiere of Angels in
America. A young Judi Dench influenced Sir Richard's decision to become
a director, and he took part in the 1999 Gielgud ceremony that
paid tribute to her. Sir Richard has also enriched our lives with a number
of cinematic gems, among them Iris and Notes on a Scandal,
both of which starred Dame Judi, and a recent King Lear with Sir
Anthony Hopkins in the title role. Click
here for a riveting hour with one of our most visionary dramatic artists.
To receive periodic updates from The Shakespeare Guild, you're invited to
visit our Membership
page for types of affiliation. There you'll find a link to a page where
you can register for events,
enroll as a Guild member, or provide
a tax-exempt donation.
For details about offerings that have been presented in previous seasons, click
on the years that follow:: 1998,
1999, 2000,
2001, 2002,
2003, 2004,
2005, 2006,
2007, 2008,
2009, 2010,
2011, 2012,
2013, 2014,
2015, 2016,
2017, 2018,
and 2019. And for information about upcoming
programs, visit our Current Events page.
