The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.0466 Monday, 14 March 2005
From: John F. Andrews <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 11 Mar 2005 09:55:31 -0500
Subject: Upcoming Programs with Lynn Redgrave and Others
Dear Colleague,
Below are announcements about a number of upcoming ESU events. Please
feel free to share this information with others.
Hoping you'll be able to join us for at least some of these gatherings,
John Andrews
Michael W. Kauffman Discusses his Volume on "American Brutus"and the
Lincoln Assassination
A LUNCHEON PROGRAM TO MARK THE IDES OF MARCH
TUESDAY, MARCH 15
Cash Bar 11:30 a.m., Lunch 12:30 p.m., Program 1:00 p.m.
WOMAN'S NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CLUB, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue NW
$25 for Attendees Who Register Through the ESU or The Shakespeare Guild
We're pleased to join the Woman's National Democratic Club as co-hosts
for an event at which a highly respected authority on the Lincoln
assassination draws new material from long-neglected archival sources to
illuminate the background and motives of John Wilkes Booth. Michael W.
Kauffman argues that the man who slew our nation's sixteenth President
was anything but deranged. In his view, Lincoln's assailant was a
fervent, charismatic performer who regarded himself as a patriot and saw
his intended victim as an American Caesar whose tyranny called for a
latter-day Brutus.
Kauffman's book, which will be available at this event for purchase and
inscription, has received enthusiastic notices in The New York Times
Book Review, The Washington Post's Book World, and a number of other
prestigious media outlets. Richard Norton Smith, executive director of
the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, says that "In this
gripping, often surprising reexamination of America's most notorious
crime, Michael W. Kauffman rescues the Lincoln assassination from the
historical waxworks. Combining exhaustive research, computer technology,
and a compulsively readable style, Kauffman clears away more than a
century of misconceptions. This Booth is a greater actor, and a more
cunning monster, than we ever imagined."
Mr. Kauffman will discuss his findings during a dialogue with John
Andrews, who has published articles in The Atlantic Monthly and
elsewhere about the Shakespearean dimensions of what he calls "the most
dramatic moment in American history."
_____________________________________
A Memorable Evening with Lynn Redgrave and Her Daughter, Photographer
Annabel Clark
SALUTING A SPECIAL HEROINE OF THE STAGE AND SCREEN
MONDAY, MARCH 21
Program 7:00 p.m.
CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART, 500 17th Street NW
$20 for Attendees Who Register Through the ESU or The Shakespeare Guild
Lynn Redgrave is best known for her award-winning Georgy Girl (1965),
but she has also earned acclaim for her stellar performances in such
recent films as Gods and Monsters, Kinsey, and Shine. Her
autobiographical one-woman show, Shakespeare For My Father, took her to
London's Theatre Royal Haymarket and earned a Tony nomination on
Broadway. In 2003 she captivated New York audiences again in Alan
Bennett's brilliant Talking Heads.
A founding member of Britain's Royal National Theatre and the recipient
of numerous honors, among them a Gielgud Award from The Shakespeare
Guild and an OBE bestowed by Her Majesty the Queen, Ms. Redgrave will
converse not only about her distinguished career but about a struggle
with breast cancer that has been recorded in Journal, a remarkable new
book that she co-authored with her daughter, photographer Annabel Clark.
As part of a dialogue with John Andrews, Ms. Redgrave and Ms. Clark will
discuss, and provide visual reminders of, the touching journey they
shared. They will then take questions from the audience and inscribe
copies of their beautiful keepsake, which will be available for those
who wish to purchase them.
___________________________________
Lord Watson of Richmond, ESU's International Chairman, on "The Rise and
Rise of English"
A DINNER PROGRAM WITH A CHARISMATIC SPEAKER
THURSDAY, MARCH 31
Reception 6:30, Dinner 7:00, Program 7:30 p.m.
WNDC CLUBHOUSE, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue NW
$40 for Members, $45 for Non-Members, $10 for Program Only
Alan Watson is known to a growing community of admirers as International
Chairman of the English-Speaking Union. As such, he spends a good deal
of time at Dartmouth House in London, where he and Director-General
Valerie Mitchell are presiding over a period of unprecedented expansion,
with more than fifty ESUs now active around the planet and new ones to
be launched very soon in Mexico and the Czech Republic.
In remarks that many ESU constituents were fortunate enough to hear at
the October 2004 World Members Conference in New York, Lord Watson notes
that "English has become the working language of the global village. An
unprecedented number of people around the world are using it, whether
out of choice or as their second or third language." This, he insists,
is a major phenomenon, one that is "vital to international understanding
and cooperation, and it is the opportunity and obligation of the ESU to
facilitate its progress."
Lord Watson is now at work on The Rise and Rise of English, a book that
will develop this theme in all its ramifications, and he will be drawing
upon that volume in an address that will also touch on his other current
topic: the upcoming 400th anniversary of the founding of England's first
permanent settlement in the New World. Along with Robert Worcester, an
American-born pollster who now makes his home in the United Kingdom,
Lord Watson is serving as the UK's co-chair of a prestigious committee
to commemorate Jamestown's birthday in 2007.
A graduate of Jesus College at the University of Cambridge, Alan Watson
has a wealth of experience in radio and television. He was a regular
presenter with Panomara on BBC1 and with The Money Programme on BBC2. He
has also reported on LWTV (London Weekend Television), on BBC Radio 4,
and on the BBC World Service. Over the years he has written and hosted
several award-winning documentaries, and he is a Fellow and former
Chairman of the Royal Television Society. From 1976 to 1980 he was
responsible for Media at the European Commission.
A former President of the Liberal Party, Alan Watson was appointed CBE
(Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1985 and created a
Life Peer in 1999. He now sits in the House of Lords as a Liberal
Democrat, where he is a Front Bench Spokesman on European Affairs. In
1995 he received the German Order of Merit for his "significant and
enduring contribution" to understanding between Germany and Britain. In
2001 he was promoted to the Grand Cross of the Order. His academic
credits include honorary laurels at such institutions as Oriel and
Westminster colleges at Oxford, Jesus College at Cambridge, and St.
Petersburg University in Russia.
Lord Watson is Chairman of Burson Marsteller Europe and Chairman of CTN
(Corporate Television Networks). A communications advisor to many UK and
international corporations, he heads the Coca-Cola European Advisory Board.
___________________________________
Previewing the Folger's "Clandestine Marriage" With its Producer,
Director, and Starring Cast
A DINNER PROGRAM ABOUT AN 18TH-CENTURY CLASSIC
MONDAY, APRIL 11
Cash Bar 6:00, Dinner 7:00, Program 7:30 p.m.
WOMAN'S NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CLUB, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue NW
$30 for Attendees Who Register Through the ESU or The Shakespeare Guild
We're pleased to join the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Woman's
National Democratic Club as co-hosts for an event at which four artists
who are reviving an 18th-century classic by David Garrick and George
Colman will supply a preview of The Clandestine Marriage. In this
hilarious comedy, a prudent father, Mr. Sterling, resolves that his
daughters, Fanny and Betsey, will marry men of wealth. His plans
encounter complications, of course, and what ensues is a romp through
the English countryside.
With us for a sprightly evening of conversation will be Janet Alexander
Griffin, a versatile producer of performing arts and literary programs
who has garnered numerous awards during her two decades at the Library.
Also on hand will be Richard Clifford, a prominent London actor who has
appeared in several of Kenneth Branagh's films (among them Henry V and
Love's Labours' Lost) and earned accolades as director of such previous
Folger hits as All's Well That Ends Well, Elizabeth the Queen, and She
Stoops to Conquer. Completing our panel will be two of Washington's most
popular performers, Catherine Flye, an actress, director, producer, and
playwright who oversees the Interact Theatre and whose credits include
more than 45 nominations for Helen Hayes Awards in nearly a dozen local
venues, and Ted van Griethuysen, a mainstay at The Shakespeare Theatre,
where he has delighted audiences in leading roles for more than fifteen
years, and at Studio Theatre, where he recently won acclaim as A. E.
Housman in a stellar production of Tom Stoppard's Invention of Love.
For more information about The Clandestine Marriage, which will be
staged in the Folger's Elizabethan Theatre from April 15 through May 22,
including information about tickets available for a discounted price of
$25 apiece for those who refer to this announcement, call the Folger box
office at (202) 544-7077. For details about an related exhibition, David
Garrick (1717-1779), A Theatrical Life, visit www.folger.edu.
___________________________________
Historian Giles Worsley Reflects on "The Stables: The Unsung Glory of
the English Country House"
AN EVENING ARRANGED BY THE ROYAL OAK FOUNDATION
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
Reception 6:30, Program 7:00 p.m.
NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION, 1785 Massachusetts Avenue
$15 for Attendees Who Register Through the ESU
Dr. Giles Worsley is one of Britain's leading architectural historians,
a critic for The Daily Telegraph, and a former editor of Country Life
magazine. He now serves as Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for
Historical Research in London, and he edits Perspectives on
Architecture, a magazine published under the auspices of the Prince of
Wales. His numerous books include Classical Architecture in Britain: The
Heroic Age (1995) and England's Lost Houses: From the Archives of
"Country Life" (2003). His latest volume, The British Stable (2005), was
inspired by his family residence, Hovingham Hall in Yorkshire, and
copies of it will be on hand for purchase and inscription.
____________________________________
Historian John Wilton-Ely Revisits "Horace Walpole: Mirror of the
Georgian Age"
AN EVENING ARRANGED BY THE ROYAL OAK FOUNDATION, IN COLLABORATION WITH
THE OCTAGON AND THE ESU
THURSDAY, APRIL 21
Program 6:45 p.m.
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS, 1735 New York Avenue NW
$10 for Attendees Who Register Through the ESU
Dr. Wilton-Ely is Professor Emeritus in the History of Art at the
University of Hull, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a Fellow
of the Royal Society of Arts. Since 1996, Professor Wilton-Ely has been
a Visiting Professor at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New
York. The subject of his illustrated lecture, Horace Walpole, was the
author of vivid and prolific letters, and in them as well as in his
seminal Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764), he reflected the
brilliant social world of Georgian England. Walpole's most ambitious
project, however, was Strawberry Hill, a legendary Gothic Revival
residence that overlooked the Thames near Richmond. Now on the World
Monuments Fund list, this unique and whimsical house proved highly
influential with its eclectic ornamentation. Walpole also left his
distinctive mark on The Vyne in Hampshire, home to John Chute, whom he
praised as his "oracle in taste."
__________________________________
ESU Member and Journalist Barrett McGurn Revisits his World War II
Reporting Career
A LUNCHEON HOSTED BY DACOR BACON HOUSE
TUESDAY, APRIL 26
12:00 Noon to 2:00 p.m.
DACOR BACON HOUSE, 1801 F Street NW
$15 (Including Wine, Dessert, and Coffee), Payable in Cash at the Door
To Reserve, Please Call (202) 682-0500, Extension 15.
Barrett McGurn is one of the English-Speaking Union's most prolific
authors. Before his military service began in 1942, he worked for the
New York Herald Tribune as a page-one reporter. After he joined the Army
in 1943, he was assigned to Yank Magazine, for which he became a
correspondent in the South Pacific. While there he earned a Purple Heart
for wounds sustained in combat.
Once the war ended, Mr. McGurn returned to the Tribune, remaining with
the paper till 1966, and serving for sixteen years as bureau chief in
such capitals as Rome, Paris, and Moscow. For several years in the late
'60s and early '70s he worked for the United States government, as Press
Attache for the American Embassy in Rome, as Counselor for Press Affairs
and Embassy Spokesman in Saigon, and as Assistant Press Officer for the
Department of State. From 1973 to 1982 he was Director of Communications
for the United States Supreme Court. Six years ago he began writing the
history of Yank, The Army Weekly, and he was delighted by the response
his evocative narrative received when it appeared in a November 2004
book from Fulcrum Publishing. He'll talk about and inscribe copies of
this much-praised volume.
__________________________________
Reserving Space for ESU Events
To obtain more information about any of the programs described above,
and to make reservations for those that are being presented under ESU
auspices, please send a message to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (202)
234-4602. We'll be happy to charge orders to MasterCard and Visa
accounts. For details about our recently completed 2005 Shakespeare
Competition, visit www.esuwdc.org/shakespeare.html.
_______________________________________________________________
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