| Sir Patrick Stewart |
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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0225 Monday, 7 June 2010
[1] From: Stuart Manger <
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[2] From: Jacqueline Roe <
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[3] From: Larry Weiss <
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[4] From: Brad Berens <
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[1]----------------------------------------------------------------- I suspect he is more admired in USA than in UK. Stuart Manger
[2]------------------------------------------------------------- My own experience of Patrick is of him racing off stage to join us for a fund-raising event at the Young Vic. He joined us at about 11, and stayed to talk to each of us to emphasise his commitment to the YV, and to London theatre... Now there were probably only about 25 of us, but Patrick stayed to the end. In an age when celebrity seems to be the aim of many actors, it's refreshing to see that even where fame came quite late in life, Patrick continues to play in actual theatres, and not just on the big screen. His Macbeth, whilst not necessarily a stellar performance, did highlight the gap between his abilities and those of many of the company. At least his performance was effortless, which I think increases the level of audience enjoyment. We should praise his advocacy of live theatre, and particularly of Shakespearean plays. Every additional member of the audience brought to the theatre by celebrities such as Patrick is to be lauded.
[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
>The absurdity is that a strata of English society that What H.G. Duke of Kilburn High Road surely knows is that the honours are awarded by H.M. Government, and are merely bestowed by H.M. herself (except for a few granted to the senior Palace staff). Of course, he may be right that they do no work.
[4]------------------------------------------------------------- Hi all, While I find the royal family's practice of knighting celebrities absurd, I do want to defend Sir Patrick's contribution to our mutual endeavor in Shakespeare studies. I've enjoyed some, but not all, of his Shakespeare work and admired his courage in being a white Othello in an otherwise African-American cast at the Shakespeare in D.C. some years back. Regardless, though, of our subjective opinions of his talent on the stage, what folks on this list might not know is that for the many years he was doing Star Trek: The Next Generation and the subsequent movies he also taught Shakespeare acting courses -- either for free or low cost -- on or near the lot in Los Angeles, helping truckloads of TV and film actors to wrestle with the language. I also found his essay on Shylock in "Players of Shakespeare 1" quite useful and interesting. I've met the man and chatted with him and found him quite gracious.
Sincerely,
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