Sir Antony Sher, one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of modern times, reflects on his Royal Shakespeare Company performance as King Lear and the publication of his new book, Year of the Mad King: The Lear Diaries.

Saturday, 17 March 2018, 12:00 noon
1 hour
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
Tickets: £8 - £20 from the festival website

Sir Antony Sher, one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of modern times, reflects on his Royal Shakespeare Company performance as King Lear and the publication of his new book, Year of the Mad King: The Lear Diaries.

Antony Sher played the title role in Gregory Doran’s critically acclaimed RSC production of King Lear and his stupendous performance was designated ‘a crowning achievement in a major career’. Sher describes his year researching, rehearsing and performing one of the greatest roles in English theatre, in conversation with Doran.

Antony Sher discusses his year researching, rehearsing and performing one of the greatest roles in English theatre, in conversation with Greg Doran.

Playwright Annie Baker discusses her play, John, in a National Theatre Platform event at the Clore Learning Centre.

Annie Baker is an American playwright who won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for her play The Flick, which had its UK premiere at the National Theatre in 2016.

Friday 19 January 2018, 5.45pm
National Theatre, Clore Learning Centre
Tickets £7 (concessions £5) from the National Theatre

Playwright Annie Baker discusses her play, John, in a National Theatre Platform event at the Clore Learning Centre.

Two day-long events exploring the work of composer Stephen Sondheim and focusing on Follies.

With contributions from academics, theatre makers and performers, as well as taking in Sondheim’s influences and collaborators, from Hammerstein to Bernstein to Hal Prince. Chaired by Robert Gordon.

Friday 3 November & Friday 24 November 2017, 10.30am - 4.30pm
National Theatre Clore Learning Centre
Tickets £55 (£40 concessions) from the National Theatre

Two day-long events exploring the work of composer Stephen Sondheim and focusing on Follies.

Join writers Mark Gatiss, Jackie Clune and Brian Fillis in conversation with arts journalist David Benedict about the highly acclaimed BBC TV series Queers, a collection of monologues celebrating a century of evolving social attitudes and political milestones in British gay history.

Poignant and personal, funny, tragic and riotous, Queers covers major events – such as the Wolfenden Report of 1957, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the debate over the age of consent – through eight deeply affecting and personal rites-of-passage stories.

Curated by Mark Gatiss, the monologues were commissioned to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which decriminalised homosexual acts in private between two men over the age of twenty-one. They were broadcast on BBC Four in 2017, directed and produced by Gatiss, and starring Alan Cumming, Rebecca Front, Ian Gelder, Kadiff Kirwan, Russell Tovey, Gemma Whelan, Ben Whishaw and Fionn Whitehead. They were also staged at The Old Vic in London.

Hear about how the project was developed with Mark and two of his co-writers, plus take your opportunity to put questions to the panel. The event will be followed by a book signing of Queers, featuring Mark, Jackie, Brian and fellow co-writers.

Please note, only copies of the book will be signed on the evening.

Date and time: Monday 30th October 2017, 7pm - 8pm

Tickets: £8 per ticket or £5 for Foyalty members. You must have your Foyalty card on you on the night to present at the door.

Venue: The Auditorium at Foyles, Level 6, 107 Charing Cross Road

Join writers Mark Gatiss, Jackie Clune and Brian Fillis in conversation with arts journalist David Benedict about the highly acclaimed BBC TV series Queers, a collection of monologues celebrating a century of evolving social attitudes and political milestones in British gay history.

Stephen Wyatt, author of So You Want To Write Radio Drama?, joins a distinguished selection of BBC drama producers, professional writers, directors, actors and sound designers for a fascinating afternoon of talks, expert panels and networking opportunities for writers of radio drama at Chichester University, in association with the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.

Find out how how radio dramas are created, what they require, and their challenges and rewards and current trends in radio playmaking.

The event is free, wheelchair-friendly and open to the public, but please book your place at Eventbrite.

Saturday 21 October, 2017
13:00 – 18:00 BST
Location: University of Chichester

 

Stephen Wyatt, author of So You Want To Write Radio Drama?, joins a distinguished selection of BBC drama producers, professional writers, directors, actors and sound designers for a fascinating afternoon of talks, expert panels and networking opportunities for writers of radio drama at Chichester University, in association with the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.

How should we view the Shakespearean canon in contemporary Britain? In this specially-commissioned lecture the distinguished actor Harriet Walter (Brutus and Other Heroines) discusses playing Shakespeare’s male and female leading roles and gives a remarkable account of an acting career unconstrained by tradition or expectations.

Sunday 15 October 2017, 4:30pm - 5:30pm
Cheltenham Town Hall, Baillie Gifford Stage
£10 plus transaction fee

Tickets available from the Festival website

Harriet Walter gives a specially-commissioned lecture on playing Shakespeare’s male and female leading roles and a remarkable account of an acting career unconstrained by tradition or expectations.

Harriet Walter discusses her latest book Brutus and Other Heroines at ArchWay With Words.

Archway Methodist Church
Saturday 23 September 2017, 4:45pm
Tickets available here

 

Harriet Walter discusses her latest book Brutus and Other Heroines at ArchWay With Words.

An evening with one of the UK’s greatest living playwrights.

To celebrate his 90th birthday this year, Peter Nichols is joined by one of the key directors of his work, Michael Grandage, and other guests for an evening of conversation and readings illustrated by material from his fascinating archive - housed at the British Library.

British Library
22 September 2017, 19:00-20:30
Tickets available from the British Library website.

An evening with one of the UK’s greatest living playwrights.

In Tip of the Tongue, Peter Brook takes a charming, playful and wise look at topics such as the subtle, telling differences between French and English and the many levels on which we can appreciate the works for Shakespeare. Brook also revists his seminal concept of the 'empty space', considering how theatre - and the world - have changed over the span of his long and distinguished career.

After this talk, Peter Brook will be signing copies of Tip of the Tongue. 

National Theatre, London
Thursday 14 September 2017, 6pm
Tickets £7 (£5 concessions) from the National Theatre website

Join Peter Brook, one of the world's best-known theatre directors to discuss his new book Tip of the Tongue and his work in the arts.

Join Peter Brook, 'our greatest living theatre director' The Independent, in conversation with the Young Vic's Artistic Director David Lan, to discuss his new book Tip of the Tongue: Reflections on Language and Meaning and his remarkable career.

This talk and audience Q&A will be followed by a book signing.

After the signing, there will be a special screening of The Tightrope (2012). In this revealing behind-the-scenes documentary, director Simon Brook - Peter's son - takes us into the rehearsal room to witness Brook's inspiring, powerful and intimate rehearsal process.

Wednesday 13 September, 6pm
Tickets: £7 from the Young Vic website
Venue: The Maria, Young Vic, London

Join Peter Brook in conversation with the Young Vic's Artistic Director David Lan, to discuss his new book Tip of the Tongue: Reflections on Language and Meaning and his remarkable career.

One of the top Shakespeareans of our age, Harriet Walter recently played Brutus, Henry IV and Prospero in an all-female trilogy at the Donmar Warehouse. Having already played the Bard’s key heroines, she talks about how she approached the male roles and what choices she had to make.

An event not just for lovers of Shakespeare but anyone who cares about the art of acting. Chaired by Jackie McGlone.

Edinburgh International Book Festival
Sunday 27 August 2017, 3:15pm - 4:15pm
This event is now sold out, but check for returns on the festival website nearer the time

An event not just for lovers of Shakespeare but anyone who cares about the art of acting.

Liz Lochhead discusses her latest poetry collection, Fugitive Colours, and her play, Thon Man Moliere.

Edinburgh International Book Festival
Tuesday 22 August 2017, 3:15pm - 4:15pm
Tickets from the festival website

Liz Lochhead discusses her latest poetry collection, Fugitive Colours, and her play, Thon Man Moliere.

As an actor, he’s played Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill and Gareth in Four Weddings and a Funeral. As an author, he’s written compellingly about Oscar Wilde, Peggy Ramsay and about Being an Actor. But that’s not the half of what Simon Callow has achieved across a singular and simply stellar career. In this special event in memory of the much-missed Edinburgh impresario Frederick Hood, Callow talks to Jenny Brown about his extraordinary life.

Edinburgh International Book Festival
Friday 18 August, 6:45pm-7:45pm
This event is now sold out, but check for returns on the festival website nearer the time.

Actor and author Simon Callow on an extraordinary life...

Harriet Walter in conversation with Katherine Rundell at the How To: Academy.

In her glorious career Harriet Walter has played nearly all of Shakespeare's heroines: Ophelia, Portia, Viola, Imogen, Lady Macbeth, Beatrice, Cleopatra. But where, she asks, does an actress go after playing Cleopatra's death? Why didn't Shakespeare write more – and more powerful – roles for women?

For Walter, the solution was to ignore centuries of tradition and start playing Shakespeare's heroes: a conflicted Brutus in an all-female Julius Caesar, a Henry IV burdened by kingship, an undeceived Prospero – getting inside their skins, inside the unfamiliar stillness that accompanies male power.

But what, she asks, can an actress bring to these roles – and is there any fundamental difference in the way they should be played?

In her new book, Brutus and Other Heroines, Walter levels the playing field, casting a new eye on the choices she made in performing the classic roles: Ophelia (how to join the 'interesting' mad Ophelia with the 'boring' sane Ophelia), Viola (the most self-aware and least comedic character in the comedy), Lady Macbeth ('nobody seems to know her'), Cleopatra (on the cusp of old age yet full of beans, nowhere described as beautiful and yet infinitely sexy, because she has Shakespeare's words...)

Harriet Walter even writes an affectionate and probing letter to their author: 'Dear Will (if I may), I hope you don't mind but I have been playing men recently. I am only following your example. It seems as legitimate for women to play men as it was for boys to play women...'

Join us for a conversation between Harriet Walter and Shakespearean Katherine Rundell on daughters, mothers, wives, widows – and males.

How To: Academy
Monday 3 July 2017, 6:45pm – 8:00pm
Venue: Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design
16-17 Greek Street, Soho, London W1D 4DR

Tickets available here.

The writer discusses his play, Angels in America, in a National Theatre Platform chaired by Ola Animashawun.

Lyttelton Theatre, Friday 30 June, 5.30pm
Tickets £5 (£4 concessions) available from the National Theatre

The writer discusses his play, Angels in America, in a National Theatre Platform chaired by Ola Animashawun.

Participants will experience the unexpected ways in which the emotions and the imagination are awakened by sensory stimuli.

The workshop serves as an opportunity to re-engage with the everyday world and experience it in a way that is vivid. It works towards strengthening emotional connections and expanding the imagination. We will also look at applications that can be made towards the creation of a character.

Actors' Centre, London
27 June 2017
Book here.

A one-day workshop to help you to improve your acting through song – by applying some of the best techniques available in contemporary actor-training.

You will learn to how to act and react truthfully and spontaneously – by learning how to follow your impulses in the complex environment of the professional audition room.

Actors' Centre, London
24 June 2017
Book here.

A full-day workshop that will help you to understand your casting-type, how to choose a monologue that best suits you, and how to prepare for an audition.

Drawing from an extensive list of contemporary monologues from plays published by Nick Hern Books, you will be able to choose pieces that fit your casting type, that give you scope both dramatically and comically, and that allow you to show case your own individual talent. In the second half we will be exploring the best methods to take a monologue from page to stage and looking at ways to get the most out of an audition.

Actors' Centre, London
14 June 2017
Book here.

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A different way to look at text preparation through muscle memory and elemental connections.

Over several decades, Mel Churcher has been developing a toolbox that is successful for preparation work in film and theatre. This is the latest version!

Actors' Centre, London
13 June 2017
Book here.

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