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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.0664  Friday, 12 March 2004

From:           John F. Andrews <shakesguild@msn.com>
Date:           Friday, 12 Mar 2004 06:23:38 -0800
Subject:        Who's Afraid of the Ides of March?

WHY BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH?

One way to ward off any apprehensions about the day Shakespeare
immortalized in Julius Caesar is to join us on March 15 for a delightful
evening with one of the playwright's most admired theatrical interpreters.

Speaking of Shakespeare with Director Bill Alexander

MONDAY, MARCH 15

Dinner 6:15, Program 7:00 p.m.

WOMAN'S NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CLUB, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue NW

$30 for Members of The Shakespeare Guild, The English-Speaking Union,
and the WNDC; $35 for Non-Members; $15 for Attendees at Program Only

For this event the The Shakespeare Guild will combine forces with the
English-Speaking Union and other organizations to host a Speaking of
Shakespeare engagement with director Bill Alexander.  Mr. Alexander is
mounting superb productions of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 at Washington's
internationally acclaimed Shakespeare Theatre, and he will be leaving at
the end of the month for Stratford-upon-Avon, where he'll produce a King
Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company with Corin Redgrave in the title
part. Our festivities for the Ides of March will commence with a
two-course dinner (including wine) at 6:15 p.m; the program will follow
at 7:00 p.m.

Mr. Alexander achieved renown for a rendering of Richard III that
catapulted Antony Sher to stardom in 1984. His triumphs since then
include two other RSC productions with Sir Antony, Moliere's Tartuffe
and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Meanwhile he's given us A
Midsummer Night's Dream with Janet McTeer and Pete Postlethwaite, The
Merry Wives of Windsor, with Nicky Henson and Lindsay Duncan taking the
leads in a show that garnered its director a coveted Olivier Award, Much
Ado About Nothing with Roger Allam and Susan Fleetwood, and The Taming
of the Shrew with Amanda Harris and Anton Lesser. In the autumn of 2003
Mr. Alexander directed a Titus Andronicus for the RSC which The Daily
Telegraph described as "gripping" and The Guardian praised for its
"somber dignity." His 1992 Troilus and Cressida for The Shakespeare
Theatre earned critical plaudits and endeared him to a cast that
responded enthusiastically to the clarity of his artistic vision.

______________________________________________

OTHER EVENTS ON THE CURRENT CALENDAR

A Visit to "Mr. Whistler's Galleries" at the Freer

SATURDAY, MARCH 13, from 10:45 a.m. to 12:00 noon

FREER GALLERY OF ART, Near the Smithsonian Metro Stop on the Mall

$10 per Attendee

By special arrangement with the Freer Gallery of Art, ESU constituents
and their guests are being offered a unique perspective on Mr.
Whistler's Galleries, an exhibition that focuses upon the techniques
James McNeill Whistler devised in 1883 to display his paintings to best
effect in an exclusive London salon on New Bond Street. Using a script
by theater artist Cam Magee, actor Jonathan Watkins personifies
Whistler's celebrated "Poached Egg Man," a greeter who welcomed patrons
to the gallery in a vivid yellow-and-white waistcoat. Ms. Magee will
join Mr. Watkins for this exercise in imaginative performance art.

__________________________________

An Evening with Writers Michael Dirda and Anthony Hecht

THURSDAY, APRIL 1

Dinner 6:15, Program 7:00 p.m.

WOMAN'S NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CLUB, 1526 New Hampshire Avenue NW

$30 for Members of The Shakespeare Guild, The English-Speaking Union,
and the WNDC; $35 for Non-Members; $10 for Attendees at Program Only

You're cordially invited to a memorable evening with two of our city's
cultural treasures, Michael Dirda, who delights us every Sunday with his
reviews for The Washington Post 's Book World supplement, and Anthony
Hecht, a poet and critic whose many laurels include a 2002 Ambassador
Book Award from The English-Speaking Union. Both writers are happy
reminders of an era when men of letters walked the earth. They admire
each other's work, and their conversation with John Andrews will include
observartions about two new publications, Melodies Unheard, an
enthusiastically reviewed volume of essays in which Mr. Hecht appraises
a number of his favorite authors, and An Open Book, a witty,
affectionate memoir in which Mr. Dirda recalls the joys and challenges
of "Coming of Age in the Heartland."

Michael Dirda received a Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism in
1993, the same year another native of his hometown in rust-belt Ohio,
novelist Toni Morrison, garnered the Nobel Prize in Literature. An
infectious bibliophile, Mr. Dirda has graced our libraries with Caring
for Your Books (1990) and Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments
(2000), and will soon be issuing Bound to Please, a collection of
ruminations to be made available by Norton in the fall.

Anthony Hecht earned the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry with The Hard
Hours, the second of his seven compilations of distinguished verse. A
regular contributor to The New York Review of Books, Mr. Hecht has also
enriched our lives with such philosophical reflections as his Mellon
Lectures On the Laws of Poetic Art. Among his many prestigious honors
are the Bollingen Prize, the Eugenio Montale Award, the Ruth Lilly
Prize, the Dorothea Tanning Award, the Robert Frost Medal, and
fellowships from the Ford, Guggenheim, and Rockefeller foundations.

__________________

These are only a few of the spring events to be publicized in the near
future. To reserve spaces, please contact

John F. Andrews, President
The Shakespeare Guild
2141 Wyoming Avenue NW, Suite 41
Washington, DC 20008-3916

Phone 202 234 4602   Fax 202 234 4639
shakesguild@msn.com

_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook, editor@shaksper.net
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>

DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the
opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the
editor assumes no responsibility for them.

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