SAT Conference 2020
The Shakespearean Authorship Trust, in collaboration with Brunel University, presents:
I all alone beweep my outcast state— Insiders, Outsiders: Shakespeare and the Court
Throughout the plays and poems, Shakespeare seems fascinated by themes of exile, exclusion, and separation from loved ones, repeatedly dramatising outsiders banished from favour. Recent work by scholars, critics, actors, and directors has emphasized the role of outsiders in Shakespeare’s plays, whether their outsider status derives from questions of race, class/status, gender, sexuality, or political resistance. At the same time, many scholars suggest the plays are suffused with insider knowledge of the Elizabethan/Jacobean Court. Shakespeare’s themes resonate still today, as analysts of factions in the UK, the US, and elsewhere observe that many governments are currently run by “insiders” and “courtiers” in a way that can evoke the practice of an early modern court.
Our conference this year contemplates this timely nature of “insiderdom” and “outsiderdom” in Shakespeare’s works and how the characters involved negotiate the realms of power.
SATURDAY • 28 NOVEMBER • 6 to 8 p.m. GMT
Professor Bernardine Evaristo: Brunel University London, author of Girl, Woman, Other (Penguin), winner of the 2019 Booker Prize, speaking on the nature of outsiderdom/exclusion and conversion to insiderdom.
Professor Jane Kingsley-Smith: Roehampton University, author of Shakespeare’s Drama of Exile (Palgrave), speaking on “Shakespeare and Exile.”
Julia Cleave: Independent scholar and SAT Trustee, a presentation titled, “Excellent! I smell a device: Insider Gossip in Three Shakespeare Plays.”
Alexander Waugh: Author, critic, and journalist; editor of the collected works of Evelyn Waugh, speaking on “Shakespeare the Outcast.”
SUNDAY • 29 NOVEMBER • 6 to 8 p.m. GMT
Professor Marjorie Garber: Harvard University, author of numerous books on Shakespeare, speaking on “The Imposter Syndrome.”
Dr. Kevin Gilvary: Independent scholar and author of The Fictional Lives of Shakespeare (Routledge), and SAT Trustee, speaking on “The Protagonist (of the plays) as an Outsider.”
Dr. Barry Clarke: Independent scholar and author of Francis Bacon’s Contribution to Shakespeare: A New Attribution Method (Routledge), speaking on “Bacon as Insider; Shakespeare as Outsider.”
Elizabeth Winkler: Journalist and critic, speaking on “Shakespeare as (Woolf’s) Woman: A Recurring Theme.”
Both days include performances from some of our leading Shakespearean actors, including and facilitated by:
Sir Mark Rylance: Actor and SAT Trustee.
Annabel Leventon: Actor and SAT Trustee.
Tickets:
£10 for Saturday
£10 for Sunday
£15 for both days
Free for SAT members: Click here for info on becoming an SAT member.
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