Celebrating Shakespeare: In Conversation

Date: 23 April, 2016
Time: 2:00-3:00 pm
Venue: Theatre, Lower Ground 1, National Library of Australia,  Parkes Place, Canberra, ACT
Register: Tickets $15 (refreshments included): https://register.eventarc.com/33425/in-conversation-celebrating-shakespeare

To mark Europe Day and the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, Emeritus Professor Ian Donaldson, University of Melbourne, and Professor Ian Gadd, Bath Spa University, explore how the playright and poet became a global phenomenon.

Emeritus Professor Ian Donaldson, FBA FRSE FAHA

Emeritus Professor Ian Donaldson, FBA FRSE FAHA has had an outstanding academic and professional career and is one of Australia’s most energetic and effective champions of the importance and value of the Humanities.

Currently an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne, he has previously been Fellow and Lecturer of Wadham College, Oxford (1962-9), a Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge (1995-2005), and has chaired the English Faculties of both these Universities. He was also Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature, Edinburgh University, perhaps the most distinguished and certainly the oldest Chair of English Language and Literature in the world. Resigning his Oxford fellowship to return to Australia in 1969, he was Professor of English at the ANU and also Head of Department (1969-91). In the last three years Professor Donaldson has produced two related publications, the culmination of a life-time of scholarly work: his authoritative biography, Ben Jonson: A Life (Oxford: OUP, 2011), and his General Editorship of the Cambridge Edition of The Works of Ben Jonson (Cambridge: CUP, 2012). The Cambridge Works has been praised in the London Review of Books as ‘[a] formidable enterprise’ while the Times Literary Supplement has described it as an ‘outstanding edition’ and an ‘invaluable scholarly resource’. The biography, Ben Jonson: A Life, has also been published to critical acclaim.

Professor Ian Gadd

Ian Gadd is Professor of English Literature at Bath Spa University and President of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing (SHARP), the largest scholarly society in the world devoted to the study of the history of the book. His research focuses on the printing and publishing of books in England in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He was the Charlton Hinman Fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC, in 2011.

“Vikings and Churchmen – Vikings in England, c. 793-950”, by Dr Shane McLeod (UTas)
UWA Extension Lecture

Date: Tuesday 3 May, 2016
Time: 6:30-7:30pm
Venue: The University Club, University of Western Australia
Register: Cost $25. For more info, or to register: https://www.extension.uwa.edu.au/course/CCCA003

This illustrated lecture will examine one of the more popular images of the Vikings, that of stridently pagan thugs deliberately targeting and destroying Christian churches. Following a look at the evidence for paganism and attacks on English churches, the lecture will concentrate on the period when Scandinavians started to settle permanently in eastern and northern England.

This period saw Scandinavian leaders reach accommodations with leading churchmen, including the Archbishop of York, and at least some Scandinavians adopted Christianity.

“Emotions3D: Digital Modelling for Cultural Heritage and Museums”, Dr Jane-Heloise Nancarrow (UWA)
ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions/CMEMS Lunchtime Seminar

Date: 29 April, 2016
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm
Venue: Philippa Maddern Seminar Room (1.33, First Floor, Arts Building), University of Western Australia
Register: No RSVP required

Join CHE Associate Investigator, Jane-Heloise Nancarrow, to hear about her latest research in 3D digital modelling and virtual reality in museums and cultural heritage. Jane-Heloise uses photogrammetry to create realistic, true-to-life 3D reproductions of historic artefacts which will be available online as part of a History of Emotions collection later in 2016. This array of objects, sourced from the Victoria and Albert Museum, Keats’ House, Stirling Smith Museum and St Barts’ Hospital Museum will be annotated with interactive history of emotions content to tell their unique material stories, and can be viewed using the Google Cardboard virtual reality headset. Learn how digital cultural heritage can be 3D printed for use in teaching and research, and hear how you can get involved with the project.

“The Rediscovery of a Viking Burial Site in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland”, Dr Shane McLeod (University of Tasmania)
CMEMS Lunchtime seminar

Date: 3 May, 2016
Time: 1-2pm
Venue: Philippa Maddern Seminar Room (1.33, First Floor, Arts Building), University of Western Australia
Register: No RSVP required

This talk is on the joys and discoveries possible during field work, be it in an archive or during a site visit. In 2014 I visited the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, to try and locate the site of a Viking burial excavated by a Royal Navy commander in 1862, but whose whereabouts was subsequently considered to be uncertain. Fortunately, after consulting the antiquarian report, early Ordnance Survey maps, and Google Earth, field walking enabled me to find the site with a high degree of probability. This talk discusses the location of the site and details of the burial.

““You Get a Feed There” – The New Zealand Shakespeare hut and other Shakespeare tales from 1916”, Dr Mark Houlahan (Waikato)

Date: 23 April, 2016
Time: 10:30am-11:30am
Venue: Waikato Museum, Hamilton, NZ
Cost: Free event. More info: http://waikatomuseum.co.nz/exhibitions-and-events/view/2145882751/you-get-a-feed-there-the-new-zealand-shakespeare-hut-and-other-shakespeare-tales-from-1916

Mark Houlahan, Lecturer, University of Waikato and President Australia and New Zealand Shakespeare Association (ANZSA) speaks on Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary and in commemoration of WWI.

The memory of Gallipoli casts a long shadow over our perspective of WWI. Yet if we focus exclusively on grim reports from the front, we settle for an uncomplicated picture of this war. For throughout 1916, New Zealanders round the globe embraced the 300th anniversary commemorations of Shakespeare’s death. In January 1916, British forces abandoned the Dardanelles after the catastrophic Gallipoli campaign. At home in New Zealand, space was found amidst the battle news to celebrate Shakespeare’s anniversary.

Dr Mark Houlahan is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Waikato and current President of the Australian and NZ Shakespeare Association (ANZSA). He has published widely on issues of Shakespeare, adaptation and cultural formation.

“Shakespeare and Modern Life” Professor Indira Ghose (University of Fribourg, Switzerland) with Sarah Kanowski (ABC Radio National)

Date: Wednesday, 20 April 2016
Time: 6:00pm (for a 6:15pm start)
Venue: Customs House, Brisbane City
Register: Free. RSVP essential here.

“Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety”. Shakespeare’s description of Cleopatra might well apply to his own work. This public lecture will try to get to grips with the question of why, four hundred years after his death, Shakespeare still matters. Why is his work continually performed, adapted, and cited in every part of the world, in both high and popular culture? Perhaps one reason lies in Shakespeare’s modernity. His characters are still alive today because in many ways they seem like us: self-determined independent individuals, on a constant quest for self-realisation, in control of their own destiny. Or so they think, as we do. Shakespeare’s plays give us access to the richness and diversity of human life—and simultaneously allow us to watch ourselves, and others, with a certain ironic detachment. A multitude of perspectives jostle one another in each play, suggesting to us that there are always other stories to be told.

The lecture will be followed by a conversation between Professor Ghose and Sarah Kanowski, presenter of Books and Arts on ABC Radio National.

Indira Ghose is Professor of English at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. Her research interests range from colonial to Renaissance literature. Her first book, Women Travellers in Colonial India (Oxford University Press, 1998), was followed by a number of anthologies of colonial travel writing. Shakespeare and Laughter: A Cultural History (Manchester University Press, 2008) examined Shakespearean theatre in the context of a history of laughter. Her study of Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing will appear with Bloomsbury in 2017. Professor Ghose is currently working on a book about the Renaissance culture of courtesy and its impact on the theatre, and is a Partner Investigator with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (Europe 1100-1800).

Sarah Kanowski is a writer, editor, and broadcaster with ABC Radio National. She completed an undergraduate degree in English at the University of Queensland, and holds a Masters in English Literature from Oxford University. She has edited the Tasmanian literary magazine Island, and now hosts Books and Arts on ABC RN.

Presented by the UQ Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the UQ Node of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (Europe 1100-1800).

Centre for the History of Emotions (UWA Node) Seminar and Discussion: Emotion, Ethics and War

Date: Friday 15 April, 2016
Time: 1:00pm-4:00pm
Venue: Philippa Maddern Seminar Room 1.33, Arts Building, University of Western Australia
Cost: Free. However, space is limited, so RSVP requested by Thursday 14 April to: katrina.tap@uwa.edu.au
Presenters: ECR Dr Patrick Gray (Durham University, UK), Prof. Andrew Lynch (Director and Chief Investigator), Prof. Bob White (Meanings Program Leader, Chief Investigator, UWA) and Dr Kirk Essary (CHE Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UWA).

Shakespeare on Screen Forum

Date: Saturday 23 April, 2016
Time: 1:00pm (4 hours)
Venue: Cinema 4, GOMA, Brisbane, QLD
Cost: Free
Register: Please RSVP for this free event through Eventbrite.

Join prominent local scholars of Shakespeare at the Gallery of Modern Art for a lively discussion of the history of Shakespearean adaptation and the continuing relevance of the plays for contemporary audiences. Speakers will include: Professor Peter Holbrook (University of Queensland); Dr Yvonne Griggs (University of New England); Associate Professor Rob Pensalfini (University of Queensland); Associate Professor Laurie Johnson (University of Southern Queensland); Dr. Brandon Chua (University of Queensland); Dr. Christian Long (University of Queensland/QUT). The event will be chaired by University of Queensland lecturers, Dr. Jennifer Clement and Dr. Lisa Bode.

Event Schedule:

• 1:00pm Opening Talk by Peter Holbrook “Shakespeare’s Afterlives”
• 1:30pm – 3:00pm Panel 1 / Roundtable Discussion “Why Shakespeare?”
• 3:30pm-5:00pm Panel 2/Roundtable Discussion “Shakespeare on Screen”

Presented by the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, the UQ School of Communication and Arts, and the UQ Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (Europe 1100-1800).

Speakers:

Peter Holbrook: Peter Holbrook is Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance literature at the University of Queensland, Director of the UQ Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of the Emotions, and Chair of the International Shakespeare Association. He has published widely on Shakespeare and Renaissance literature, including several books, and is internationally respected as an expert on Shakespeare’s work.

Rob Pensalfini: Rob Pensalfini is Associate Professor in Linguistics and Drama at the University of Queensland, Artistic Director of the Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble, and founder of the Shakespeare Prison Project. He has published on Shakespearean performances in Australia and his latest book, Prison Shakespeare: For These Deep Shames and Great Indignities (2015), details the history of Shakespearean performances in prisons since the 1980s.

Laurie Johnson: Laurie Johnson is Associate Professor in English at the University of Southern Queensland, and specializes in the study and teaching of Shakespeare and Renaissance literature. He is vice-president of the Australia and New Zealand Shakespeare Association, and has published many articles on Shakespeare. His most recent book, The Tain of Hamlet (2013), explores how the story of Hamlet moved from medieval Denmark to Renaissance England and became the focus of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays.

Yvonne Griggs: Yvonne Griggs is Lecturer in Media and Communications at the University of New England, specializing in the teaching of screen adaptation, film, and television studies. She has published several articles and a book on screen adaptations of Shakespeare’s King Lear (2009). Her latest book is The Bloomsbury Introduction to Adaptation Studies: Adapting the Canon in Film, TV, Novels and Popular Culture (2016).

Brandon Chua: Brandon Chua is a Postdoctoral Fellow in English Literature at the University of Queensland. He has published a book and several articles on English Renaissance drama, and is especially interested in the topic of literary celebrity.

Christian Long: Christian Long is a film scholar, Honorary Fellow at the University of Queensland and a Language and Learning instructor at the Queensland University of Technology. He is a film scholar who has written on Shakespearean film adaptations and adaptation more widely.

Jennifer Clement: Jennifer Clement is Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Queensland. She has published articles and a book on Shakespeare and on English Renaissance Literature, and is especially interested in Shakespeare and film adaptation.

Lisa Bode: Lisa Bode is Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at the University of Queensland where she teaches and supervises research projects on screen adaptations. Her recent research and publications focus on the history and reception of screen performance, casting practices, and special effects.

“What is Iago? Shakespeare on Imagination and the Demonic”, Dr Patrick Gray (Durham University)

Date: Tuesday 5 April, 2016
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm
Venue: Rogers Room, Woolley Building, The University of Sydney
Enquiries: craig.lyons@sydney.edu.au

Literary critics tend to find Shakespeare’s archvillain, Iago, a puzzling character. What is the root cause of his relentless evil? Othello wonders if his nemesis might be the devil himself. Drawing on recent work on Shakespeare’s indebtedness to medieval drama, I argue that Iago should be understood symbolically as well as naturalistically. He represents an aspect of Othello himself—his imagination, led astray by his emotions, as well as some measure of diabolical malevolence. This interpretation of the imagination as dangerously unreliable, prey to strong passions, susceptible to demonic influence, yet even so liable to be confused with conscience, is not limited to Othello; the same might be said of the witches in Macbeth and the ghost in Hamlet. Shakespeare’s sense of the imagination is indebted in these plays to Aristotelian faculty psychology, as well as Protestantism. Shakespeare’s personification of imagination in the figure of Iago closely resembles Spenser’s character Archimago in his allegorical poem, The Faerie Queene. In Aristotle’s account of what he calls phantasia (“fantasy”), the imagination is relatively innocent; if it proves deceptive, it is because we ourselves have allowed our emotions to run riot: we as moral agents are in this sense responsible for our own misjudgement. With the advent of Protestant pessimism about human nature and Protestant iconoclasm, however, this chain of causality becomes more ambiguous. Imagination takes on a role akin to that of the demonic in Christian thought—an external danger which we are responsible for holding at bay, yet nonetheless might not be able to resist.

Patrick Gray is Lecturer in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in the Department of English Studies at Durham University. He is co-editor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Ethics (Cambridge UP, 2014) and guest editor of a forthcoming special issue of Critical Survey on Shakespeare and war. He has published in Shakespeare Survey, Shakespeare Jahrbuch, Critical Survey, Comparative Drama, and Cahiers Shakespeare en devenir. He is currently working on a monograph on shame and guilt in Shakespeare, and co-editing a collection of essays on Shakespeare and Montaigne. In April/May 2016, Patrick Gray is Early Career International Research Fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.