UW News

November 6, 2013

UW scholars offer short takes on Shakespeare Nov. 14 at ACT Theatre

UW News

The UW English Dept will hold "Shakespeare Ever After," a series of short presentations on the Bard, Nov. 14 at ACT Theater.Ten Shakespeare scholars, students and actors, most from the University of Washington, will discuss the Bard’s life and work at Seattle’s ACT Theatre on Nov. 14 — and verily, they’ll be quick about it.

In fact, brevity is the whole point of “Shakespeare Ever After: His Remarkable Legacy,” being presented by the UW Department of English and ACT. Each of the participants will have just five minutes — and up to 20 slides shown for exactly 17 seconds each — to present material.

Topics will include acting and designing sets for Shakespeare plays, the Bard’s work on film and in books, his role in the development of London commercial theater and Shakespearean insults and curses.

UW presenters will include William Streitberger, Jeff Knight, Colette Moore, Charles LaPorte and John Webster of English and Robert Dahlstrom and Odai Johnson of drama.

Gary Handwerk, English department chairman, said the presenters will explore Shakespeare’s impact on the English-speaking world, and beyond.

“What makes Shakespeare so infinitely adaptable, seemingly for all times and places, for any artistic medium or cultural setting?” Handwerk asked. “Why does Shakespeare still speak to us today? In a series of radically compressed presentations, participants will take up those questions from 10 different perspectives, using 20 images apiece.”

Handwerk said the idea for such an evening of quick topics was borrowed from the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture’s Short Takes productions at the Neptune Theatre in partnership with the Seattle Theatre Group. That series will continue; its next evening is Feb. 18, 2014.

“The event acts upon you like a collage,” said Carl Sander, the Burke’s public programs manager. “Rather than being led to one vision by one point of view as in a typical lecture, you are immersed in one perspective after another each one building and complementing the one that went before … it’s also a fantastic springboard for conversation.”

Tickets to “Shakespeare Ever After: His Remarkable Legacy” are $5, and available at the ACT website. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m., and doors open at 6 p.m.

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