Talks & Lectures

Lit & Phil 200

These talks are organised by the Lit & Phil (you don't need to be a member in order to attend any of their public events), and tickets cost £5 per talk, from the Lit & Phil Library, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1SE, in person or over the phone (0191) 232 0192. It is advisable to book seats in advance; if you reserve a ticket and are subsequently unable to attend, please let us know as we often have a waiting list.

Aspects of Shakespeare

Thursday 22nd May | 6.00 pm
Aspects of Shakespeare #1 | Shakespeare's Minor Characters
Autolycus, in 'A Winter's Tale'
While we may be tempted to rate Shakespearean actors by their appearance in leading (or even title) roles, it's often the playing of a minor character that can steal the show. Indeed, Shakespeare assigns some highly memorable speeches and dramatic entrances to characters who play little part in his main plots. Following the example of a lecture given in 1843 (The Subordinate Characters in the Plays of Shakespeare) this illustrated talk will discuss the impact of those roles, considering how they relate to the structure of the plays, what they tell about the composition of the companies for whom they were originally written and how the casting of these characters can affect modern productions.
A LIVE Lit & Phil Event  |  £5: online booking

Thursday 29th May | 6.00 pm
Aspects of Shakespeare #1 | The Legend of Hamlet
The iconic Hamlet
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is one of those characters who transcend their literary origin to become an immediately recognisable visual icon even outside Shakespeare's play. Moody young man in black, he combines misunderstood youth with poetic madness, characterised by feelings so complex that they overwhelm his ability to act - a remarkably modern hero paralysed by over-thinking and internal analysis. This illustrated talk will look at the origins of Shakespeare's Prince in the ideas of his time, as well as tracking the development of his image through centuries of productions with different actors, settings and audiences.
A LIVE Lit & Phil Event  |  £5: online booking

Thursday 5th June | 6.00 pm
Aspects of Shakespeare #3 | The Comic Elements in Shakespeare's Plays
Sketch pf a scene from 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'
I wonder whether a talk on this topic delivered at the Lit & Phil in 1886 may have revealed a gap in taste between Elizabethan and Victorian concepts of comedy? The humour of character may retain its essential power, but some of the Bard's earthy vulgarity and rude word-play strikes quite a different note. This illustrated lecture challenges the notion that Shakespeare's jokes aren't funny, looks at the different modes of comedy from satirical to lyrical to physical, considers the specialist role of the clown in theatrical companies, considers memorable moments in recent productions, and guarantees really quite a few laughs.
A LIVE Lit & Phil Event  |  £5: online booking

Oscar Wilde portrait by Napoleon Saronyn

Oscar Wilde

Tuesday 22nd July | 6.00 pm
Standing out even among the catalogue of great and good, worthy and famous speakers who have graced the Lit & Phil is the name of Oscar Wilde, who lectured there on "The House Beautiful" in 1883.
This illustrated talk will contextualise Wilde as public speaker within the larger pattern of his career as poet, novelist, arbiter of taste, playwright, aesthete and promoter of his own image. In his Victorian environment Wilde's conduct as a gay man saw him flirting with danger to the point of destroying his own career, but with the posthumous result of being hailed as an iconic figure and martyr to the cause. His paradoxical relationship with celebrity and visibility remains as fascinating as the style and wit of his writings and opinions and his shifting place in both Victorian and modern literary history.
A LIVE Lit & Phil Event  |  £5: online booking