Ideas After Hours | Feeling Scene: Performance, Disguise, and Point of View in Two Scenes from Shakespeare

• Friday, November 13 @ 5:00 pm
• Lewes Public Library, Lewes, DE

Ideas After Hours: Where Curiosity Sparks Conversation is a new monthly series held after the library closes on the second Friday of each month. Enjoy an engaging presentation on a thought-provoking topic, then gather by the fireplace for refreshments and lively conversation inspired by what we've learned together.

William Shakespeare was first and foremost a man of the theatre—a playwright, actor, and sharer in one of the two great London acting companies of his day. As a result, his plays abound with moments of performance, moments in which characters, either by choice or out of necessity, perform something other than what they are. In this program we will look at two such scenes. The first is from Shakespeare's sublime comedy Twelfth Night. In this moment, two characters, one in gender disguise, debate the nature of love as it is felt and performed by men and women. In the second scene, from the history play Henry IV, Part 1, Shakespeare's famous reprobate character Falstaff and his present partner-in-dissipated-living, Prince Hal, perform various roles as a rehearsal for a situation that will, before their dramatic association is completed, become all too real for both.

Anne Colwell writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. She is a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of Delaware. As a company member over two decades at the American Shakespeare Center, James Keegan has performer some of the great roles in Shakespeare, including Macbeth, King Lear, Falstaff, Iago, and Shylock. He has also performed at other regional theaters, including the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, American Stage Theater, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Theatreworks, and Elm Shakespeare Company. 

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