Starting with the iconic Globe Theater along the south bank of the River Thames, The Royal Oak Society trip on September 24 – October 4 will trace William Shakespeare’s journey back to his beginnings in pretty Stratford-upon-Avon, exploring significant time capsules such as his fascinating birthplace and Anne Hathaway’s idyllic cottage, learning how his wide-reaching influence is still felt over four centuries later. Continuing to the nearby Cotswolds, we discover how its medieval heritage, rolling countryside, ancient woodland, bubbling rivers and fairy tale castles provided the perfect inspiration and setting for the mischief, drama and courtship that the Bard’s plays are so famous for. Combining fiction with historical fact, familial power and beautiful landscapes, our memorable tour is complete with an introduction to the Welsh Marches, a region once dominated by conflict, where spectacular gems such as the Victorian Eastnor Castle and the primarily Tudor Hellens Manor await. $7,450 per person. To learn more visit https://www.royal-oak.org/britain-tours/shakespeare/ or call 212-480-2889, ext 203.
Anne Hathaway’s (William Shakespeare’s wife) famous thatched cottage and garden at Shottery, just outside Stratford upon Avon, England.
Through an exploration of drama, diaries, novels and magazines, this Gardens Trust Wednesday five part series will examine how writers have used gardens and plants to evoke memories, capture ideas of taste and fashion, satirize attitudes, champion social change and give deeper meaning to the world. The chosen authors cover almost four centuries of literature and, through examining their words, we can gain new understandings of the roles, meanings and emotive power of historic landscapes and horticulture. This ticket link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gardens-and-the-written-word-tickets-930348275737 is for the entire series of 5 talks, or you may purchase a ticket for individual talks, costing £8 via the links on that page. (Gardens Trust members £6 each or all 5 for £26.25). All purchases are handled through Eventbrite.
Ticket holders can join each session live and/or view a recording for up to 1 week afterwards. Ticket sales close 4 hours before the first talk. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us), and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 weeks.
On Week One on October 2, we experience gardens primarily through our senses – sight, sound, scent, touch, even taste. So how are they evoked so powerfully in literature when none of these sensory media are available to us? William Shakespeare uses botanical images throughout his plays to set the scene on the stage, to enhance the stories he is telling, and to illustrate more universal truths about the complexities of the human condition. For these potent images to work, he had to know that his audience would understand them – after all, they would not all have been expert gardeners, and neither, I suspect, was Shakespeare. This talk will explore how the playwright’s references to plants, flowers and horticulture contributed to the action on the stage, and at the same time, consider the extent to which these images must have reflected the assumed interests and knowledge of his audiences.
Dr Jill Francis is an early modern historian, specializing in gardens and gardening in the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries. She was awarded her PhD in 2011 by the University of Birmingham where she teaches as a visiting lecturer for both the Centre for Midlands History and Cultures and the Winterbourne House and Gardens program of activities. She is also currently involved with delivering the online program of lectures for the Gardens Trust and works at the Shakespeare Institute Library in Stratford-upon-Avon. Her book, Gardens and Gardening in Early Modern England and Wales, was published by Yale University Press in June 2018.
The Associates of the Boston Public Library invite you to the 26th annual Literary Lights Dinner on Sunday, April 13, from 6 – 9 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. This year’s honorees are Charles Coe, Tina Howe, Charles C. Mann, Stewart O’Nan, and Edith Pearlman. Presenters include Dan Chiasson, Lydia Diamond, Nathanial Philbrick, Joseph Finder, and Elinor Lipman. Stephen Greenblatt, John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University and author of eleven books including Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, and The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, will give the keynote address. Individual ticket prices begin at $475, and are available on a first come, first serve basis. To register call 617-536-3886, or email associates@bpl.org.
