Margaret of Anjou: A ‘New’ Play by Shakespeare

To mark 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death Professor Elizabeth Schafer and Philippa Kelly, Resident Dramaturg at the California Shakespeare Theater and the Napa Shakespeare Festival, have pirated Margaret of Anjou from the Henry VI tetralogy and Richard III. The result could change the way we see Shakespeare; it proves that he wrote a female role that is an ‘Everest’ on a par with King Lear. As Margaret matures from feisty princess to scheming queen, from cold blooded killer to grief-stricken mother, from shameless adulteress to cursing crone, the hapless men who surround her are unable to withstand the fury of her ‘tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s hide’.

Join us at the Broadway Theatre, Catford at 4pm on Thursday 17th March 2016 for a work in progress reading, followed by a Q&A with Professor Schafer and members of the cast. Tickets are FREE but should be booked in advance here.

This event is part of the Catford-upon-Avon Shakespeare Festival and is supported by Royal Holloway, University of London.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Shakespeare's Male and Female: Plays with Two Names

Hartford March 17-20 2016, North East Modern Language Association (NEMLA)

Individually or serially, Romeo and Juliet, Troilus and Cressida, and Antony and Cleopatra present opportunities to engage a range of critical concerns. The double protagonists in the titles foreground gender questions, however. Ladies are not first in the sequence of names, but whether or not they may be said to be first in the action of the plays is the question that this panel seeks to consider. Treating the plays individually or as a sequence, the panel welcomes papers that investigate the masculine/feminine divide. Such investigation can take any number of different approaches: whose agency is privileged in Romeo (or either of the two other plays, or in the sequence of all three plays); does the presentation of gender change from the early tragedy to the "problem comedy" to the late tragedy; are there pedagogical strategies that serve to highlight the deployment of gender in the plays; does genre play a role in the presentation of gender in these plays or in these plays by comparison to other plays, Romeo in light of Dream, for instance, or Antony by contrast to other Roman plays, or Troilus in the context of the problem comedies. So long as the masculine/feminine divide remains the focus of the paper, any and all approaches to the play(s) are welcome.

contact email: acacicedo@albright.edu

CRASSH: Descartes and Ingenium

14 March 2016 - 15 March 2016
Sidgwick Hall, Newnham College
Cambridge

Further information and online booking available at http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/26342
Email enquiries to gm367@cam.ac.uk.

Summary:
A two-day conference which will explore the significance of the notion of ‘ingenium’ for Descartes and his circle, and place it in the context of contemporary pedagogy, erudition, philosophy, mathematics, and music. This event is part of the research project, Genius Before Romanticism: Ingenuity in Early Modern Art and Science, a five-year ERC funded project based at CRASSH, University of Cambridge .

Convenors:
Richard Serjeantson and Raphaële Garrod with Alexander Marr, Jose Ramon Marcaida, and Richard Oosterhoff

Speakers:
Igor Agostini (FrU Salento), Roger Ariew (EU S Florida), Michael Edwards (Cambridge), Dan Garber (Princeton), Raphaële Garrod (Cambridge), Emma Gilby (Cambridge), Denis Kambouchner (Sorbonne Paris 1), Richard Oosterhoff (Cambridge), Martine Pécharman (CNRS, Paris), Lucian Petrescu (Université libre de Bruxelles), David Rabouin (Diderot Paris 7 CNRS), Sophie Roux (ENS ULM), Dennis Sepper (EU Dallas), Richard Serjeantson (Cambridge), Justin Smith (Diderot Paris 7), Theo Verbeek (Utrecht).

Supported by the Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge. Funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ ERC grant agreement no 617391 and Trinity College Cambridge

Gaenor Moore Research Project Administrator, CRASSH +44 (0)1223 760488 | gm367@cam.ac.uk |www.crassh.cam.ac.uk | University of Cambridge, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DT

British Milton Seminar

Programme BMS 53

Saturday 12 March 2016
Venue: The Birmingham and Midland Institute. There will be two sessions, from 11.00 am to 12.30 pm and from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm

11.00-12.30
Miklós Péti (Károli Gáspár University, Budapest), ‘Homeric Laughter in Paradise Lost’
Robert Cockcroft (Nottingham), ‘The significance of smiles in Paradise Lost (with reference back to Dante and Tasso)’

2.00-4.00
Joe Wallace (Birmingham), ‘Error and the Classical Tradition in Paradise Lost’
Liam Haydon (Kent), ‘Milton and the Corporation’.

The Birmingham and Midland Institute (BMI) was founded by Act of Parliament in 1854, for ‘the Diffusion and Advancement of Science, Literature and Art amongst all Classes of Persons resident in Birmingham and the Midland Counties,’ and continues to pursue these aims. The BMI is located in the heart of Birmingham’s city centre, just a few minutes’ walk from Birmingham New Street, Snow Hill and Moor Street railway stations:

Birmingham and Midland Institute
Margaret Street
Birmingham B3 3BS

Please follow this link for a map of the BMI’s location, and for further information about the BMI and its Library:http://bmi.org.uk/location.html

For further information about the British Milton Seminar, please contact either:

Professor Sarah Knight (sk218@leicester.ac.uk), or Dr Hugh Adlington (h.c.adlington@bham.ac.uk).

Hugh Adlington and Sarah M. Knight (Co-convenors)

Beaumont 400

Guildhall Library, 11 March (evening) and King's College London, 12 March (day and evening)

In 1616, a leading dramatist and poet died and was roundly mourned by all of his contemporaries. His name? Francis Beaumont. The author of The Knight of the Burning Pestle and co-author of Philaster and The Maid’s Tragedy, died on 6 March 1616 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Following Adele Thomas's triumphant revival of The Knight at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe, it is time to reassess Beaumont's contributions to Jacobean drama and poetry, and his relationship with his long-time collaborator John Fletcher. 

With this conference we will take over the London Shakespeare Centre and restore Beaumont to the critical limelight with a symposium and a performance of his first play, The Woman Hater, by Edward’s Boys. Speakers include Suzanne Gossett, Lois Potter, Tracey Hill, Sarah Dustagheer, Kate Graham, Eoin Price, Simon Smith and Jackie Watson.

See Beaumont 400 for further details and booking. 

 For any enquiries, please email shakespeare@kcl.ac.uk.

CALL FOR PAPERS: The Senses in Medieval and Renaissance Europe: Sight and Visual Perception

University College Dublin, 11–12 March 2016

Proposals for papers are invited for The Senses in Medieval and Renaissance Europe: Sight and Visual Perception, which aims to provide an international and interdisciplinary forum for researchers with an interest in the history of the senses in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The history of the senses is a rapidly expanding field of research. Pioneered in Early Modern and Modern studies, it is now attracting attention also from Medieval and Renaissance specialists. Preoccupation with the human senses and with divine control over them is evident in a range of narrative texts, scientific treatises, creative literature, as well as the visual arts and music from the pre-modern period. This conference – the first in a series devoted to the five senses – aims to contribute to this expansion by bringing together leading researchers to exchange ideas and approaches.

The theme of the inaugural meeting is ‘Sight and Visual Perception’. Sight has been chosen as the first topic for investigation as it was considered the primary sense and was treated as an abstract philosophical and religious concept in many medieval texts. But the study of sight can also provide insights into various aspects of medieval society: ‘eye-witness’ descriptions; sight impairment and the care of the blind; deprivation of sight as punishment or revenge; the development of spectacles and other optical aids; ideas about colours and their significance; ‘second sight’ as manifested in visions and apparitions; the concept of ‘the gaze’ in visual arts. The conference aims to address these and other themes and to foster interaction between established and younger scholars working in the area.

Keynote Speakers:
Professor Elizabeth Robertson, University of Glasgow
Professor Chris Woolgar, University of Southampton

Professor Robertson’s research and publications are concerned with vernacular theology, medieval poetics, literacy in the Middle Ages, and gender and religion in Middle English literature. Her recent work has focused on vision and touch in devotional literature. With J. Jahner she edited Medieval and Early Modern Devotional Objects in Global Perspective: Translations of the Sacred for theNew Middle Ages series (Palgrave MacMillan, 2010). This collection contains her important paper, ‘Julian of Norwich’s Unmediated Vision’.

Professor Woolgar’s research and publications are concerned with the social and economic history of late-medieval England and in particular with the evidence contained in domestic household accounts. He is the author of The Senses in Late Medieval England (Yale, 2007) and co-author of A Cultural History of the Senses in the Middle Ages, 500–1450, ed. Richard Newhauser (Bloomsbury Academic, 2014).

Contributions on any aspect of the conference theme of ‘Sight and Visual Perception’ are welcomed from established and early career scholars as well as postgraduates. Proposals for panels are also warmly encouraged. Titles and abstracts (maximum 300 words) together with a short biography, institutional affiliation and contact details, should be forwarded to medrenforum@gmail.comby 8 November 2015.

The conference is organised by Edward Coleman, School of History, UCD and the Forum for Medieval and Renaissance Studies in Ireland. It is generously supported by UCD Seed Funding.

Organizing Committee:
Dr Edward Coleman (University College Dublin)
Dr Ann Buckley (Queen’s University Belfast / Trinity College Dublin)
Dr Carrie Griffin (University of Bristol)
Dr Emer Purcell (University College Cork)

Forum for Medieval and Renaissance Studies in Ireland (FMRSI)
Web: www.fmrsi.wordpress.comEmail: medrenforum@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ForumMRSI
Twitter: @FMRSI

Society for Neo-Latin Studies: Postgraduate Student Event

Thursday, 10 March 2016

This year's postgraduate event will be held at Merton College, Oxford.
20 places available, first come first served.

There will be no fee involved, please just bring £3.30 in cash with you for a massive lunch. Free tea, coffee, and biscuits.

There are opportunities to present short papers (10-15 minutes) at this event, in a friendly and relaxed environment. If you would like to speak about your research or suggest a topic for discussion, please email elizabeth.sandis@merton.ox.ac.uk by Monday 22 February.
There is no deadline for registering to attend.

Programme:

11.15-11.30 Meet outside the main entrance to Merton College on Merton Street (postcode OX1 4JD). The College is 2 mins from High Street/Queen's Lane (where the London bus stop is) and a 20-25 min walk from the railway station.

11.30 Welcome and Introduction (Prof Gesine Manuwald and Dr Elizabeth Sandis)
Tea and biscuits and short papers (10-15 minutes each)

12.15 Lunch in Merton's famous dining hall (£3.30, paid in cash on the day): soup, main course, salad bar, dessert, fruit (self-service).

2-3.30 Meet Dr Julia Walworth, Fellow Librarian of Merton College. Special exhibition of Latin manuscripts to peruse (chosen by Dr Walworth and Dr Sandis) and a tour of the famous Old Library (about which you can read more here: http://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/library-and-archives/history).

Opportunity to stay in the college afterwards (for a cup of tea or a walk round the lovely gardens - for recent photos see the gardening team's page: https://www.facebook.com/MertonGardens/timeline)
Accommodation (inexpensive college room on main site) may be available. Email me as soon as possible if you would like me to book this for you. It may be a useful extension to your trip if, for example, there are things you would like to see in the Bodleian or the college libraries while you are here.

Please RSVP to: Elizabeth Sandis via email (elizabeth.sandis@merton.ox.ac.uk).
Open to all. In order to make this event as useful for you as possible, it would be helpful to know a bit about your main interests when you email (and this will also influence which manuscripts we bring out from the archives for you!)

Annual Milton Lecture: Armchair Revolutionary

9 March 2016, 18.00pm, organised on behalf of the Friends of Milton's Cottage.

Place: Mercers Company, Ironmonger Lane, London EC2V 8HE — nearest tube St Paul's. (Before Henry VIII gave it to the Mercers, part of this building housed the convent where Thomas à Becket had been a novice.)

Programme:

Joad Raymond (Professor of Renaissance Studies, Queen Mary, University of London) will speak on 'Milton: Armchair Revolutionary'

Prof Raymond, who has worked on seventeenth-century pamphleteering, will discuss Milton's work for the republican government and his rise to international fame.

The lecture will be followed by a reception upstairs.

ADMISSION

For reasons of security, the Mercers Company requires a list of audience members. So anyone wishing to attend MUST NOTIFY Dr Keith Sugden (keith sugden <keith.sugden@hotmail.co.uk>) BY 3 MARCH.

There is no formal admission charge but members of the audience are invited to make a donation in support of Milton's Cottage, a grade one listed Elizabethan house in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, which is run by an independent charity and is open to the public.

Workshop: Before Montucla: Historiography of Science in the Early Modern Era

Interdisciplinary Centre for Science and Technology Studies,
Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany, March 3/4, 2016

During the last decades many new topics, approaches and research agendas emerged in historiography of science. The field extricated itself from descriptive positivism and celebratory Whiggism and began to take account of the various contexts of historical writings, creatively combining methods of the humanities and the social sciences with knowledge of the sciences. Historiography of science, however, still lacks evaluation and interpretation of its own history. In other words, the history of historiography of science has not been written yet. General overviews of the origins of history of science as a discipline usually go back to the end of the 19th century but historiography of science is much older. Some scholars say that it began in classical antiquity, among pupils of Aristotle. Other authors argue that the discipline originated in the efforts of early modern scientists to convey legitimacy and nobility to their field. Other authors argue that historiography of science arose in the Enlightenment in close relation to the study of the history of the human spirit. Every attempt to seriously study the history of historiography of science must therefore start with finding out when the moment came in which historiography of science emerged as a discipline with its own themes, specifics methods and supporting institutions. We assume that historiography of science originated in the early modern period because at that time "science" in the modern meaning of the word emerged - and in order to be recognized as a producer of knowledge worth of knowing it had to offer its impressive pedigree. But still there are a lot of questions concerning the origins, aims, functions and methods used in the first outlines of the history of science.

The workshop wants to address these gaps in our knowledge. We welcome all contributions that relate to the history of historiography of science especially in the period from the Renaissance to the beginning of the 19th century. We want to examine how the perception of the history of science was influenced by philosophical assumptions, mainly by philosophy of history: e. g. did scientists and historians view the history of science as a linear accumulation of knowledge or as a cyclical process in which periods of blossom and barbarism alternated? We are interested in how the themes of contemporary general historiography, including chronology or biblical history, affected the outlines of the history of science. Did scientists and historians synchronize the history of science with the political and socio-economic events (as in the Marxist historiography)? What factors were recognized as decisive in the development of science? Further, we are interested in the role of mythological and religious strategies in promoting particular points of view on the history of science. We are interested in nationalist, racist and religious prejudices that influenced different forms of interpretation of the history of science. We welcome papers that relate to the iconography of the historiography of science and various ways of graphical representations of and in the history of science. The literary strategies of early historians of science are an interesting problem as well. We want to discuss key concepts of the historical forms of historiography of science: the changing ideas of scientific progress, of history, of science; emancipation from prejudices, tradition, cumulativism etc. We are also interested in what scientists and historians expected of their historical overviews of the development of science, i.e.: what were the functions of historiography of science? What kind of transformations can be seen, especially in the period from 16th to the early 19th century? Who were the supposed (and real) addressees of such historical accounts. What was the public for which the outlines of the history of science had been prepared? And what effect and impact was expected?

The workshop is being organized at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Science and Technology Studies (IZWT) at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal. For further information on the topic, please get in touch with Volker Remmert, remmert@uni-wuppertal.de; or Daniel Spelda spelda@kfi.zcu.cz. The workshop's ambit invites interdisciplinary collaboration. Proposals for papers from all who can contribute to the topic are therefore welcome. Special consideration will be given to proposals from young scholars. The language of the workshop will be English. Submissions must include a title, an abstract (1-2 pages) of a 20 minute presentation, and a short CV (maximum one page). Submissions should be sent to Volker Remmert at remmert@uni-wuppertal.de no later than July 18, 2015. Contributors' overnight accommodation costs will be covered. But because funds are limited, please let us know well in advance if you will need support to cover travelling expenses.

Volker Remmert (Wuppertal), Daniel Spelda (Pilsen)

CALL FOR PAPERS: Adaptation and Dance

Dance productions frequently draw on artistic precedents. Ballet companies rely on classics based on fairy and folk tales but audiences also enjoy an expanding repertoire of works based on a broader range of sources: art – The Green Table, The Rake’s Progress, A Simple Man; the Bible – Job, The Judas Tree, The Prodigal Son; film – Edward Scissorhands; biography – Anastasia, Fall River Legend, Mayerling; children’s literature – The Tales of Beatrix Potter; novels – Anna Karenina, The Great Gatsby, Manon, Woolf Works; operas – The Car Man, Madame Butterfly; plays – Edward II, Hobson’s Choice; poetry – Images of Love. Shakespeare has provided inspiration for a large number of dance-makers. These examples signal how across several decades choreographers working globally with a range of companies have produced one-act and full-length pieces for stage and screen.

In recent years there has been growing interest in the analysis of a range of topics connected with adaptation and dance. By bringing together scholars and practitioners, this one-day conference seeks to move away from the dominant focus on film and television in Adaptation Studies and consider the neglected area of dance. Papers are invited on topics related, but not limited, to:

• Fairy and folk tale ballet adaptations
• The history of ballet adaptations
• Modern dance and classical ballet interpretations of literary works
• Key choreographers as adaptors
• The idea of the choreographer as ‘auteur’
• Dance adaptations of novels and poems
• Stardom, celebrity and dance adaptations
• Shakespeare and ballet
• Genres of dance adaptation
• The theoretical underpinnings of Adaptation Studies in relation to dance

It is hoped that selected papers will form an edited collection. Proposals (between 50–100 words) and a brief biographical note should be sent to Elinor Parsons (eparsons@dmu.ac.uk) and Hila Shachar (hila.shachar@dmu.ac.uk) by 6 November 2015.

De Montfort University