present
John Marston’s
Antonio’s Revenge
a one-day conference
Workshop Theatre, University of Leeds – Saturday, 7 July 2018
This one-day conference will focus on Marston’s riveting revenge tragedy, an unfairly neglected jewel of late Elizabethan drama which resonates with Shakespeare’s Hamlet and other classic revenge tragedies of the period. The second part of a fascinating diptych preceded by the tragicomedy Antonio and Mellida, the play tells the story of the unfortunate lovers’ struggle in the Venetian court. Mellida’s father, the evil Piero, Duke of Venice, has murdered Antonio’s father, Andrugio, the Duke of the enemy Republic of Genoa. Andrugio’s ghost returns from beyond the grave to command his son to revenge his death. Mellida is imprisoned under a fabricated accusation of harlotry, and she dies of grief believing her lover is dead. Antonio, in disguise as a fool, prepares a masque that the Venetian court will never forget. This conference will be a very rare opportunity to see this superb play on stage, using David Lindley’s newly edited text for the Oxford Complete Works of John Marston.
Programme
9:30 am – Registration + tea, coffee, and pastries
10:30 am – script-in-hand performance with The Playhouse Lab ensemble, including students and staff at Leeds
1 pm – buffet lunch
2 pm – Panel 1: Antonio’s Revenge in Performance. Speakers: Perry Mills (Edward’s Boys, King Edward VI School), Harry McCarthy (University of Exeter), and Lois Potter (University of Delaware).
3:30 pm – Tea and coffee
3:45 pm – Panel 2: Antonio’s Revenge: Text, Context, and Afterlife. Speakers: David Lindley (University of Leeds), Janet Clare (University of Hull), and Richard Meek (University of Hull).
5:15 – wine and informal roundtable discussion
Registration: Full price: £15 Concessions: £10
The registration fee includes attendance to the performance and the academic sessions, as well as the two tea/coffee breaks, and a buffet lunch. (Please specify any dietary requirements in the box provided.)
