Blog | English Literature | York St John University
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Amy brings to life the Shakespeare: Perspectives Trip to Stratford-upon-Avon from earlier in the year, and talks about how it inspired her to find out more about Shakespeare. Read here her response to the Royal Shakespeare Company performance of As You Like It, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust post-performance talks, visiting the house Shakespeare was was born in, and going backstage at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
This year, I went on the Shakespeare Perspectives trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon. Although I didn’t do the module itself, places opened up, and Revolution and Response students were asked if they wanted to go. Having studied Shakespeare both on this module, and in previous modules, I was really interested in going on this trip so booked as soon as possible. On the trip, we did many things packed into the short amount of space of two days, meaning it got very busy and tiring, but yet being surrounded by lovely individuals who I share my course with the two days were great.
We went to the Royal Shakespeare Company to watch one of Shakespeare’s comedies, As You Like It. I knew nothing of the play beforehand other than the title, having not studied it or even picked it up in a shop and yet, I was excited. I was excited to delve into the world of something new and ready to have a good time.
The company clearly used meta-theatre which was the great choice, as those who know the play well or even those like me who didn’t knew the most famous quote ‘All the world’s a stage’. Through this use, the intimacy level was upped, as the actors engaged with the audience throughout, even at one point bringing members up to the stage themselves which added greatly to the comedic effect.
In our post-performance discussion at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust with Dr Nick Walton, many members of our group mentioned the roles of Rosalind/Ganymede and Celia in a lively discussion. While some felt Celia overpowered Rosalind, which is contradictory to what her role is supposed to do, I personally felt that Rosalind was the true star. Lucy Phelps, who portrayed her, gave the character an energy that made her easy to love and easy to sympathise with. Her humour was perfect: her character made me laugh the most because of the way that she presented this lovable person, this lovable woman.
The play defied all expectations, the characters were likeable, the actors even more so. It felt like an evening with a family rather than a crowd of strangers.
Another thing we did on the trip was visit Shakespeare’s Birthplace which was an amazing experience as the house in which he was born had so much history behind it. I could see this in the way it was presented and the ways in which the staff interacted with tourists and members of the public, giving them extra information, and really immersing them into the world and time in which this iconic playwright lived. We also got to watch amateur actors performing certain scenes from different Shakespeare plays outside in the garden. This was an amazing experience as it was brilliant to see other ways in which Shakespeare could be performed. The two actors were incredibly talented and gave off just the right emotion and power to once again immerse you into the plays.
Probably one of the most exciting things we did on the trip was get a backstage tour of the theatre. This was incredibly insightful as the way the plays are done is so incredibly clever. We saw things such as costumes, lighting and all sorts of accessories used such as fake blood! This was so amazing as you really saw how much work is put in to performing Shakespeare in a modern-day setting. In Shakespeare’s time, you can imagine the way in which it was performed is much different to how it is today, so to see the way in which time has developed is brilliant in being able to immerse yourself fully into the plays.
The trip was brilliant also in the social aspect of things as I got to be with a lot of my friends that I didn’t do modules with but that were on my course. I also met and got to talk to new people which I found really incredible. I also met Saffron properly, who I’ve never met and haven’t been taught by but it was amazing meeting her and to be inspired by her love of Shakespeare. Julie’s tremendous love of Shakespeare also inspired me and having these two incredible dedicated women leading us on this true Shakespearean journey was an incredible experience.
If anything, the trip mostly made me wish I had done the Shakespeare module and has inspired me to go on to try read other Shakespeare texts with my specific interest now being Hamlet and a Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, which I have already purchased and am ready to read!
In conclusion, thank you to Saffron, Julie and York St John University for giving me the chance to go on this insightful, brilliant trip and also the chance to write for this blog. This trip really helped me expand my love for Literature even more!
All images (c) Amy Langton apart from the final performance image (c) RSC
“All The World’s A Stage”
Director Kimberley Sykes combines pantomime, audience interaction, puppetry and musical elements to create a fantastical, almost Brechtian approach to the Royal Shakespeare Company’s current production of As You Like It.
For the past eleven weeks, I’ve constantly been reminded in lectures and seminars that Shakespeare’s plays are texts that were written with the intention to be performed on a stage, not to be read in a classroom. My Shakespeare: Perspectives module’s two-day trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon proved that there’s more to the Bard’s plays than just text to be analysed. Shakespeare’s plays offer escapism, a chance to get away from reality with friends or family and I was lucky enough to escape to the Forest of Arden in the most recent production of As You Like It. Continue reading ““All The World’s A Stage”. Mollie Pigott reflects on the RSC’s production of As You Like It (Shakespeare: Perspectives Trip 2019)”
Charlotte Crawshaw reviews FEAST, the first play by London-based Romanian theatre maker Olivia Negrean, making its York debut after being performed across Europe. Directed by Philip Parr of Parrabola.
“And as the show came to a close, the players dished out the meal for the audience to enjoy – a really unique innovation on a play, something I personally had never seen before.”
Terra Two Anthology Launch with special guest Temi Oh
“The note that I took from this morning’s launch was that exploration into exploration of space is often an exploration into the self.” Annice White reflects on the Terra Two Anthology launch earlier this year on 16th March 2019.
As a fan of realist fiction, currently researching fictional representations of the Yorkshire Ripper, I would not call myself a science fiction fan. However, when York Literature Festival advertised their spec-fiction day I thought I’d step out of comfort zone and see what sci-fi is all about.
Before today I had this notion that Sci-fi is about things that don’t or wouldn’t happen. However, as I learnt today, it isn’t that the things in sci-fi aren’t real, it’s that we don’t want them to be. Continue reading “Sci-fic for a realist: ‘we need it now more than ever’. Annice White reflects on the Terra Two Anthology Launch #YorkLiteratureFestival”
By Charlotte Crawshaw
Thursday 9th May saw the opening of the York International Shakespeare Festival, kicking off with the fantastic performance of ‘All’s Well that Ends Well’ at the Friargate Theatre. Director Paul Burbage provided an interesting and modern take on the performance, in the note from Burbage he said ‘with a little fine-tuning, a surprisingly contemporary voice emerges’ which he succeeded with.
Even before the performance began the take on the performance was very interesting, as the players were introduced to the audience as people working on the set. It was really interesting to be able to see all of the players before the performance actually begun. The set itself was minimalist, yet impressive and immersive. The set consisted of two tables, which moved around the stage periodically as the scenes changed. The seating in the theatre draw the members of the audience in, making everyone feel involved in the performance.
Continue reading “All’s Well That Ends Well Review YISF @Friargate Theatre”
By Caroline Carlson and Charlotte Crawshaw
On May 9th 2019, York St John University kicked off the York International Shakespeare Festival with a Shakespeare Blogging workshop. University lecturer Saffron Vickers Walkling led the discussion on various blogging topics, tips, and websites and announced a unique opportunity for students to blog the upcoming festival. Thanks to Festival Director, Philip Parr of Parrabola, Students may attend most festival events for free if they review the event for the YSJ Words Matter blog. Simply turn up to the events at the pop-up Dogrose theatre and say ‘I’m here for Words Matter’ (with the exception of the Richard II film which is sold out), where Tom Straszewski has set aside a couple of tickets per performance. He’s also directed some of them. Likewise, for events at Friargate (https://ridinglights.org/yisf/), there are review tickets for most productions. Call ahead to let them know you are coming: 01904 613000. For events at York Theatre Royal, email press officer Steve Pratt for a complimentary press ticket (subject to availability): steve.pratt@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
According to the festival website ‘the festival features exciting and adventurous artists both from around the world and from closer to home, with a focus on the Shakespeare of the North.’ Performances will be held from May 9th until 19th all over the city, in theatres, streets, parks, churches and wherever you would least expect.
Visit their website at http://esfn.eu/festivals/york#full-gallery-anchor for more information.
General public tickets are available via https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/whats-on/ There are student discounts available.
Festival Shows include: All’s Well That Ends Well, Sonnet Walks, Feast, The Alchemist, Boris Rex, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Love Deadline (Desdemona), Be Not Afeard, Hamlet (An Experience), The Buds of Maybe, Outrageous Fortune, The Winter’s Tale, She Wolf, Into the Breach, Ten Things I Hate About Taming of the Shrew, Battle of the Bard
York Centre for Writing’s Beyond the Walls is an annual anthology celebrating York St John University’s Creative Writing students.
Lucy Pettigrew reviews this year’s launch event on 27th March 2019 as part of the York Literature Festival.
On the evening of the 27th of March, it was time for the Beyond The Walls Student Showcase, organised by second-year students undertaking the Publishing, Production and Performance module. As soon as I walked into the SU coffee lounge I knew it was going to be an amazing night as it had been transformed into a cosy, welcoming place for the third-year and MA students to share their work with us. Props to the marketing team that was behind the set-up of the coffee lounge – the place looked amazing! Plus, there were free drinks which was a bonus! Continue reading “Beyond The Walls Showcase review by Lucy Pettigrew”
Artwork by Monica Marshall and words by Benjamin Longbone
Autism is a term for a wide variety of learning difficulties. The National Autistic Society defines Autism as a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. We also aim to highlight other learning difficulties that affect people such as ADHD, Dyspraxia and Dyslexia as well other conditions. Between Monday the 1st of April and Friday the 5th of April, there will be a display of student work themed around learning difficulties. The work will include written creative pieces, life experiences and
art work. There will be an opportunity to add to the display as students will be able to express their own experiences by writing them down on post it notes and these experiences will be included. On Saturday the 6th of April there will also be a display in Spark (located in Piccadilly Street in York) of collected student art work.
This York Literature Festival event is in the Studio at York Theatre Royal
Book tickets here
What does it mean to leave everything behind? Take off and live a life of solitude. Where can we go and what can we become? A textual and visual performance by Gary Winters and Claire Hind.
Lost in A Sea of Glass and Tin responds to David Lynch’s concept of ‘the eye of the duck’, particularly with regards to what the eye can teach us about repetition, texture, shape and the colour of performance. We play with cross-fertilisations of art forms between Lynch’s noireesque cinema and a distortion of gestures for the singing body once explored by medieval hermits and in solitude. We draw upon our own fascination and observations of a seaside entertainer who week in and week out sings the classics and to his heart’s content along with the energy and commitment of his super fans.
Lost in A Sea of Glass and Tin premiered at The Defibrillator Gallery Chicago and is a mixed media live work of light, sound, projection and voice.
As well as a performance maker, Claire Hind is associate professor in our School of Performance and Media Production.
Review by Lucy Pettigrew
On February 7th 2019 Alice Oseman published her first graphic novel and first part of her popular young adult webcomic Heartstopper: Volume One. The webcomic has over 50,000 subscribers online, and is also available as an ebook and in traditional print format. I’m not someone who usually picks up a graphic novel or comic over a young adult novel or a modern poetry collection, but this stunning graphic novel blew me away and I can’t wait to pick up the next volume in the series when it comes out – it’s also made me want to read more graphic novels! I will read anything Oseman publishes (it could be a book filled with the word ‘potato’ and I’d still love it).
Heartstopper is a young adult comic that stars Nick and Charlie, who are both trying to navigate life as teenagers in an all-boys grammer school in the United Kingdom. Oseman describes it as an “LGBTQ+ webcomic” as almost all of the characters are part of the community.
The plot of the story is stunning and heart-warming – I quickly became attached to the characters and got so invested that I didn’t put it down in between starting and finishing it. The story combined with the cute art style was a perfect combination and even though it was sad in some parts I still smiled the whole way through because of how utterly enticing it was and how well the story was told.
I couldn’t get enough of the representation either – there were so many characters that were part of the LGBTQ+ community and it felt good to have that representation handled in such a well-written way. All of Oseman’s books so far (which you should also read, they’re fantastic and showcase her talent even more!) have also included LGBTQ+ characters so I was glad that this trend continued in Heartstopper.
Overall, this graphic novel was the perfect read. It was easy to follow and combined with the plotline, art style and representation it made for a really enjoyable experience. Don’t hesitate to pick it up next time you’re in a book shop (or you can get it online!).
Heartstopper is published by Hodder Children’s Books. Check out the LGBTQ+ children and YA collection in our Schools Section of the library.
Our very own subject librarian, Katherine Hughes, has put together a fantastic display for #LGBTHM19. We encourage you to check it out in the main library, and also to visit the School’s Library LGBT display of children and YA books.
Here’s what Katherine says:
ILE are holding a book display during the week commencing 25th February to commemorate LGBT History Month. The display includes fiction, graphic novels, films, poetry and plays by LGBT authors, from Shakespeare’s sonnets to Sarah Waters. Highlighted texts include E. M. Forster’s ‘Maurice’, a novel of gay love in the early 20th century, written in secret and remaining unpublished until after the author’s death; and Virginia Woolf’s ‘Orlando’, the story of an Elizabethan nobleman who lives for three centuries and becomes a woman. Also included in the display is ILE’s new subscription to LGBT Magazine Archive, which chronicles more than six decades of the history and culture of the LGBT community, and is available via the ILE website under Specialist Subject Resources.
The display will be launched this evening by our special LGBT History Month film screening of God’s Own Country, a queer romance between a young farmer and a Romanian migrant worker set on a struggling farm in rural Yorkshire. The film will be screened in Fountains Lecture Theatre (FT/002) for staff and students and will be introduced by Saffron Vickers Walkling, Senior Lecturer in English Literature. The screening is free of charge – just provide your YSJ email address while booking your free ticket.
Saffron says, if you want to review your favourite LGBT texts for our Words Matter blog, please contact her via email.
On Monday 25th February, York St John Information Learning Services will be launching their LGBT History Month display. I vividly remember, at the age of about 15, finding a book called What Comes Naturally in the Women’s section of the Salisbury Bookshop. By Norwegian writer Gerd Brantenberg, it was a hilarious description of a university student in the 1960s “finding herself” and coming out as a lesbian. As I tried to figure out my own identity at that period a number of films, books and plays helped me to see who I was. The characters were often far from me in time, place and other identities – nineteenth century Americans Patience and Sarah, the confused Cypress in Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo (a novel about an African American family in mid-twentieth century South Carolina and New York) and of course, The Colour Purple, in which Celie falls in love with Shug. Films spoke to me too, such as Hanif Kureishi and Stephen Frear’s My Beautiful Laundrette in which the characters Johnny and Omar struggled with racism, class and Thatcherism, but had no qualms about embracing each other and their sexuality. I also got to play the delightfully ambiguous Count Orsino in an all female production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
So come on down to the library next Monday and have a look at Katherine Hughes’ display. Contact Katherine or Thomas Peach with your recommendations, and if you want to review your favourite LGBT texts for our Words Matter blog, contact Adam Smith or myself, Saffron Vickers Walkling.
PS I’ll be introducing my latest favourite LGBT text God’s Own Country at 5.30 that same day in a free screening for staff and students . Book tickets here. (PLEASE NOTE, this is a past event)
Did you see yourself or your family reflected in the books you read as a child? Librarian Clare McCluskey-Dean contacted us recently about an exciting initiative for LGBT History Month. She has made a display of inclusive children’s and young adult books purchased by the library at York St John University in the past year or so. It will be in place throughout February, and she hopes it will evolve as people borrow the books. You can visit the display in the School Library area, on the first floor of Fountains. Please pass this on to anyone you think would be interested. Also, if you have any recommendations for other books we could buy, or ideas for future displays, she would be happy to hear those. I, for one, will be visiting to borrow some books in which I see my family reflected. Please contact her via Information Learning Services in Fountains Learning Centre: ile@yorksj.ac.uk
