By Charlotte Crawshaw

Thursday 9^th 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 27^th 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”

Review by Lucy Pettigrew

On February 7^th 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.

By Adam Kirkbride

On the 28^th of February, the English Literature department here at York St John held a showcase exhibiting the research done by our lecturers. The event comprised of four short presentations given by various members of the department and was thoroughly enjoyable. Here is a brief rundown of the research areas that our staff are working on.

Continue reading ““A Key Moment of Pride”: Reflections on the 2019 Literature Research Showcase”

Ever wanted to know about more about what your Literature lecturers are researching and publishing on?

Come along to our annual Literature Research Showcase on Thursday 28th February (Week 5) from 6-7.15pm in the DG lecture theatre to find out!

Continue reading “English Literature Research Showcase – THIS THURSDAY, ALL WELCOME!”

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 25^th 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 20^th 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.