Tag: Dr Liesl King

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Review: Margaret Atwood at York Theatre Royal, 11 October

By Fiona Stewart

MA in Contemporary Literature student

I was delighted to see Margaret Atwood in conversation with Dr Liesl King at the York Theatre Royal. When asked about preparation for her novel Hag-Seed (2016), Atwood spoke about her research on Shakespeare and The Tempest, and how she enjoyed watching DVDs of the performance, in particular, Julie Taymore’s film with Helen Mirren as Prospera. Hag-Seed is an inventive re-telling of The Tempest which revisits the theme of revenge. The Prospero figure is the character Felix Phillips who is usurped by his cunning assistant, Tony. Whilst contemplating his revenge, Felix decides to teach drama in a local prison where he directs the inmates through Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Richard III and Macbeth. Felix later decides to stage The Tempest which will draw Tony to meet his match.

King and Atwood

Atwood spoke about the high value she places on the teaching of literature and drama in prisons, and from her research she was inspired by inmates’ enthusiasm for acting. One inmate, on release from prison, had been so enthralled by the experience of acting that he trained to teach Shakespeare in prisons. When asked about the many genres in which she writes, Atwood said that while she was at college in Canada, nobody said that you could not write in a particular way, and as a result, she has enjoyed a long career of writing novels, plays, poetry and critical essays.

 

A member of the audience asked why Canada has so many great women authors and Atwood responded by highlighting acclaimed author Gwethalyn Graham, who wrote Earth and High Heaven (1944), while also acknowledging renowned Canadian male authors. She additionally discussed the importance of indigenous figures as role models for women across Canadian culture.

 

Finally, Atwood spoke about our planet and acknowledged British nature writers, in particular, Richard Mabey. She emphasised that 40-60% of the oxygen we breathe comes from the oceans which are now heavily polluted by industrial practices across the globe. A reduction in oxygen will impair all forms of life on earth. I thank Atwood for her contribution to the environmental debate and her relentless hard work in alerting people to our endangered earth.

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Whitby trip

 Second Year English Literature student Jenny Prout reflects back on her trip to Whitby last semester as part of the Literature at Work module.

 

On Monday 14th March I set off with my fellow Literature students for a day trip to Whitby.  Once we arrived at half ten we split into groups to have a wander around.  I went and walked along the pier and then had a nosey around the shops.  As we were walking along the cobbled streets, Kaitlin spotted a book shop, and as English Literature students we couldn’t help but go in! I picked up a book about the lives of the Brontës and read for while until it was time to meet up at St Mary’s Church.

 

At the church, we headed to a classroom where Dr Liesl King and Dr Janine Bradbury ran a workshop.  We worked in groups to close read a passage on ‘Yorkshire air’ from A.S. Byatt’s novel Possession.  Then Liesl explained different ways of referencing and we had a go at putting these into practice.

abbey

When the workshop had finished we all separated into our previous groups and had a look at the ruins of Whitby Abbey.   The abbey itself is a wonderful example of gothic architecture and this led us into discussion of Dracula, a novel some of us are studying in the Gothic and Horror module.  Bram Stocker knew Whitby well and used the abbey as a backdrop for parts of the novel. During our visit the fog contributed to the uncanny gothic atmosphere, as you can see from the photo below of the adjacent church grounds.

 

whitby church

 

Next, we headed to the award-winning Quayside on the water front for fish and chips. They did not disappoint! We returned (slowly!) to the bus, stuffed full, and headed to Robin Hood’s Bay, where Janine took a group photo of us all on the cliff top.

Whitby group
Dr Janine Bradbury’s group photo of the Whitby trip.

 

 

We strolled down the steep path to the beach to collect some shells, and then back up the cliff for fifteen minutes walk towards Boggle Hole. The location is featured in Byatt’s Possession, so I wanted to go and see it for myself.boggle hole Local folklore has it that the crevice is haunted by a ‘boggle’, or goblin.