'Shakespeare: the Birth of Modern Show Business'

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Giles Ramsay will discuss the Bard at the The Arts Society Chiswick

The next lecture of The Arts Society Chiswick will be on Thursday 8 March at 8pm in the Malinova Room at The Polish Centre (POSK), 238-246 King Street, W6 0RF.

The subject is ‘Shakespeare: the Birth of Modern Show Business’ by Giles Ramsay, independent theatre director.

Poet, playwright and theatre entrepreneur William Shakespeare became one of the wealthiest theatre impresarios of the Elizabethan age. A shrewd businessman, his career coincided with the emergence of the English playhouses and the beginnings of theatre as a commercially viable form of popular entertainment. He also wrote some of the most brilliant plays the world has ever known. Giles examines how theatre moved into the modern era.

Giles is the Founding Director of the charity Developing Artists (www.developingartists.org), a Fellow of St. Chad’s College, Durham University and Course Leader in Theatre at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Giles has run theatre projects in Botswana, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Kosovo, Palestine, Mexico, Thailand and Zimbabwe and given numerous talks for institutions ranging from The Foundation for Mexican Literature in Mexico City to The Royal College of Physicians in London.

He regularly lectures on the history and practice of theatre on the Queen Mary 2 as it sails from New York to the UK. Giles combines academic analysis with hands on experience to bring a unique insight to the world of the theatre.

Visitors are welcome for a fee of £10 per lecture. Bar open from 7pm

March 2, 2018