Shakespeare on the Page and on the Stage – Series

Shakespeare, Romance & Laughter
Lecture on Zoom
Sunday, February 14, 2021 – 400pm-5:15pm

Does love make fools of us all?

For Valentine’s Day, let’s explore two of Shakespeare’s greatest love stories, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Written near the same time, these plays contain the potential both for supreme comedy and sublime tragedy.

 Shakespeare and Revenge Tragedies
Lecture on Zoom
Sunday, February 21, 2021 – 400pm-5:15pm

From Greek legends to Renaissance plays to modern action movies, revenge tragedy is an enduringly popular genre, which Shakespeare put a unique spin on.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet started out as an attempt to cash in on the success of Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy, but became one of the most renowned plays of all time.

Fathers & Daughters – Dangerous Complex Relationships – Shakespeare’s Late Plays
Lecture on Zoom
Sunday, February 28, 2021 – 400pm-5:15pm

Fathers and Daughters – Dangerous Complex Relationships

The Winter’s Tale, Cymbeline, Pericles, and The Tempest tell stories of legendary kings, shipwrecks, gods, and magic
and focus on the complex relationship between fathers and daughters.

These stories, known at the time as romances, had been out of fashion for years, but near the end of his career and, following the death of his son , Shakespeare re-invented this genre from his youth.

All lectures on Zoom at 4:00pm-5:15pm EST 

About Noam Lior:

Noam Lior trained and worked as an actor before transitioning to directing and dramaturgy, and earned his PhD from the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies. His research is focused on multimedia digital editions of Shakespeare. Noam is one of the co-founders of Shakespeare at Play (www.shakespeareatplay.ca), where he has co-directed and dramaturged productions of Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Noam has taught dramatic literature and theatre history courses at the University of Toronto, and Shakespeare acting courses at the Toronto Film School, as well as directing productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, and John Marston’s The Dutch Courtesan.

He is also the dramaturge for Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare Company’s ShakesBeers Showdown fundraiser, a wonderfully silly project benefitting the Shakespeare in Hospitals program.