Image source: enotes Summary Twelfth Night
There’s a new group in town. It’s excitable, drinks a lot of coffee and reckons 400 years counts as ‘recent’. It’s the Newcastle Shakespeare Society.
Each month a play is put in the spotlight. Members come armed with their favourite quotes and pet theories, and digress around production tactics and current political nuances. There’s a lot of esoteric knowledge on the subject floating about in Newcastle and there are always revelations, sending one home with an ‘I must check that out’ list burning a hole in one’s notebook.
Meetings are held at the Civic Digest in Hunter Street at 10:00 am on Saturdays, and are currently scheduled until the end of the year. They’re also introducing a series of run-up ‘Dinner and a Movie’ meets prior to each meeting: TV dinner get-togethers where you can relax with food and drink and refresh on the upcoming play. A lot of the members are also writers themselves, so digressions into writing technique, publishers or marketing issues are not uncommon. Every meeting’s different.
All the meetings are free to attend. Bookings can be made through several venues:
- Find the events on Facebook
- For the Civic Digest meetings only, book through the Newcastle Regional Library ‘What’s on’ and Eventbrite here
Currently the schedule only runs up to September on this site, but it is updated every three months. - Through ‘Meetup’ website
- For more information visit the Society’s website
27th August – The Merchant Of Venice
Love, legalities and logistics. This play’s central theme of cultural friction and is particularly pertinent in our current global climate.
24th September – Twelfth Night
A shipwreck, a lover, a fool, and a pedant. Mistaken identity and cross-dressing, ambiguous sexuality and twins. Mix them all up with a good bucketful of sometimes risqué humour and some absolutely beautiful passages, and you have Twelfth Night.
‘Dinner and a Movie’: 9th September 6:30. See here for details.
22nd October – Henry V
An early celebration of St Crispin’s Day (25th October) with this epic swashbuckler. There WILL be readings from this one so polish your lances and saddle up ’cause it’s going to be a fast ride.
12th November 2016 – Much Ado About Nothing
The ultimate put-down contest of a play. Never have claws been so sharp, breeches so swaggered, nor maidens so wronged. Featuring some of the most dubious courtship techniques in Shakespeare: don’t try them at home. Instead, come armed with your favourite passages to discuss over coffee.
10th December – The Merry Wives Of Windsor
Shakespeare’s resurrection of Falstaff at the express request of Queen Bess is one of the warmest, homiest and frankly funniest in the oeuvre. Thwarted corpulent lecherousness and mendacity has never been rendered more risible and strangely endearing.
Come one come all!
