SCHEDULE FOR UK SHAW CONFERENCE (Draft 20)
“Shaw at Home” Conference at Ayot St Lawrence & London DATE & TIME & PLACE EVENT or ACTION TO BE TAKEN
For those coming from abroad, this is the last day to arrive in the UK if you want to JUNE 16, SUNDAY attend the entire conference. Find your own transport from the airport (or wherever you are) to the hotel or B&B in or near Ayot St Lawrence that you’ve booked ahead. See http://www.shawsociety.org/UK-Shaw-Conference-2013.htm for advice and full particulars. Upon arriving, there might be time for a jet-lag nap and/or a walkabout to see the neighborhood. Meals on own locally. Hotels will have restaurants, but those staying at B&Bs should ask their hosts beforehand about meals other than breakfast. Please note that in Ayot St Lawrence the Palladian Church, Shaw’s Corner, and the Brocket Arms are all within easy walking distance of each other.
JUNE 17, Ayot St Lawrence MONDAY
Each morning you could start the day with a Full Breakfast at your hotel or B&B 7:00 – 9:30am (included in the price or not according to your private arrangement) before the minibus arrives to take you to Ayot (schedule of pick up times will be sent to you). On every day but Wednesday an Optional Free Continental Breakfast (pastries, yoghurt and fruit, tea and coffee) will be offered at Ayot in a tent near the church.
from 9:00am on Registration at Ayot St Lawrence. Pick up conference packet at the Palladian Church Palladian Church. Then proceed to Shaw’s Corner.
Tour of Shaw’s Corner & village with Lizzie Dunford, Asst. House Steward, using 9:00am – 11:30pm “Bernard Shaw’s Rhyming Picture Guide to Ayot Saint Lawrence.” Tours will start Shaw’s Corner from Shaw’s Corner at 10:00am and 10:45am, limited to 15 at a time. This tour may be repeated during the week if you miss it.
11:30am Welcoming to the conference from Sue Morgan, House Steward at Shaw’s Corner. The Church
12:00-1:00pm Lunch provided (all lunches will be at the marquee, a large tent near the Palladian The Marquee Church.)
Brief welcomings to the conference by The Venerable Jonathan Smith, Archdeacon 1:00-2:30pm of St. Albans; Alan Knight, Chairman of the Shaw Society; and Michael O’Hara, Palladian Church President of the International Shaw Society. Introduction of Michael Holroyd by Leonard Conolly, Trent U., Canada.
Keynote Address by Sir Michael Holroyd: “A Shavian Tale of Two Cities: From Dublin to London.”
2:30-3:00pm Tea & Coffee Break
“The Place of ‘Place’ in Shaw’s Life and Writing” 3:00-5:00pm Chaired by Richard Dietrich, U. of South Florida, Treasurer of the International Shaw SESSION 1 Society All sessions 3:00-3:30) ) Alice McEwan (Ph.D. Research Student at U. of Hertfordshire): “Shaw’s will be at the Living Space in Fact and Fiction: The Playwright’s Interiors as a Critique of the Palladian Church Bourgeois Home”
3:30-4:00) Elizabeth Dunford (Assistant House Steward at Shaw’s Corner): “A Living Shrine: Shaw’s Corner as Reliquary.
4:00-4:30) Michelle Paull (St Mary’s University College) “Shaw not at home – early politics and playwriting”
4:30-5:00) Allan David Johnson (City University of Hong Kong) “Building the Modern
World: The Architectural Spaces of Shaw’s Drama”
5:00 – 8:00pm Dinner at the Brocket Arms or back at hotel (transport provided)
Drinks Reception (wine & canapés) with a talk from Toni Kanal Green and Richard 7:30 – 9:30pm Digby Day, who will talk about their many years of providing plays at Shaw’s Corner
and other matters.
9:30-11:00pm Transport back to hotels & B&Bs (Pickups will be at Shaw’s Corner, times to be determined).
JUNE 18, Ayot St Lawrence TUESDAY
7:00-9:00am Breakfast at hotel or B&B or, after transport, free continental breakfast at Ayot.
“Shaw & Women” 9:30-11:00am Chaired by Ann Stewart, Membership Secretary of the ISS.
Session 2 9:30-10:00) Ellen Dolgin (VP of ISS, Chair of English & Co-Chair, Gender Studies, Dominican All sessions at the College, Orangeburg, NY) “All Roles Lead to Joan: Smashing More Than Windows from Palladian Church Suffrage Drama to Saint Joan”
10:00-10:30) Padraig O’Cleirigh (University of Guelph, Canada) Lilith’s Vortex and Greek Cosmology
10:30-11:00) Elizabeth Buras (Candidate for Masters in Theatre Directing at Texas State University) “From Raina to Ann: Progression of the Shavian Women”
11:00-11:15am Coffee Break
Michael Billington: On Shaw in the Theatre 11:15am-12:15pm Introduced by Michael O’Hara, President of the ISS
12:15-1:00pm Lunch provided
“Shaw and Drama/Theatre” 1:00pm – 3:00pm Chaired by Ellen Dolgin, VP of the ISS, Chair of English & Co-Chair, Gender Studies, SESSION 3 Dominican College, Orangeburg, NY
1:00-1:30) Joan Templeton (Long Island U. & Past President, Ibsen Society of America) “In Defense of Shaw: The Quintessence of Ibsenism”
1:30-2:00) Rodelle Weintraub (Penn State U.) “Whose Dream Is It Anyway? Caesar and Cleopatra”
2:00-2:30) Desmond Harding (Central Michigan U.) “The City and the State: Major Barbara and the Urbanization of Creative-Destructive Capitalism”
2:30-3:00) Soudabeh Ananisarab (U. of Nottingham) “Malvern and Shaw’s Eugenics: Explaining Shaw’s Association with the Malvern Theatre Festival”
3:00 – 3:30pm BREAK
“Shaw and War” Chaired by Jean Reynolds (Polk State College, Florida) 3:30 –4:30pm SESSION 4 3:30-4:00) Lagretta Lenker (U. of South Florida) “The Fabian Mystique: GBS, ASB, & War”
4:00-4:30) John McInerney (U. of Scranton) “Directing Arms and the Man”
5:00 – 7:30pm Dinner at Brocket Arms or back at hotel (transport provided)
7:30 – 9:00pm . Introduced by Leonard Conolly.
Shaw’s musical favorites will be played by on piano and violin and sung by mezzo-soprano Brigitte Bogar. With readings from & commentary on Shaw’s music criticism by (York U., Canada).
9:30 – 11:00pm Transport back to hotels & B&Bs (Pickups will be at Shaw’s Corner, times to be determined).
June 19, A DAY IN LONDON Wednesday.
6:30 – 7:30am Breakfast at Hotel or B&B, or continental breakfast on the coach). Minibus pickups at no later than 7:30am (consult transport schedule) .
Coach to London. Minibuses will take you to the large bus, which will 8:00am depart at 8:00am sharp. (Continental breakfast provided on the coach)
9:15am (approx) Arrive at LSE (London School of Economics) / Coffee & Intro to London day
9:30am—11:30am Talks from Sue Donnelly (Head of Archives) and Ed Fay (Digital Library Manager) on Shaw and the LSE, the Shaw photographic collection, and other Shaw archive materials.
11:30am-Noon Coffee Break
Noon-1:00pm Polly Toynbee will speak on Shaw as Socialist LSE Introduced by Barbara Smoker, VP of the Shaw Society, former President of the National Secular Society, former Chair of the British Voluntary Euthanasia Society, etc.!
Break for lunch. You could have lunch right on the LSE campus or nearby or, for the sound of limb and quick of foot, you could walk to the center of Waterloo Bridge 1:15 – 2:45pm for views up and down the Thames and of the National Theatre, and then back to Covent Garden market (including St. Paul’s Church on the west end of Covent Garden where Eliza Doolittle bumped into you-know-who), stopping for lunch wherever you wish. Maps and suggested routes will be provided.
Get back on the coach for a tour of Shavian London (possible stops include Adelphi 2:45 – 5:00pm Terrace, Whitehall Court, Fitzroy Square, the British Museum, and RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art). Tour Guide will be Michael Sargent of the Shaw Society,
educationalist and theatre director.
5:00 - 6:00pm Coach to the Questor’s Theatre in Ealing (West London) 6:00pm Buffet supper at the theatre provided by the Shaw Society (cash bar available) and introductory talk by the director of the play. Send meal choices to Lizzie Dunsford at
7:45pm Mrs. Warren’s Profession at Questors Theatre, followed by question-and-answer session with the director and the actors.
10:30pm Coach back to Ayot and then to hotels or B&Bs
June 20, Ayot St Lawrence Thursday
7:00 – 9:30am Breakfast at Hotel or B&B or, after transport, free continental breakfast in Ayot.
“Shaw’s Friendships & Correspondence” 10 –11:30am Chaired by Michael O’Hara, President of the International Shaw Society SESSION 5 All sessions at the 10:00-10:30) ) Jay Tunney, (Author of The Prizefighter and the Playwright: Gene Tunney Palladian Church and George Bernard Shaw) “The Spiritual Shaw”
10:30-11:00) Katharine Cockin (U. of Hull., editor of The Collected Letters of Ellen Terry) “Ellen Terry’s Letters”
11:00-11:30) Charles A. Carpenter (Binghamton U.) "Shaw & Gilbert Murray: Great Friends, Great Opponents"
Stanley Weintraub: “The Autobiography of Corno di Bassetto” 11:30-12:30 Introduced by Michel Pharand, Editor of SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies
12:30 -1:30 PM Lunch provided
“Shaw in Other Countries” 1:30-3:00pm Chaired by Michel Pharand, Editor of SHAW: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies SESSION 6 1:30-2:00) Jean Reynolds (Polk State College, Florida) “Pygmalion in Africa”
2:00-2:30) Vania Papanikolaou (Postdoctoral, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) “You Never Can Tell or Dad Is Missing: The Reception of G. B. Shaw in Greek Theatre at the Beginning of the 20th Century.”
2:30-3:00) Gautam Sengupta (Gurudas College, Kolkata) “Shaw & India: Crossing Cultural Frontiers”
3:00-3:30pm BREAK
“Comparisons & Influences” 3:30 –4:30pm Chaired by John McInerney, U. of Scranton, Recording Secretary of the International Shaw SESSION 7 Society
3:30-4:00) Frances Hughes (Chairman of The Irving Society) “GBS: The Youthful Playgoer in Dublin”
4:00-4:30) Lawrence Switzky (U. of Toronto) “Left of Bayreuth, or Shaw’s ‘Displaced’ Wagner”
5:00 – 7:00pm Free Time
7:00 – 9:00pm Celebratory Dinner (at the church) with live music from the Joe Peck Quintet. Talk by Sylvia Syms (OBE, film, TV & stage actress, VP of Shaw Society): topic TBA. Introduced by Alan Knight, Chairman of the Shaw Society
9:00 -11:00pm Transport back to hotels & B&Bs (Pickups will be at Shaw’s Corner, times to be determined).
JUNE 21, Ayot St Lawrence FRIDAY
7:00 – 9:30 AM Full Breakfast at hotel or B&B or, after transport, free continental breakfast at Ayot.
“Geneva & Buoyant Billions” 10:00-11:30am Chaired by Lagretta Lenker, U. of South Florida SESSION 8 10:00-10:30) James Redmond (U. of London) "Tragedy and the Shavian Play: Geneva and Brecht's Galileo"
10:30-11:00) Christa Zorn (Indiana U. Southeast) “Geneva – or the Failure of Language”
11:00-11:30) Mark Lepitre (Doctoral student at Laval U., Quebec City) “Buoyant Billions or How to Better the World”
11:30– 11:45am Coffee Break
“Shaw in the 21st Century” 11:45am – 12:45pm Chaired by Richard Dietrich, U. of South Florida, Treasurer of ISS SESSION 9 11:45-12:15) Gustavo A. Rodríguez Martín (U. of Extremadura, Spain) “Shav versus Shakes: an Intertextual Approach”
12:15-12:45) Biljana Vlaskovic (PhD studies in the English Department of The Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac, Serbia) “Use and Abuse of Shaw on the Internet”
12:45–1:45pm Lunch provided
2:00 – 3:30pm Staged Reading of Buoyant Billions by Michael Friend Productions. Palladian Church Introduced by Malcolm Wroe (Actor, Writer, Shaw Society Member)
3:30 – 4:00pm Talk by Phillip Riley (Editor of The Shavian) on “Why we need a Shaw National Theatre.” Introduced by Malcolm Wroe.
4:00 - 5:30pm FREE TIME
5:30–9:30pm Picnic Supper (with Cash Bar) on Shaw’s back lawn, followed by an Outdoors on the outdoor production of Geneva by Michael Friend Productions. (The Back Lawn original 3-act version from 1938, plus the scene where Battler invades Ruritania from 1939). Shaw gets the last word!
9:30 - ? Farewells at the Brocket Arms. Barbecue available.
10:00-Midnight? Transport back to hotels & B&Bs (Pickups will be at Shaw’s Corner, times to be determined).
FAREWELLS & DEPARTURES
JUNE 22, Unless you have arranged to stay longer, hotels and B&Bs will probably expect you SATURDAY to vacate by noon (or possibly even earlier: check with them), and it may be up to you to arrange transport to the airport or your next stop (that’s being worked on). You could meet others at breakfast, either at your hotel or B&B or in Ayot, before departing. There may also be walking tours provided at Ayot for those who wish some exercise and a more leisurely departure.
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