The Notre Dame London Shakespeare Lecture in Honour of Professor Sir Stanley Wells started in 2012. Envisioned as a celebration of a scholar of world renown, it is also a venue for students on the London program to meet leading academics and theatre practitioners who shape their fields.
Initiated by Professor Gregory Kucich and Shakespeare scholar Boika Sokolova, the lecture series has developed in close collaboration with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon and the Shakespeare Institute (University of Birmingham).
The founding lecture, given by Professor Wells himself, presented a sweeping view of a lifetime dedicated to the study and teaching of Shakespeare, to his versatile interests and contributions to practically all major fields of the subject.
Since then, Notre Dame London has gathered scholars, theatre professionals and students for exciting engagements with Shakespeare’s multiple afterlives. Distinguished academics: Ann Thompson, Lois Potter, Michael Dobson, Russell Jackson, have shared the challenges and delights of their research. Directors of major theatrical institutions: Sir Nicholas Hytner (National Theatre), Dominic Dromgoole (Shakespeare’s Globe), Gregory Doran (Royal Shakespeare Company), have given memorable talks.
One of the highlights of the rich academic program at Notre Dame London, the Shakespeare Lecture is an important sign of our presence in the intellectual life of London.
2023
Simon Russell Beale delivers the 12th Annual Notre Dame London Shakespeare Lecture in conversation with Carol Rutter (Professor of Shakespeare and Performance Studies at the University of Warwick): 'There's Something in the Writing: Simon Russell Beale Talks Shakespeare'.
2022
Carol Rutter (Professor of Shakespeare and Performance Studies at the University of Warwick) delivered the 11th Notre Dame London Shakespeare Lecture, 'Widening the Shakespeare Circle: the Playwright, the Diplomat and the Theatricality of Everyday Life'.
2021
Register Here for the next event in the 10th anniversary series
April 7 - Peter Holland: 'On the Shakespeare Trail'
University of Notre Dame Professor Peter Holland offers the 10th Annual Notre Dame London Shakespeare Lecture in honour of Professor Sir Stanley Wells.
2020
March 2 - Sir Stanley Wells in conversation with Dame Judi Dench
Notre Dame hosts the ninth London Shakespeare lecture, in Honour of Professor Sir Stanley Wells: Sir Stanley Wells in conversation with Dame Judi Dench.
2019
February 20 - Russell Jackson: 'Working with Shakespeare: Stage, Screen, Seminar Room...'
Russell Jackson (Emeritus Professor of Drama and Theatre Arts) gives the University of Notre Dame's eighth Annual London Shakespeare Lecture in Honor of Professor Sir Stanley Wells.
2018
February 7 - Michael Dobson: 'Shakespearean Comedy and the Curse of Realism'.
Michael Dobson (Director of the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Professor of Shakespeare Studies, University of Birmingham) gives the University of Notre Dame's seventh Annual London Shakespeare Lecture in Honor of Professor Sir Stanley Wells.
2017
February 13 - Gregory Doran: '2016: The Big Year'
The Royal Shakespeare Company's Artistic Director reflects on the 400th anniversary year of Shakespeare’s death.
2016
March 2 - Lois Potter: 'Shakespeare, Performance, and Contingency'
Professor emeritus of the University of Delaware, Potter's extensive list of publications includes Othello (in the University of Manchester's Shakespeare in Performance series), Which Shakespeare? and The Life of William Shakespeare,as part of Wiley-Blackwell's Critical Biography series.
2015
March 23 - Dominic Dromgoole: 'Shakespeare on the Road'
Dromgoole, artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe, discusses his own experience with Shakespeare as well as the broader reception to Shakespeare internationally for the fourth annual Notre Dame London Shakespeare Lecture.
2014
March 24 - Ann Thompson: '"You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said." Have we heard it all?'
Thompson, emeritus professor of King's College London, draws on her experience of editing Hamlet for the Arden Shakespeare series.
2013
March 5 - Sir Nicholas Hytner: '"Stand and Unfold Yourself!" How to do Shakespeare'
Hytner is the artistic director for the National Theatre. His major Shakespeare productions include As You Like It (Royal Exchange, Manchester), The Tempest and King Lear (Royal Shakespeare Company), and Twelfth Night (Lincoln Centre, New York).
2012
April 11 - Stanley Wells, CBE: 'Eighty Years of Shakespeare'
As teacher, theatergoer, reviewer, lecturer, editor, critic, historian, administrator, conference goer and broadcaster, Stanley Wells has spent a lifetime with Shakespeare. In this talk he reflects upon the changes in the Shakespearian scene over the past eighty years, and on his involvement with them.