Donated by Cambridge Literary Festival
Harriet Walter | She Speaks! What Shakespeare’s Women Might Have Said
Sun 24 Nov 2024 | 6:00pm – 7:00pm
We’re delighted to be welcoming one of the UK’s most esteemed Shakespearean actors, multi award-winning British actress Harriet Walter, whose credits range from the Royal Shakespeare Company to Star Wars and Succession. She’ll be presenting her fascinating book She Speaks!, which explores between the lines of Shakespearean plays to let us hear what she imagines – sometimes playfully and sometimes searchingly – these women were really thinking.
Renowned for her star-studded portrayals in Succession, Killing Eve and Ted Lasso, Harriet Walter is also one of Britain’s most esteemed Shakespearean actors. Now, having had the experience of playing so many of Shakespeare’s roles, she re-imagines what some of his women might have been secretly thinking and lets them speak their minds.
In conversation with Alex Clark
With new speeches for thirty Shakespearean women, written in verse, sonnets and prose, her book goes between the lines of the plays as Gertrude lets Hamlet have the unvarnished truth; Lady MacBeth reveals how she would have been a savvy, King; Kate, the Shrew does an about turn; Ophelia surprises us; Olivia surprises herself and the witches have a good old rap.
Says Harriet Walter: `I worship Shakespeare and feel very irreverent, shamelessly piggy backing on his giant shoulders. His psychological insight is second to none but the mirror that he held up to Nature reflected a predominantly male image of the world. I pondered the long shadow of his genius and tried to think of ways to let a little sunlight in on some of his women’s stories. I like to think he wouldn’t mind’.
Enjoy Shakespeare’s women as they demand centre stage alongside commentary from Dame Harriet.
Venue: Cambridge Union
Duration: 1 hour