The following provides an overview of the program schedule. The website will be updated as additional schedule details are confirmed.
Suggested arrival in London and hotel check-in by morning
6:00 pm Program Registration
7:00 pm Welcome Dinner at a private members' club
Meet fellow participants and Matt Wolf. A guest speaker from Shakespeare’s Globe will join the party and, over coffee/dessert, will be interviewed by Matt Wolf, setting the scene for Sunday’s first theatrical outing
Morning free
12:30 pm Meet at Shakespeare’s Globe for 1 pm performance of All’s Well That Ends Well, starring three-time Olivier Award-winner Janie Dee as the Countess of Rossillion.
6:00 pm Optional dinner gathering and informal discussion at a location to be determined (reservations taken during registration).
Monday’s class will begin with a discussion of All’s Well, considering Shakespeare performance in the context of the Globe – by contrast with a commercial, star-driven West End venture like Much Ado, which we will also see during the week.
10:30 am Class session
1:00 pm Afternoon free
7:30 pm Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Wyndhams Theatre, directed by Josie Rourke, artistic director designate of the Donmar, and starring Catherine Tate and David Tennant (television’s Dr. Who)
10:30 am Class session
1:00 pm Afternoon free
7:30 pm Kristin Scott Thomas, of Four Weddings and a Funeral and The English Patient renown, leads the cast at the Comedy Theatre in the director Ian Rickson's revival of Harold Pinter's shimmering 1978 play, Betrayal. Douglas Henshall and Ben Miles co-star. Scott Thomas was most recently seen on Broadway in Rickson's acclaimed production of Chekhov's The Seagull.
10:30 am Class session
1:00 pm Afternoon free
7:30 pm Schiller’s Luise Miller at the Donmar Warehouse. Directed by 2010 Tony winner Michael Grandage (Red), and starring Felicity Jones, Ben Daniels, and Finty Williams (Judi Dench's daughter).
10:30 am Class session
1:00 pm Afternoon free
7:00 pm Emperor and Galilean in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre. Henrik Ibsen's rarely performed play is revived in a new version by Ben Power. Andrew Scott heads a huge cast, creating a rich tapestry of sound and ritual. Jonathan Kent, who directed Diana Rigg in Medea and Ralph Fiennes in Hamlet, both of whom won Tony Awards, is at the helm.
10:30 am Class session
1:00 pm Afternoon free
7:30 pm A Delicate Balance, by Edward Albee at the Almeida Theatre. Directed by James Macdonald and starring Penelope Wilton, Tim Pigott-Smith, and 2005 Oscar nominee Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake)
7:30 pm Macbeth, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Our week of outings concludes with a visit to the grandest of all London venues, The Royal Opera House, to see internationally acclaimed baritone Simon Keenlyside take the title role in Verdi's opera, inspired by the Shakespeare tragedy. The director is Phyllida Lloyd ("Mamma Mia!", and the London and Broadway productions of "Mary Stuart"), who is currently filming the forthcoming screen biography of Margaret Thatcher starring Meryl Streep.
