LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The historic First Folio, which will come to Louisville on exhibit this year, was really titled “Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies.” Shakespeare expert and Notre Dame University scholar Peter Holland will preview the legendary collection of plays and discuss its importance during an Oct. 10 lecture.
Holland’s free, public talk, “Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies,” will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Speed Art Museum cinema, 2035 S. Third St. The University of Louisville and its Liberal Studies Project are sponsoring the event.
Holland’s lecture is part of the Will in the Ville citywide celebration of all things Shakespeare. UofL, Louisville Free Public Library and the Frazier History Museum are the chief sponsors with more than 45 community partners helping to mark the 400th anniversary of the author’s death. The “First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare” exhibition will be at the Frazier History Museum Nov. 10-Dec. 10.
Holland is Notre Dame’s McMeel family chair in Shakespeare studies and associate dean for the arts. He is editor of “Shakespeare Survey,” former president of the Shakespeare Association of America and former director of the Shakespeare Institute at Stratford-upon-Avon, the playwright’s birthplace.
Before coming to Notre Dame in 2002, Holland taught at his alma mater, University of Cambridge’s Trinity Hall, and University of Birmingham. Among his books are “English Shakespeares: Shakespeare on the English Stage in the 1990s” and “The Ornament of Action: Text and Performance in Restoration Comedy.” He has edited many of Shakespeare plays.
The Folger Shakespeare Library, Cincinnati Museum Center and American Library Association have made the traveling First Folio exhibit possible through a grant. The event schedule is at www.LFPL.org/WillintheVille.
For more information, contact Andrew Rabin, UofL, at 502-852-1722 or andrew.rabin@louisville.edu.
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