Posted by Richard Joyrich
I have more information now about the upcoming Toronto Conference to be held October 17-20, 2013. I urge everyone to register as soon as possible.
Tickets to see The Merchant of Venice at the Stratford Festival on Friday are only guaranteed if your registration is received by September 15 (but MIGHT still be available later).
Also, the Metropolitan Hotel, where the conference is being held will only honor the discounted conference room rate of $135/night (plus taxes and fees) until September 17.
Please go to either the Shakespeare Oxford Society website (www.shakespeare-oxford.com) or the Shakespeare Fellowship website (www.shakespearefellowship.org) for other information and to register for the Conference.
Here is the current Conference schedule (subject to change):
Toronto Conference Schedule
The following program is subject to change.
Thursday, 17 October
12:00-1:00 Registration
1:00-1:15 Welcome. Opening of Conference.
1:15-2:00 Shelly Maycock. (Virginia)
“Essex, Oxford and the
Concept of Popularity in Late Elizabethan
Discourse.” How the notion of popularity can be recast from
an
Oxfordian perspective.
2:00-2:45 Priscilla Costello. (Ontario)
“Astrology Confirms de Vere.” A
professional astrologer compares the
astrological charts of de Vere and “Shakespeare.”
2:45-3:30 Ron
Halstead. (Michigan)
“Death of a Dictator: The Dangerous
Timeliness of Julius Caesar and
the Authorship
Question.” De Vere’s interest in
rebellion.
3:30-3:50 Coffee
break
3:50-4:35
Walter Hurst. (North Carolina)
“What’s Your Authority for that Statement:
An Approach to
Examining External
Evidence in Early Modern Authorship.”
How to evaluate
the strength of historical evidence.
4:35-6:00
Video: The Naked Shakespeare
A new video on the
authorship question from Germany.
Friday, 18 October
8:30-9:15 Ron
Hess. (Georgia)
“The Significant
History of The Passionate Pilgrim.” Did
this work
predate both Venus and Adonis and Rape of Lucrece?
9:15-10:0 Heward Wilkinson. (UK)
“Coleridge and the
Implications of Authorial Self-Awareness in
Shakespeare.” There is no sign that the Stratford man
embodied
the consciousness
of “Shakespeare” while there is substantial testimony
that Oxford did.
10:45-10:45 Michael
Egan. (New Mexico)
“The Shakespeare
Grain Dealer Uproar.” The documented
facts about
Shakspere’s
financial arrangements, when compared with the plays, show
clearly that we
are dealing with two distinct individuals, the man from
Stratford and the
man who wrote the plays.
10:45 –11:05 Coffee
Break
11:05-11:50 Tom Regnier. (Florida)
“Could Ben Jonson
Think Like A Lawyer? Taking a Closer
Look at Clarkson
and Warren.” A revaluation of the 1942
study on
property law in
Elizabethan drama which disparages Shakespeare’s
legal knowledge.
11:50-12:35
Earl Showerman. (Oregon)
“A Midsummer
Night’s Dream: Shakespeare’s Aristophanic Comedy.”
Was Shakespeare
acquainted with Athenian drama? The
former
President of the SF explores the territory.
Lunch on own
3:00 Bus leaves for the Stratford Festival
(Tom Regnier
paper on “The Law and Merchant” on bus)
5:00
Arrive at Stratford. Meeting with Antoni Cimolino (Director
of Merchant)
followed by “on own’ dinner
8:00
Merchant of Venice on Festival Stage
10:30
Bus
returns to Toronto (arrives about 12:30 a.m.)
Saturday, 19 October
8:30-9:30 Annual Meeting of the Shakespeare Oxford
Society
9:30-10:15 Cheryl
Eagan-Donovan. (Massachusetts)
“The Reason for the
Alias: Oxford’s Bisexuality and the
Elizabethan
Theatre.” A look at the sexual behavior
of both
actors and audiences
of the period suggests that Oxford’s
Sexuality may have
been a prime reason for the pseudonym.
10:15-11:00 Hank Whittemore.
(New York)
“The Unbroken Line: Oxford,
Acting Companies and the
Phenomenon of Shakespeare.” A look at de Vere as guiding
force
behind the three most important acting companies
of Elizabeth’s reign.
11:00-11:15 The Missing Debate: A Comment. Don Rubin
and Keir Cutler.
11:15-12:00 Roger
Stritmatter (Maryland) and Lynne Kositsky (Ontario)
‘Much Ado About
Nothing: The Tempest Debate.” Two
major
scholars put the Tempest dating debate to rest.
12:00-12:15 The
Tempest Book launch/signing (Roger and Lynne)
12:15-1:45 Lunch
(buffet with Keynote)
Mark Anderson (Massachusetts)
“Shakespeare,
Newton and Einstein: Listening to the Obsession
of Genius.”
The author of the major de Vere biography, Shakespeare
By
Another Name looks at the nature of
genius and obsession.
2:00-2:45 Robert
Detobel/Henno Wember (Germany)
“The Outcast State:
Oxford’s Passion for the Theatre.” Was
it
his
love of the theatre that led to Oxford’s “outcast state?”
2:45 to 3:30
Keir Cutler (Quebec)
‘From Crackpot to
Mainstream: The Evolution of the Authorship
Question.” Are the doubts about the man from Stratford
becoming
mainstream?
An actor suggests that the answer is “yes.”
3:30 to 4:15 Sky
Gilbert (Ontario)
“Was Shakespeare A
Euphuist?” The connections between
Shakespeare
and Lyly, between Endymion and Twelfth Night done with student actors.
4:15 to 4:35 Coffee break
4:35 to 6:35 Canadian
Premiere Screening: Last Will and
Testament.
Introduction of
this full-length film by the directors – Lisa and Laura Wilson.
Sunday, 20 October
8:30-9:30 Annual
Meeting of the Shakespeare Fellowship
9:30-10:20
Ramon Jimenez (California)
‘Shakespeare’s Two
Lear Plays: How the Playwright Transformed His
First Romance into his Last Tragedy.” From King
Leir to King Lear.
10:20-11:20 Michael Morse. (Tennessee)
“What the Thunder Said
and Tom O’Bedlam’s Song.” Views of Lear.
11:20-12:15 Gerit Quealey. (New York)
“Studying Authorship: Why It Matters for
Actors. The Road
To Revelation.” How authorship
research can inform and illuminate
A Text.” A working actor demonstrates her points with student actors.
12:15-2:00 Closing Banquet with Keynote. Awards and Final words.
John Shahan (California).
“The Shakespeare
Authorship Coalition: Future Strategies.” The
head of SAC and one
of the editors of the volume Shakespeare
Beyond
Doubt:
Exposing An Industry in Denial discusses plans for the coming
year.
The conference should be one of the best that we have had. I hope to see a lot of people there.