Tony Harrison: Workshop on Speaking Verse

Tony Harrison and award-winning actress Sian Thomas lead a master class at UBC on reading poetry aloud and delivering verse in performance. Some participants will have the opportunity to continue working with Harrison and Thomas on the delivery of verse and to perform scenes from Harrison’s plays as part of his final event at UBC on Monday, December 1.

Tony Harrison is a 2008 Cecil H. and Ida Green Visiting Professor, and one of Britain’s leading film and theatre poets. Indeed, he is one of the most important poets writing today. He has written nearly a dozen plays for London’s National Theatre since the 1970s, from his translation of The Misanthrope in 1973, to his most recent play, Fram, which premiered in April 2008. He is the author of translations for The Royal Shakespeare Company, libretto for the New York Metropolitan Opera, and plays for production in Nigeria, Greece and Austria. He has also created several film/poems for broadcast on television, as well as the feature-length verse film Prometheus. Harrison has published many volumes of poetry, including the poem, v., which caused a national uproar when a filmed version was broadcast on television.

All are welcome to attend the free workshop, which is co-hosted by Green College and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. The event takes place on Wednesday, November 26 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Lillooet Room on the third level of the Learning Centre.

Those wishing to participate as actors are invited to send an e-mail to Hallie Marshall at halliem@interchange.ubc.ca.

For more information, contact gc.events@ubc.ca or 604-822-0676, or consult the full program of events at: www.greencollege.ubc.ca/Academic/Tony%20Harrison%202008.pdf

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