This spring the Ridgefield Library, along with other community partners, will commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death with a series of lectures, performances, and screenings.
On Wednesday, April 6, at 7 p.m., Dr. Mark Schenker from Yale College will give a lecture on Shakespeare’s major tragedies. Among the topics he will discuss are the tragic view of life, the nature of the tragic hero, the interconnectedness of good and evil and the ways in which Shakespeare employs theater as a symbol and metaphor.
The Ridgefield Playhouse will screen the National Theater in HD encore screening of Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch, on Wednesday, April 13. Screenings will take place at 3 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and free for teens and may be purchased at ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
Participants in Founders Hall Book Club will meet on Thursday, April 14, at 3, to discuss Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare: The World As Stage. This discussion is led by Assistant Library Director Mary Rindfleisch and is open to members of Founders Hall.
On Saturday, April 23, the date of Shakespeare’s birth and death, the Prospector Theater will screen Sphere’s Romeo and Juliet at 11:30 a.m. Tickets are $5 and may be purchased at Prospectortheater.org.
That same afternoon at 2, actor and teacher Stephen Collins will present Shake-scene. Collins will bring Shakespeare’s tragedies, comedies histories and sonnets to life as he performs as King Lear, Edmund, Iago, Prospero and many others. Please register at ridgefieldlibrary.org.
To round off the celebrations The Barefoot Shakespeare Company, based in New York City, will perform Beatrice and Juliet: Vignettes from Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet on the library lawn on Saturday, April 30, at 2.
Celebrating Shakespeare is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. For more information and to register for library programs please visit ridgefieldlibrary.org or call 203-438-2282.
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