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    Category Archive: Speaking Dates

    Primrose Hill Lectures 2014 – St Mary’s, NW3, Central London – June 11th

    Giving a talk on Shakespeare, Original Pronunciation, and more, in Central London next month. Twill be at 7pm on June 11th at St Mary’s Church, NW3, as part of the Primrose Hill Lectures 2014 series, in association with Primrose Hill Books.

    For more details, and to buy tickets, head here: Primrose Hill Lectures 2014 at St Mary’s

    Original Pronunciation // Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe // July 2014

    Back from a Passion in Practice workshop and Shakespeare on Toast Schools Workshops and a Springboard Shakespeare book tour around the USA. Coached a Company in their Original Pronunciation in Houston, worked with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, colleges in northern and central California, members of the Bristol Faire Ensemble in Chicago, visited the Folger Library in DC, gave a talk and a workshop at the Blackfriars Theatre in Staunton, VA, and spent 10 days in NYC, running workshops and giving talks in celebration of our Bard’s 450th.

    A terrific month.

    Back to the UK, to finish work on the new Oxford Illustrated Dictionary of Shakespeare for OUP that lands April 2015, that I’m co-writing with my father, and a book on accents for Macmillan called You Say Potato, that he’s writing with me, which will land October 2014.

    Meanwhile, am getting ready to direct The Winter’s Tale in June, and preparing the Original Pronunciation events for the Shakespeare’s Globe this July.

    My Shakespeare Ensemble, Dad and I will be presenting three events in the new Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. An evening of Prose and Poetry on July 10th, an evening of Songs and Sonnets on July 17th, to include new scorings of Shakespeare’s songs composed by Sam Amidon, played live by The Askew Sisters, ending with a cue-script rehearsed, staged reading by candle-light of Macbeth on July 20th – all to be heard in the recreation of the accent Shakespeare’s Company spoke in.

    You can hear the accent here: Shakespeare’s Original Pronunciation

    Houston, San Francisco, NYC, DC, Virginia – April Tour

    Here below, details of my book-talk & workshop tour around the USA

    April 2014

    Houston
    4th-11th, University of Houston Downtown, Original Pronunciation (Workshop)
    10th, Shakespeare on Toast, Annunciation Orthodox School, 1pm
    San Francisco
    14th, Pacific Union College, Shakespeare’s Verse (Workshop)
    17th, Santa Clara University, Shakespeare’s Verse (Workshop), 2pm
    17th, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare’s Verse (Workshop), 7pm
    Chicago
    18th-19th, Shakespeare’s Ensemble (Workshop)
    NYC
    23rd, NYPL, Shakespeare on Toast 1.15pm
    25th & 28th, Washington DC
    Virginia
    26th-27th, Original Practices talks and workshops, Blackfriars Playhouse, American Shakespeare Centre
    NYC
    28th, Shakespeare’s Verse (Open Workshop)
    29th, Sayville School, Long Island
    30th, Emma Willard School, Troy
    1st May, Shakespeare’s Verse (Open Workshop)

    The Once & Future Shakespeare – Oxford Lit Fest – 27th March 2014

    Come & see my new talk next week – The Once & Future Shakespeare – 12pm, Thurs 26th March

    As we approach Shakespeare’s 450th birthday celebration, what do the next 50 years hold for his works?

    Actor and producer Ben Crystal, author of Shakespeare on Toast, Springboard Shakespeare, and co-author of Shakespeare’s Words and the Shakespeare’s Miscellany) discusses why our current approach to Shakespeare’s works may need to change, how we can learn from the practices of the past to see our way forward, and the dramatic effect these lessons may have on the existing canon.

    Excerpts from Shakespeare will be performed by Ben and members of his Shakespeare ensemble. all trained in cue-script rehearsal techniques, where each is only given their lines, and the first encounter with one’s fellow actors is on stage, in front of a paying audience…

     

    Click here to book tickets

     

    British Council, London – 12th Feb, 2014

    Giving a talk at the British Council, which is open to all to come to, & is apparently being given a LIVE equally free Webcast for those who can’t.

    Register here to come/see:

    https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/speaking-the-bright-and-beautiful-english-of-shakespeare-ben-crystal-london-uk-live-via-webcast-registration-9810931761?aff=eorg

    Shakespeare Verse Masterclass – June 18th

    In celebration of my forthcoming Springboard Shakespeare series:

    A Shakespeare Verse Masterclass
    with Ben Crystal & Company
    Guest Sonneteer – Will Sutton

    Tuesday 18th June, 2pm

    Jackson’s Lane Theatre, Highgate

    £10 on the door
    First 10 places £0

    email us at Verse Masterclass

    Talk at the Old House, Milverton – Saturday 9th March 2013

    Giving two Shakespeare talks on Saturday at The Old House, Milverton, near Taunton. A 15th century house with a 500 year old mural of Henry VIII staring out at the proceedings. Fun!

    BBC article on the House and the Mural

     

    Date: Saturday March 9th, 2013

    Times:

    Matinee: 3pm

    Evening Show: 8pm

    Place:

    The Old House

    Parsonage Lane

    Milverton, TA4 1LR

    Price: £12.50, including refreshments

    Copies of Shakespeare on Toast will be for sale, c/o Brendan Books

    For more information on the talks, contact Helen on 01823 400 059 or Angie on 01823 401 047

    Shakespeare on Toast – Talk in NYC – November 12th 2012 – POSTPONED

    Unfortunately, due to family emergency, my talk in New York today has been postponed. More news on a new date to come anon.

    Shakespeare on Toast – Talk in NYC – November 12th 2012

    THRILLED to announce that Shakespeare on Toast will be available in all good bookshops – and as an eBook – in the United States from October 16th, 2012, published by Icon Books.

    In celebration, I’m joining forces with The Shakespeare Forum and will be giving a public talk at 8pmMonday 12th November at the über cool and über central-Manhattan Hartley House, 413 West 46th St (b/w 9th & 10th Ave), NY 10036.

    Shakespeare on Toast will be available at a discounted price, there’ll be wine, there’ll be cheese, there’ll be laughter, there’ll be tears…

    Actor and author Ben Crystal makes sense of Shakespeare by putting him back into context.

    First exploring what a trip to a Shakespearean Theatre in 1600 would be like…

    …an incredibly quick master-class on the poetry style Shakespeare wrote in that you’ll be talking about for days…

    …and a fascinating look at Original Pronunciation – the accent Shakespeare and his actors would have spoken in – and how it can shake loose a piece of Shakespeare…

    This evening is for anyone from 8-80: for apprentice bard-o-holics experiencing the Bard for the first time, for the Will-haters, through to audience members who love Shakespeare and want to learn something new…

     

    Head to The Shakespeare Forum or message their twitter feed for more.

     

    To request a review copy of Shakespeare on Toast or discuss interview or features, please contact

    Henry Lord, Publicity Manager at Icon Books

    Shakespeare on Toast – Coming to USA – October 16th 2012

    THRILLED to announce that Shakespeare on Toast will be available in all good bookshops – and as an eBook – in the United States from October 16th, 2012, published by Icon Books.

    In celebration, I’m joining forces with The Shakespeare Forum and will be giving a talk open to the public, on the evening of Monday 12th November (venue in Manhattan TBC).

    Further details of NYC-happenings will be posted shortly.

     

    To request a review copy or discuss interview or features, please contact

    Henry Lord, Publicity Manager at Icon Books