Shakespeare on Toast » Hay on Wye

Interview with Sir Richard Eyre, Hay Festival, May 28th 2011

Ben — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:23:50 +0000

While working and speaking at the Hay Festival last week I interviewed Sir Richard Eyre, who ran the Royal National Theatre for ten years, published excerpts of his diaries of his time there in his National Service, and was at the Festival to interview his wife, the producer Sue Birtwistle, on the challenges of adaptation. I grabbed half an hour with him…

There was a look in his eyes that made me speechless. Not a good way to start an interview, I grant you, but goosebumps shivered up my arms, I put down my pen and forgot about the dictaphone in my bag.

He stared into the middle distance, watching the scene play out in his memory. “Heart-breaking…”

Click here to read the rest of the interview…

Cafedirect & Toast at Hay-on-Wye

Ben — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:13:19 +0000

This coming Sunday 31st, as part of The Guardian Hay-on-Wye Literature Festival, I’ll be talking all things Shakespeare, at the breakfast hour of 9am.

Cafedirect is sponsoring the event, providing free coffee – and I’ll see if I can’t rustle up some toast and jam to go with the Toast…

Come one, come all… Click here for a link to the Hay website… and below to the right for details of Cafedirect… also their blogpost here…

From the South Bank to South Wales…

Ben — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:06:29 +0000

A fantastic workshop this morning at the Royal National Theatre, as part of the William Poel verse-speaking festival. Cicely Berry, the grand-dam of voice and Shakespeare gave the workshop after mine – I intended to stay for 5 minutes, and was there until the end. Great to watch a master at work.

Now off to Hay-on-Wye, for the literary festival’s Winter Weekend.

I’ll be reading for Libby Purves tomorrow morning, then giving a talk on Toast tomorrow afternoon, at 2.30pm.

See here for more…