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C A L L F O R
P A P E R S: Deadline for papers &
grants is past but below is
important information for anyone wishing or planning to attend this
conference. |
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SHAW’S CORNER |
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SHAW’S CORNER AS A THEATRE |
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The Ayot St Lawrence/ London, England Shaw Conference June 17-22, 2013 “Shaw at Home” Co-Sponsored by National Trust, The Shaw Society, and the International Shaw Society |
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This 5-day conference will
take place mostly in Ayot St. Lawrence, a small village in the country just
north of London, England where Bernard Shaw and his wife lived for 44 years at
“Shaw’s Corner,” but registrants will be bused into London for a day during the
week to see important Shavian sites there as well. Since the conference starts on Monday
morning, June 17, it’s recommended that you arrive in London no later than
Sunday, June 16, and get settled in your accommodation near or in Ayot St.
Lawrence, ready for pick-up by bus early on Monday morning if you’re staying
outside Ayot. The conference concludes
on Saturday, June 22, and it’s up to you whether you leave earlier or later on
that day. Some may wish to go into Ayot
for a guided walk around or to have a farewell lunch at the Brocket Arms, but
the timing of your departure on Saturday is up to you. Accommodations will be available mostly in
the towns and villages in the urbanized area around Ayot St. Lawrence, the few
in Ayot itself mostly being booked. All
the details about accommodations, registration, transportation, featured
speakers, and the conference schedule will be provided here (scroll down or use
the links above) and also at http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/shaws-corner (or at http://shawathome2013conference.yolasite.com if the
other site is not working), and the actual registration page is at http://bit.ly/ShawatHomeRegistration . In the meantime, if you have Google Earth,
you might enjoy looking this area over and taking 3-D walks down the country
lanes around “Shaw’s Corner.” Walking tours will also be scheduled during the
conference. Another way to familiarize
yourself with “Shaw’s Corner” is to read the article at www.shawsociety.org/Shaw's-Corner-Theatre.htm.
TOPICS
& SUBMITTING PAPER PROPOSALS: DEADLINE FEBRUARY 15, 2013 (closed)
The topic
will be left open, as long as Shaw and his career are a major part of your
paper, but especially welcomed would be papers on Geneva and Buoyant Billions,
the two Shaw plays scheduled for the conference, papers on the topic of “Shaw
and War” that Geneva lends itself to,
and on anything having to do with how the environment of Ayot St. Lawrence
might have affected Shaw’s writing and other actions. More generally, anything that discusses the
place of “place” in Shaw’s life and writings would be appropriate. For consideration by a committee, your
submission in abstract form (300-500 words), which should include any
Audio-Video needs you have, should be emailed as an attachment, along with a
letter of introduction and a C.V. to "Michael O'Hara" mohara@bsu.edu. But you could also mail it to ISS President
Michael O’Hara at:
Dr.
Michael M. O'Hara
Associate Dean, College of Fine Arts
The Sursa Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts
2000 W. University Avenue
College of Fine Arts, AC 200
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306
The
International Shaw Society provides travel grants of up to $500 per applicant
to assist emerging scholars in meeting travel costs. For instructions on how to apply, see http://www.shawsociety.org/ISS-Travel-Grants.htm
Some details about the
conference are yet to be worked out, but it’s known that this conference will
conclude with a production of Shaw’s play Geneva
on Friday night on the Shaw’s Corner back lawn following a picnic supper. There will also be a staged reading of Shaw’s
Buoyant Billions at some other time
during the week. Both plays will be by
Michael Friend Productions (http://www.mfp.org.uk/) . There will also
be a visit while in London to the Questor’s Theatre
in Ealing to see Mrs.
Warren’s Profession. The conference
will definitely start on Monday morning, so it’s strongly recommended that you
arrive at your hotel or B&B by the previous Sunday (June 16) at the latest,
and remain until the following Saturday morning (June 22), if you wish to
experience the entire conference. The
keynote address by Sir Michael Holroyd will take place on Monday, June 17. Wednesday, June 19, will be devoted to a day
in London. A detailed conference
schedule (subject to change) can be viewed at at Schedule.htm
or Schedule.pdf,
but you can see an outline of it linked at http://shawathome2013conference.yolasite.com
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Sir Michael Holroyd, the author
of the most comprehensive recent biography of Shaw, will deliver the keynote
address: “A Shavian Tale of Two Cities. From Dublin to London," Polly Toynbee,
a journalist for The Guardian, granddaughter of both Arnold Toynbee and Gilbert
Murray, and provider of a Foreword for the latest edition of Shaw’s "The
Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism... ,"
one of the most important books Shaw wrote at Ayot, will speak on Shaw’s
journalism, and Michael
Billington, drama critic for The Guardian, will speak on Shaw in the
theater. After a concert of Shaw’s
favorite music on Tuesday night, well-known Shaw scholar Stanley Weintraub will
speak on Thursday on “The Autobiography of Corno di Bassetto" (Shaw’s joking nom de plume in some of his music criticism).
FEATURED
SPEAKERS
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Michael Holroyd |
Polly Toynbee |
Michael Billington |
Stanley Weintraub |
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Photo by
Caroline Forbes |
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Photo by
John Thaxter |
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As Ayot St
Lawrence is very small and evening entertainment is largely restricted to
watching TV, visiting a pub, or reading a book, etc., the conference will
enlist performers and special talks to help us enjoy the evenings.
On Monday night, for
instance, there will be a drinks
reception (wine & canapés) with a talk from Toni Kanal
Green (actress and VP of the Shaw Society) and Richard Digby
Day (director of many Shaw plays and Artistic Director at many theatres, such
as the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park), who will talk about their many years
of providing plays at Shaw’s Corner and about “Shaw As Others Saw Him.” See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Digby_Day
and Shaw’sCornerTheatre
.
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On
Tuesday night, in honor of and as a memoriam to Isidor
Saslav, whose idea this was, we will be favored by a
recital of some of Shaw’s favorite music by violinist Lucy Waterhouse and her
pianist mother Elisabeth Waterhouse, with the singing of
a few pieces by mezzo-soprano Brigitte Bogar and
readings from Shaw’s music criticism by Christopher Innes (York
University).
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The Saslavs |
Brigitte Bogar |
Christopher Innes |
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Lucy and Elisabeth Waterhouse |
Lucy Waterhouse and Isidor Saslav |
Wednesday night will conclude the day in London
with the seeing of Mrs. Warren’s
Profession at the Questor’s Theatre
in Ealing (West London).
See http://www.questors.org.uk/page.aspx?page=320
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THE
QUESTOR’S THEATRE MATTOCK LANE SITE |
THE
PLAYHOUSE |
THE STUDIO |
Thursday evening will
conclude with a celebratory dinner with music from Shaw’s period and talks from
Phillip Riley about establishing a Shaw National Theatre and a talk from
actress Sylvia Sims (see her biography at http://www.sylviasyms.co.uk/
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Syms) .
And Friday evening will
conclude the conference with a performance of the original Geneva by Michael Friend Productions
(after a concert reading in the afternoon of Buoyant Billions).
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Gamboling youth in the last act of Michael Friend’s Back to Methuselah, 2006
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Michael Friend
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Registration
before the conference is available on links from the “Shaw’s Corner” website at
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/shaws-corner/,
but it’s easier to just click on this: http://bit.ly/ShawatHomeRegistration
. What’s there is for full registration
for the entire week, and if you’re interested in just registering for Day Tickets,
click on the following:
http://bit.ly/ShawatHomeMonday
http://bit.ly/ShawatHomeTuesday
http://bit.ly/ShawatHomeWednesday
http://bit.ly/ShawatHomeThursday
http://bit.ly/ShawatHomeFriday
Please note
that the price of registration is higher here than for other ISS conferences
because this conference is two days longer than the usual and a lot more is included
in the price. Out-of-pocket expenses
should be considerably less. Full
registration prices are £270 ($420) for registration for Non-ISS/Shaw
Society/NT members, £240 ($375) for ISS/Shaw Society/NT members, and £180
($280) for students with student ID, plus there is a 5% booking fee. The conversions are based on current rates,
where a pound equals approximately $1.55.
Registration at the Conference: Although you have probably registered
for the conference online before you’ve arrived at the conference, once you
arrive you need to confirm that registration and pick up your conference
packet. For that, go to the Palladian
Church upon arriving in Ayot St Lawrence at the beginning of the conference.
There are
many hotels and B&Bs within a 10 or 15 minute
drive to Ayot St. Lawrence, and a list (with ways to contact them) can be found
at http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/servlet/file/store5/item1026787/version1/Accommodation20List_Shaw%20at%20Home%202013.pdf. If that’s
not working, try http://www.shawsociety.org/Accommodation-List-Shaw-at-Home-2013.pdf
or http://shawathome2013conference.yolasite.com/resources/recommendedaccommodation2.pdf A larger Google map of this can be found at https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=201888739427635823715.0004ce99f06ac6f14c5b9&msa=0&ll=51.809464,-0.251999&spn=0.17682,0.308647 . Busing will be provided to and from Ayot on
a daily basis if you’re staying at one of the prescribed hotels or B&Bs.
Exchange rates go up and
down daily (they’re currently at $1.55 to a pound), so there’s no telling what
it will be on the day of your exchange, but as a general rule, to be safe, it’s
recommended that you multiply pounds by $1.65 (U.S. or Canadian) to get a rough
idea of what something in pounds will cost you, including exchange fees. It’s strongly recommended that you have at
least 100 pounds in your wallet before leaving the airport and perhaps more if
you’re going to take a car or taxi to Ayot St Lawrence and vicinity. Ask for the location of Cash Machines (ATMs)
when you arrive at your accommodation or, if you’re at a hotel, ask if they do
exchanges and what the charge would be.
Don’t expect generosity.
TRANSPORTATION
ISSUES
You will be
on your own for transportation from and to the airport (or wherever you are) to
and from Ayot St Lawrence, which is just north of St. Albans and northwest of Welwyn, or to the hotel or B&B of your choice in the
urbanized area surrounding. Once you’re
settled into a hotel or B&B on the prescribed list, there will be arranged
transportation for the rest of the visit, as needed. At both Heathrow and Gatwick, London’s two
major airports, you will find various means of transportation provided—trains,
bus, car--and various ways to get it arranged.
You could just step into a taxi for the ride to your accommodation
(but ask the cost before departing), but you can also pre-arrange for a car or
bus. At Heathrow, for example, you can
email info@british-airport-transfers.co.uk for
quotes (in pounds) on various rides to Ayot St. Lawrence (you have to
give them the Ayot postal code AL6 9BX or to wherever your hotel or B&B is
in the surrounding area. It’s about 35
miles to Ayot from Heathrow and less than an hour’s drive). Just check the websites for Heathrow and
Gatwick for the most up-to-date ways to book transportation. Heathrow is just west of London, and
Gatwick is a good bit south of London.
Heathrow is much closer to Ayot St Lawrence, but there’s a beltway
around London that those coming from Gatwick will find useful in circumventing
London and heading north to the Ayot St Lawrence area. Car service can be arranged from Heathrow at
http://www.airport-cars-heathrow.co.uk
and from Gatwick at http://www.airport-cars-gatwick.co.uk
, among other possibilities.
Other than “Shaw’s Corner” itself, which will be toured, two
notable buildings in the village, where most of the conference will take place,
are the Palladian Church and the Brocket Arms, both within easy walking
distance of “Shaw’s Corner.” There will
also be some sort of temporary tent or marquee erected in the fields diagonally
across from “Shaw’s Corner” where various activities will take place (some
meals may be served and on-site registration may take place there when you pick
up your conference packet).
The Palladian Church,
Ayot St Lawrence
The church was
designed in a neo-classical style
by Nicholas Revett (1720-1804)
with a Palladian
style frontage with Doric columns.
The Brocket Arms
Registrants will be bused into London on Wednesday for
a day of visiting Shavian sites, probably beginning with the London School of
Economics, partially founded by the Shaws and where his photographic collection
is archived, followed by a walk over Waterloo Bridge and by a bus tour of other
Shavian sites that will be made up as we go.
Evening entertainment will include seeing Mrs. Warren’s Profession at the Questor’s
Theatre in Ealing (West London) . Too much to see, too little time!! We’ll see what we can.
Whatever, this will be the conference of a lifetime. Don’t miss it! A schedule of talks, performances, and other
events can be found at Schedule.htm
or Schedule.pdf , but
they are still subject to change.
Webmaster R F D