Ideas After Hours | Feeling Scene: Performance Disguise, and Point of View in Two Scenes from Shakespeare

In-Person

Ideas After Hours: Where Curiosity Sparks Conversation is a new monthly series held after the library closes on the second Friday of each month. Enjoy an engaging presentation on a thought-provoking topic, then gather by the fireplace for refreshments and lively conversation inspired by what we've learned together.

William Shakespeare was first and foremost a man of the theatre—a playwright, actor, and sharer in one of the two great London acting companies of his day. As a result, his plays abound with moments of performance, moments in which characters, either by choice or out of necessity, perform something other than what they are. In this program we will look at two such scenes. The first is from Shakespeare's sublime comedy Twelfth Night. In this moment, two characters, one in gender disguise, debate the nature of love as it is felt and performed by men and women. In the second scene, from the history play Henry IV, Part 1, Shakespeare's famous reprobate character Falstaff and his present partner-in-dissipated-living, Prince Hal, perform various roles as a rehearsal for a situation that will, before their dramatic association is completed, become all too real for both.

Anne Colwell writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. She is a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of Delaware. Her collection of short stories, Broken-Heart Syndrome, was published by the University of Wisconsin's Cornerstone Press in 2025. She has published two books of poems, Believing Their Shadow (Word Poetry, 2010) and Mother's Maiden Name (Word Poetry, 2013). She has received both Emerging and Emerging Artist Awards in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction from the Delaware Division of Arts. Her poems, short stories, and essays have appeared in various journals, including Bellevue Literary Review, California Quarterly, Southern Poetry Review, Brooklyn Review, and The Madison Review. She has been a member of the staff at Bread Loaf Writers Conference and a visiting professor at the University of Granada in Spain.

As a company member over two decades at the American Shakespeare Center, James Keegan has performer some of the great roles in Shakespeare, including Macbeth, King Lear, Falstaff, Iago, and Shylock. He has also performed at other regional theaters, including the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, American Stage Theater, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Theatreworks, and Elm Shakespeare Company. He has been a visiting performance artist at both the University of South Carolina, where he played King Lear, and at Villanova University, where he played Hieronimo in Thomas Kyd's rarely produced The Spanish Tragedy. His voice acting has been featured in commercials on radio and TV, and for Graphic Audio books. He has also published poems, stories, and essays in various periodicals and collections. He recently retired from the University of Delaware's Associates in Arts Program, in which he taught, alongside his wife Anne Colwell, as a Professor of English for three decades.

Each person must register to reserve a seat. Please do not list two people on one registration.