San Antonio College Library

Synonymous with metaphysical poetry, John Donne combined wit with passion, startling diction with curious contrasts. This program chronicles his extraordinary life as lawyer, lover, sailor, father, preacher, and poet. Manuscripts and paintings are combined with readings from many of Donne's most famous writings, including "The Flea," "Elegy XX," "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," "The Calm," "Progress of the Soul," "Holy Sonnet XVII," "Meditation...

Patterned on Greek and Roman classics, yet achieving a voice of its own by defying the strict dictates of classical subject matter, Milton's epic poem is a masterpiece of monumental proportions. His diverse and often awesome use of language creates an effect as surreal and powerful as Dante's Inferno. This program features probing analysis by Professors Thomas Winnifrith, University of Warwick, and Robert Wilcher, University of Birmingham. Topics...

Witty, sensual, and poignant, Shakespeare's sonnets are perhaps the greatest love poems ever written. In this ingenious program, 29 of the Bard's best are delivered in various pastoral settings-as well as at the breakfast table, over the telephone, and even as a standup comedy routine. Divided into Prelude, The Young Friend, The Dark Lady, and Epilogue, the performances include the following sonnets: 1, 3, 12, 15, 18, 20, 29, 33, 34, 35, 57, 60, 73,...

In a reaction against Elizabethan-period poetry, 17th-century English poets such as John Donne, George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, and Andrew Marvell began writing in a new style. Although derisively dubbed "metaphysical" because of its unseemly-that is, intellectual-nature, metaphysical poetry soon became appreciated for its remarkable blend of emotion and erudition, as evidenced by complex conceits, unconventional imagery, and the avoidance of smooth...

In the first program, each actor comments on the major scenes of the play, and, through excerpts from productions that range from the silent film era to the modern stage, we see various interpretations of those scenes. Trevor Nunn then interviews each actor about the source of his interpretation. The program includes both traditional and avant-garde productions.

In the first program, each actor comments on the major scenes of the play, and, through excerpts from productions that range from the silent film era to the modern stage, we see various interpretations of those scenes. Trevor Nunn then interviews each actor about the source of his interpretation. The program includes both traditional and avant-garde productions.

Shakespeare's troubled character comes to life in this program in the capable hands of leading scholars, as they discuss the major themes of the play, its plot, and the actions of its main characters. Analyzing key scenes, scholars Russell Jackson and Stanley Wells of Stratford-upon-Avon offer insights into the underlying meaning of Hamlet's eloquent soliloquies, as well as the play's eight violent deaths, adultery, ghostly haunting, and ultimate...

Called "the greatest Hamlet of his generation" by Guardian reviewer Robert McCrum, Scottish actor David Tennant headlines this edgy film version of the acclaimed 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company stage production. Tennant is supported by a host of gifted players-including the impeccable Patrick Stewart as Claudius and Oliver Ford Davies in an astonishing performance as a doddering yet strangely leonine Polonius. Modern costumes, shrewd textual abridgements,...

This work-the only Shakespeare tragedy considered to have its roots in the classics-is a study in contradiction. Though it is about the character of Brutus, it has Caesar as its dominant figure. This and other complexities and themes of the drama are investigated through the performance of key scenes by noted Shakespearean experts from the Shakespeare Centre and the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon Avon. Themes and topics include politics and...

John Kani's Othello is a fine and masterful performance that should make every white actor think twice before blacking up for the Moor, wrote The Guardian of this raw and powerful interpretation of the play. The production marked the first time an African actor had been cast in the title role opposite a white Desdemona before a multiracial audience in Johannesburg, South Africa. With Tony Award winner John Kani as Othello, Joanna Weinberg as Desdemona,...