HMC Literature 110: Shakespeare

Spring 2009

This year, the nineteen students in Literature 110: Shakespeare have decided to expand the class's repertoire in a surprising way. Rather than a play by William Shakespeare, they will perform a powerful tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi, by one of Shakespeare's contemporaries, John Webster. This famous 1613 drama was written for Shakespeare's acting company, the King's Men, and performed at the two theaters that company owned, the Globe and the Blackfriars. Based on fact, the play depicts the tragic fall of a woman who marries for love against the wishes of her villainous brothers.

The Duchess of Malfi will be performed on Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2, beginning at 1:30 on both days. It will take place in the Thomas-Garrett Courtyard on the HMC campus: if it's sunny, bring a hat; if cold, a sweater. Admission is free. If you'd like to learn more about Literature 110, please have a look at the course syllabus.

The ghostly crew above, by the way, is part of the cast of our 2003 production of Richard III. For those who might be curious, the Spring 2009 production will be the seventeenth that the class has mounted since its first in 1989. Here's a list of all of them:

• 2008--Measure for Measure.
• 2006--King Lear.
• 2005--Twelfth Night.
• 2003--Richard III.
• 2002--The Winter's Tale.
• 2001--As You Like It.
• 2000--The Tempest.
• 1999--Henry IV, Part 1.
• 1998--Much Ado About Nothing.
• 1997--Macbeth.
• 1996--King Lear.
• 1995--Romeo and Juliet.
• 1994--The Winter's Tale.
• 1992--Henry IV, Part 1.
• 1991--The Tempest.
• 1989--Macbeth.