Amanda Eubanks Winkler
London-based students, faculty, staff and alumni are invited to a showcase of Restoration Shakespeare at the historic Globe Theatre, co-led by Amanda Eubanks Winkler, associate professor of music history and cultures in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S).
The event is Wednesday, July 17, from 4-6 p.m. (British Summer Time) at the Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe (21 New Globe Walk, London). Free and open to the public, the program includes live performances of music and scenes from late 17th-century, Restoration-era adaptations of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and “Macbeth.” Tickets are free, but must be pre-booked through Eventbrite: eventbrite.co.uk/e/performing-restoration-shakespeare-showcase-tickets-63111704808.
The showcase is part of “Performing Restoration Shakespeare,” a multinational, interdisciplinary project sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom.
Eubanks Winkler co-leads the project with Richard Schoch, professor of arts, English and languages at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland.
In addition to the performances, the duo will facilitate a discussion with Will Tosh, lecturer and research fellow at Shakespeare’s Globe; Robert Richmond, stage director of the acclaimed 2018 production of “Macbeth” at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. (funded in part by “Performing Restoration Shakespeare”); and Bob Eisenstein, “Macbeth”’s music director.
The performers are Kate Eastwood Norris, who portrayed Lady Macbeth in the Folger production of “Macbeth”; Emily Barber, who played Ariel in a recent workshop on “The Tempest” at Shakespeare’s Globe; and Dominic Brewer, who was Ferdinand in the “Tempest” workshop version.
“You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at our production of the Restoration ‘Macbeth,” Eubanks Winkler says. “You also will gain insight into the benefit of embedding scholars into the entire rehearsal and creative process, as well as the value of performing these works today.”
A scene from the acclaimed 2018 production of “Macbeth” at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C.
“Performing Restoration Shakespeare” is an $800,000 project involving Syracuse University, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, Shakespeare’s Globe and Queen’s University.
One of Eubanks Winkler’s goals with the project is to use multimedia and digital distribution to engage with a broad audience. “We’re creating an online repository of video documentaries about our project, so that others may be inspired to perform these compelling adaptations. We also discuss best practices for fostering scholar-performer collaboration,” she adds.
“Restoration Shakespeare” refers to adaptations of the Bard’s plays that were performed from 1660-1714, amid the restoration of the English monarchy.
“When theaters reopened after the English civil war, few new plays were available. As a result, theater companies presented Shakespeare in new, exciting ways,” says Eubanks Winkler, a scholar of 17th- and 18th-century English music and drama. “These extravagant adaptations were popular then, and still are today. Our performances of ‘The Tempest’ at the Globe and ‘Macbeth’ [at the Folger] have attracted wide press coverage and sold-out audiences.”
