Saturday 26th April, 5:00pm
York St John University Creative Centre Recital Room
Free
In this special session, Professor Anne-Marie Evans will be interviewing very special guest Irwin Appel to discuss his varied and distinguished career, Henry VI, the importance of the York International Shakespeare Festival and York Shakespeare Project, and all things Shakespeare! Come and join in what should be an exciting and dynamic conversation.
Anne-Marie Evans is Professor of American Literature and Pedagogy at York St John University, where she is also Head of School for Humanities. Anne-Marie is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a long-time Shakespeare fan.
As a professional director, actor, and composer/sound designer, Irwin Appel has worked with the New York, Oregon, Orlando, Utah, New Jersey and other prominent Shakespeare and regional theater companies throughout the United States. Recently in Europe, he played the title role in King Lear for Lit Moon World, as well as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1 for the Prague Shakespeare Company. In November 2024, he played Shylock at the renowned Estates Theatre in Prague where Mozart premiered the opera Don Giovanni in 1787. He is the founder and artistic director of Naked Shakes, producing Shakespeare’s plays in the US and internationally since 2006. In 2023, Naked Shakes was selected to bring his original adaptation of eight Shakespeare’s history plays entitled The Death of Kings as the closing performance in the Verona Shakespeare Fringe Festival in Verona, Italy. He has also led workshops and presentations about Naked Shakes throughout the US and in China, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and Czech Republic. He is Professor of Theater at University of California Santa Barbara, and is a graduate of Princeton University and the Juilliard School.
