Gregory Doran on Encounters with First Folios | Shakespeare@Peter's | Dec 2023

Gregory Doran in conversation with Professor Judith Buchanan (Professor of English at the University of Oxford and Master of St Peter's College, Oxford) and Darcy Dixon. This programme took place at the December 2023 Shakespeare@Peter's event at @SPCOxford, an event marking the 400th anniversary of the 1623 Shakespeare Folio.

Gregory Doran has been described as “one of the great Shakespearians of his generation” (The Sunday Times). He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as an actor in 1987, and became its Artistic Director in 2012. Notable productions include Antony and Cleopatra with Harriet Walter and Patrick Stewart, Richard II and Hamlet, both with David Tennant, All’s Well That Ends Well with Dame Judi Dench, and The Tempest with Simon Russell Beale. Greg’s long relationship and creative partnership with his late husband, Antony Sher, produced acclaimed productions of Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, Henry IV (I&II) and King Lear. Greg’s production of Cymbeline, in 2023, was his 50th for the RSC. Greg’s latest book My Shakespeare: A Director’s Journey Through the First Folio was published in 2023. Greg is the 2023 - 2024 Cameron Mackintosh Distinguished Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at the University of Oxford.

Judith Buchanan is Professor of English at the University of Oxford and Master of St Peter’s College. She is the author of many works on Shakespeare performance history and on film history. She co-wrote and was Shakespeare advisor on the 2018 Viridian feature film Macbeth (directed by Kit Monkman). She has given the expert voice-over commentaries for many commercial releases of silent films, including for the British Film Institute's Play On! Shakespeare on Silent Film and she leads an internationally focused silent film project called ‘Silents Now’. She speaks regularly to public as well as to academic audiences about Shakespeare and in summer 2022 she spoke at Sotheby’s New York about a rare copy of the 1623 Shakespeare Folio that was up for sale.

Darcy Dixon is an actor, singer, movement artist and creative consultant. She graduated from St Peter’s College in 2022 having studied Philosophy & Theology and is now at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) on their BA Acting course. Though Darcy has performed at the likes of The Globe, The Young Vic, The National Theatre and The Oxford Playhouse, a career highlight is co-directing St Peter’s College's Garden Play in 2021.