Join The Pushkin Club and Sir Tony Brenton for a talk entitled “Shakespeare the Russian” and readings of Russian poetry from the 19th and 20th centuries which was inspired by Shakespeare or Shakespearian themes. In his talk he will explore the meaning, importance and the attractiveness of Shakespeare for Russians and Russian culture. Have the Russians created their “own” Shakespeare? What is the link between Shakespeare’s heritage, Russian history and Russian culture?
Sir Tony is the former UK Ambassador to Russia (2004-2008), was an Economic and Scientific Counsellor in Moscow (1994-1998), and is the author of several publications on Russian culture.
“Shakespeare is more than just British property. He is great enough to have been censored by Nicholas I and Stalin. In his richness and abundance, in his scope and diversity, in the way his words fall smoothly into your language, and his characters have found home on your streets and on your stage, he is at least partly Russian. I am returning his Russian facet to you!” - Tony Brenton in Questions of Literature, 2007, issue 4.
Sir Tony Brenton will discuss Shakespeare’s profound influence on Russian music, poetry and literature and Russian culture generally, and will also remind us of Russia’s great contribution to our own understanding of Shakespeare. In his talk he will range from the works of Turgenev to the great 20th century poets, Pasternak, Tsvetaeva and Akhmatova, the music of Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, and Grigori Kozintsev’s brilliant film productions of Hamlet and King Lear.
In the second half of the evening poems by 19th and 20th century Russian poets which were inspired by Shakespeare or Shakespearean themes will be read. This will include poems by Fet, Sologub, Khodasevich, Blok, Tsvetaeva, Akhmatova, Mandelstam and Pasternak. In some cases, the reader will provide a short explanation of the relevant Shakespearean theme or motif before reading the poem.
The poems will be recited in Russian by Alla Gelich and read in English translations by Lucy Daniels and David Brummell, who will also introduce the evening. The text of the original poems and translations will be made available to members of the live audience during the event and will be sent to online attendees after the event.
GUEST SPEAKERS AND READERS
Sir Tony Brenton KCMG is a distinguished British diplomat and writer on international issues. He served in the Foreign Office for more than 30 years.
After time working in Cairo, London and Brussels, Tony learnt Russian and spent 1994-1998 in Moscow dealing with Russian economic reform.
After a further period in London working on UN matters (including the establishment of the International Criminal Court), he was posted in 2001 to Washington, dealing with the consequences of 9/11, the Afghanistan war and the Iraq war. From 2004-2008 he served as HM Ambassador in Moscow, where he managed Britain’s relations with Russia during a turbulent period. He edited the publication Historically Inevitable?: Turning Points of the Russian Revolution (Profile Books, 2016) and is a regular commentator in The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent and other British publications and on the BBC. Tony is also a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. Sir Tony Brenton has been a Patron of the Cambridge Russian-Speaking Society since May 2018.
David Brummell is a long-standing member of the Pushkin Club and a former trustee of Pushkin House (2004-2013).
Alla Gelich, our Russian reader, is also a long-standing member of the Pushkin Club, and has recited Russian poetry on numerous occasions – in Great Britain, Russia, Belgium, Holland and Germany.
Lucy Daniels, our English reader, is a former Co-Chairman of the Pushkin Club and has read English translations of Russian poems on numerous previous occasions at the Pushkin Club. She has also played the main characters in online stagings of Pushkin’s plays in translation.