Stratford-upon-Avon Research Conversations

Monthly talks at Stratford-upon-Avon Library exploring Shakespeare and local history research.

The second Monday of every month from 3.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m., Stratford-upon-Avon Public Library, Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6QW.

Stratford-upon-Avon is the home to some of the greatest research resources for Shakespeare, the town itself, and the wider, local region.

Please come and join us for an opportunity to hear about the research being carried out into the wonderful archives and collections made available to us all.

We begin with a twenty-minute conversation between a visiting guest-speaker and someone whose research is connected to Stratford-upon-Avon and then develop that conversation more widely among those present.

Everyone is welcome. Admission Free. Refreshments are available. Donations encouraged.

Tickets can be booked on the Eventbrite website.

Presented by The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Warwickshire Libraries.

Remembering Michael Pennington (1943-2026).

Michael Pennington was a good friend of Stratford-upon-Avon, and a great Shakespearian actor. His roles included (for the R.S.C.): Angelo, Mercutio, Hector, Edgar, Ferdinand, Hamlet, Biron, and Timon. In 1986, he co-founded (with Michael Bogdanov) The English Shakespeare Company. His roles included: Richard II, Prince Harry, Henry V, Leontes, Macbeth, and Coriolanus. He played Antony in Chichester and King Lear twice. In 2020 – just hours before Lockdown – he played Prospero (at the Jermyn Street Theatre), and again in 2021. In 2022, he read the part of King Lear in Stratford-upon-Avon’s Town Hall. He performed many other roles on stage, screen, and television (he appeared in The Return of the Jedi in 1983), toured his one-man shows on Shakespeare and Chekhov, and liked to take part in The Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Festival. We in Stratford-upon-Avon cherish our memories of him. This gathering is an opportunity to hear about his Shakespearian work and for people who gather to remember and recall his work and connections to the town.

Guest speakers: Professor Michael Dobson (The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham) and Mairi Macdonald (Stratford-upon-Avon Historian).

If you’d like to join us, please sign up for free via the Eventbrite website.