All the World’s a Stage – Theatre and its histories in art history – Northampton Museum and Art Gallery

Art history lecture series
Friday 30 September – Friday 21 October
10.15am – 12.15pm
£6 per lecture or £20 for the whole series ticket (includes tea/coffee and biscuits)
Enactment, the public display of theatre and makebelieve, have long been part of human social and religious interaction, fostering communal participation and understanding as well as different forms of interpretations and ways of seeing. Join us as we explore four distinctly different phases of public display and storytelling through the art historian’s eye. Our journey starts with the enactments of medieval mystery plays, halts at the Italian Commedia dell’Arte and its importance particularly for the arts of Rococo Europe, reaching its apogee in exploring how William Hogarth and Richard Garrick immortalized the theatre. Our final session will address the use of art in the theatre of war. Please note that this lecture series runs in conjunction with the current exhibition at Abington Park Museum which until December 2022 charts the history of Northampton’s Masque theatre group.
Booking essential.