MEMS and the School of English at the University of Kent are delighted to welcome Paul Yachnin, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at McGill University, Montreal to give this year’s Renaissance Lecture. Entitled, ‘Thinking with Conversion in Shakespeare’s Playhouse’ the lecture takes place on Thursday 11th October at 6pm in Grimond Building, Lecture Theatre 2, the University of Kent.

In this presentation, Paul Yachnin provides an account of how thinking about the person and the world (including the political world) in Shakespeare’s playhouse developed inside the problematics and possibilities of conversion. Thinking about and with conversion extends across Shakespeare’s whole canon, fromTaming of the ShrewtoThe Tempest. The focus here is onMeasure for MeasureandKing Lear. One goal is to make a case for Shakespeare as the creator of a “conversional theatre” (though not in what might be the expected sense of the phrase). Another is to rethink Shakespearean philosophy by adding greater historical specificity—not to mention adding the body, the soul, and the social world—to familiar ideas about Shakespearean scepticism.

All are welcome and a wine reception will follow the lecture.