Saturday Lunch with Shakespeare: "Troilus and Cressida"
February 17, 2024
Doors open 11:45. Lunch from 12:00. The play will end by approximately 5:00 p.m.
Presenter: Paul Snowden
One of the Bard's lesser-known works, Troilus and Cressida first appeared in print in a quarto edition in 1609. It re-tells a story, drawn from Homer's Iliad, that Chaucer had made famous in England two centuries earlier.
The BBC version is directed by Jonathan Miller with Charles Gray as Pandarus, Anton Lesser as Troilus, and Suzanne Burden as Cressida.
Paul Snowden is our presenter, who writes: Echoing the "boy & girl" title of Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare's late play Troilus & Cressida presents another love story, but one that is not quite so "cute". While located in Troy at the time of Homer's Iliad, it is embellished with features
from Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. Indeed, the character of Criseyde/Cressida herself is a medieval innovation.
The character of Pandarus, the go-between, gave a new word to the vocabulary of English. Just as Shakespeare's King John does not refer to Magna Carta, which modern people perceive as the main event of his reign, this play makes no mention of the Trojan Horse, but it does feature
many famous characters including Achilles, Agamemnon, Ajax, and several other Greek or Trojan heroes whose names do not begin with "A".
I am convinced that (despite Troilus losing Cressida in the end) the play is not primarily a tragedy, nor is it a comedy, but another genre with a spelling that ends with "-dy" – melody, remedy, rhapsody, threnody...or something else?
Ticket prices, including lunch, are 4,950 yen for members and 5,500 yen for non-members (tax inclusive).
There is a cash bar and drink tickets are available at the Front Desk.
Please make reservations through the Front Desk 03-3211-3161 .
Cancellations after 6 p.m on February 13 will be charged in full.
The Special Projects Committee
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沙翁土曜午餐会(シェークスピアランチ会): トロイラスとクレシダ
日本語字幕監修 東京大学名誉教授小田島雄志
2月17日 (土) 12:00- 17:00
講師 早稲田大学名誉教授 ポール・スノードン
七年も続く戦争にギリシャの英雄たちがうんざりしていた頃、包囲されたトロイの街では、若きトロイラスとクレシダが恋を実らせる。
しかし、クレシダはギリシャ側に寝返った父カルカスによりギリシャに引き渡される。
クレシダはトロイラスに対して誠実でいられるのか。それとも、その名は永遠に不義の象徴とってしまうのか？
ギリシャ風ランチ付き会費税込4,950 円 (会員) 5,500 円 (非会員)
お申し込みはフロントデスクまで 電話 03-3211-3161 e-mail: front@fccj.or.jp
2月13日 (火) 18:00以降のキャンセルはフルチャージとなります。
特別企画委員会