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| William Blake's 250th Birthday Celebrated at Poets' Theatre (12.3.07) |
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| Tickets/Registration: 212.415.5500 |
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| Media Contact: Emily Gewitz, 212.415.5455, email |
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| 250TH BIRTHDAY OF ENGLISH POET WILLIAM BLAKE TO BE CELEBRATED BY THE 92ND STREET Y POETS' THEATRE |
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Royal Shakespeare Company Alumna Ruth Rosen Performs Her One-Woman Show Composed Entirely of Blake's Own Words |
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Monday, December 3, 8:00 PM
92nd Street Y (1395 Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street)
Elohim Creating Adam, by William Blake (1795)
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| New York, NY, November, 3, 2007—On Monday, December 3 at 8pm, the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center will honor the life and work of William Blake with "William Blake at 250," performance by former Royal Shakespeare Company member RUTH ROSEN. Ms. Rosen gives the American premiere of her one-woman show exploring the English literary icon's life through his poetry, prose and letters. Inspired by Blake' 1795 painting "Elohim Creating Adam" (currently hanging in London's Tate Gallery), the production has been praised by Time Out London as "an inspired theatrical performance of great power and beauty." The event, a presentation of the 92nd Street Y Poets' Theatre, is part of the 2007/08 season of literary programs presented by the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at www.92Y.org/poetry and 212.415.5500. |
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In addition to being the American premiere of her play, the production is Rosen's own American premiere. But it is not the first time she has written and performed works about figures she admires—Rosen has created performances about the lives of over 100 writers, poets and artists including Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Brontë, James Joyce, George Sand, Colette, Elizabeth Bishop and most recently, John Keats. Her performances have been routinely praised as "inspired," "hypnotic," and "unforgettable."
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Tributes to William Blake's work are being mounted from London to Edinburgh throughout the United Kingdom this year in celebration of his 1757 birth. Because he is much better known there than in the United States, Rosen thought it was important to expose American audiences to this highly revered British poet, and the anniversary proved the ideal time.
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"Blake's message is universal and totally accessible to everyone," says Rosen, adding, "He is an inspiration for today's artists and writers because of his access to his unconscious and superb imagination."
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In her piece, Rosen uses excerpts from some of Blake's best known written works, including Songs of Innocence (1789), Songs of Experience (1793) and the prose piece The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793). She also employs selections from his large collection of political writings and his vast correspondence with supporters, meticulously kept over the years by patrons and acolytes. The performance leans heavily on Blake's religious writings, including his thoughts on creation, man's relationship with the divine, and his own interpretation of Christianity — a mix of the Bible and Greek mythology — which many of his contemporaries found to be shocking. In fact, though a religious man, he often attacked Christianity as a religion which dismissed earthly joy and encouraged the oppressive authority of church and state.
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The show is "a walk through the mind of a literary genius," says Rosen. "Blake was one of England's greatest visionaries, though his work was not well known in his lifetime." says Ms. Rosen. The program, she says, introduces audiences to "complete, pure Blake."
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| A MAN OF VISION—AND VISIONS |
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William Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757. From early childhood, he told his parents that he saw visions—most famously at age nine, when he reported seeing a tree filled with angels. By age 10, Blake had already showed promise in painting and drawing, so his parents sent him to drawing school and later apprenticed him to an engraver.
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In 1782, he married Catherine Boucher and continued to work as an engraver and illustrator for books and magazines. Blake trained both his wife and his younger brother Robert in drawing, painting, and engraving, but it was Robert who provided creative inspiration for the emerging artist. When Robert lay dying (probably of tuberculosis) in 1787, Blake saw his brother's spirit rise up through the ceiling, "clapping its hands for joy." He believed that Robert's spirit continued to visit him and teach him new printing methods.
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He published his most popular collection, Songs of Innocence, in 1789 and followed it five years later with Songs of Experience. Blake was a nonconformist who developed relationships with some of the leading radical thinkers of his day, like Common Sense author Thomas Paine and eighteenth century feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. In defiance of the neoclassical conventions of the time, he valued imagination over reason in the creation of both his poetry and images. Blake's poetry often served as a form of protest literature as well. His first printed work, Poetical Sketches (1783), is a collection of verse that protests against war, tyranny, and King George III's treatment of the American colonies.
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Blake wanted his poetry to be read and understood by common people, but he refused to compromise his vision for popularity's sake. As a result, he spent most of his life virtually penniless. When fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge read Songs of Innocence and of Experience, he declared Blake to be a "man of genius," and Wordsworth made his own copies of several of Blake's songs. In his declining years, Blake received praise and commissions from a growing group of younger artists. Despite all of this, Blake's final years were spent in great poverty, and he died in 1827.
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However, Blake's impact on history, literature and art had not even begun by the time of his death. During his life, he was known for being eccentric; at worst, insane. But interest in his work grew during the mid-nineteenth century, and since then regard for his poetry and illuminated works has only grown. Over the last century, Blake's status as a man ahead of his time has been acknowledged by the art historians, fellow poets such as William Butler Yeats, radical theologians and musicians (most notably, the band The Doors took their name from one of the poems in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell). Blake's writings have also appealed to a wide variety of rebels against war, orthodoxy and almost every kind of societal and personal repression.
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As Ruth Rosen puts it, "What he was is more than the sum of what he did."
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Ruth Rosen has established an international reputation for her highly individualized literary portraits and has appeared on stages all over the world. She has performed the work of many writers, including playwright Harold Pinter, novelist D.M. Thomas and biographer Michael Holroyd. Her solo shows and dramatized readings are based on the work of a wide range of literary personalities, including Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Brontë, James Joyce, George Sand, Colette, Elizabeth Bishop and most recently, John Keats.
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| ABOUT THE 92nd STREET Y POETS' THEATRE |
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Since Dylan Thomas' legendary reading of his play for voices "Under Milk Wood" at the 92nd Street Y in 1953, the Y has presented verse dramas, plays and theatrical adaptations of literary texts. Over the years, these performances have evolved into the 92nd Street Y Poets' Theatre, a series of dramas that emphasize language and the aural experience of theater. Both actors and writers perform in the Poets' Theatre: Paul Hecht, Katherine Walker, David Strathairn, Blair Brown, Jim Dale, Claire Bloom, Rosemary Harris, Mary Beth Hurt and Philip Bosco are just a few of the luminaries who have performed at the Y in recent years. The shows range from dramatic readings to fully staged productions. The Poets' Theatre is a series of the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center, which is part of the 92nd Street Y Tisch Center for the Arts. |
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| ABOUT THE 92nd STREET Y |
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Founded in 1874 by a group of visionary Jewish leaders, the 92nd Street Y has grown into a wide-ranging cultural, educational and community center serving people of all ages, races, faiths and backgrounds. The 92nd Street Y's mission is to enrich the lives of the over 300,000 people who visit each year — both in person and through the Y's satellite, television, radio and Internet broadcasts. The organization offers comprehensive performing arts, film and spoken word events; courses in the humanities, the arts, personal development and Jewish culture; activities and workshops for children, teenagers and parents; and health and fitness programs for people of every age. Committed to making its programs available to everyone, the 92nd Street Y awards nearly $1 million in scholarships annually and reaches out to 7,000 public school children through fully-subsidized arts education programs. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org. |
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© 2008 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association
All Rights Reserved. |
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