How can it be that I've never before attended any of the New Yorker Festival activities? I've always been away on a business trip, or involved in some other activities that precluded me from this veritable feast of provocative conversation.
Over a three day period, and in places all over Manhattan, the New Yorker hosts a variety of events-- some involving food and liquor--all involving New Yorker journalists or writers who engage in scintillating conversation about the work they do. You can see the variety by looking at the schedule.
I was bummed when I realized that the Festival was to take place last weekend and that virtually all the events I wanted to see were sold out. Then I saw a small note on the website for the Festival indicating that it was possible additional tickets could be made available an hour before showtime for all the events except of those involved food and drink.
So I hightailed it at the end of my workday last Friday to the Directors Guild Theatre on West 57th street. Already a long line had formed of people holding tickets who were there an hour early just to ensure they got a great seat. That did not bode well. I asked at the door and they said they could perhaps rustle up a ticket but would have to check with someone inside. Meanwhile, a woman walked up to me, explained that she had bought more tickets than she needed, and did I want to buy one? Gladly, said I, and went in with the rest of the crowd to experience a terrific program.
It began with the sneak preview of Anonymous, the new filmed directed by Roland Emmerich. A lush, gorgeously filmed Elizabethan drama based on the theory that William Shakespeare's plays were written by the Earl of Oxford, not by Shakespeare. A convincing argument is made in the film, but it's a compelling must-see blockbuster even if you don't care a fig about the identity of the true writer of Shakespeare's plays. It is fast moving, stunning in its cinematography, gorgeous.
And to make it really amazing, after the film showing, we witnessed a duel of words between Roland Emmerich (he did Independence Day and many other popular films and he has become a seriously rabid believer in the "Earl of Oxford" theory of provenance) and James Shapiro, a tenured professor at Columbia University, who was made it is business to confirm that Shakespeare's plays were written by, yes, William Shakespeare.
These two guys care a lot about their view of who wrote these plays that continue to be read--and quoted from, and staged--all over the world, by all ages. And they are seriously focused on getting as many people as possible to side with their view of the facts. Why should we care? They have lots of reasons and I have begun to agree with them.I'm told now that Justice Scalia and Justice Stevens (and do I recall someone said there is a third?) are serious believers in the Oxford theory of provenance. I'd assume these guys, who know their way around that all important task of finding facts, have researched this subject to death (or gotten someone else to do so for them) before casting their vote yay or nay.
No matter which side you are on, do know there are people who appear ready to lay down their life to defend their particular version of the truth. Meanwhile, the bard--whoever he is--engages all of us. And will next year and the year after that. The author knows what it is to be human, to make mistakes, to love, to die and all in between. And no one else comes even close to writing universal truths in such a way that people around the world are in their thrall.
it added to the "only in New York" feeling of the whole thing that next to the waiting line on the sidewalk before we entered the theatre, a van owned by Ontario Canada, one of the Festival's sponsors, was handing out the cutest little miniature sliders made of ground buffalo meat, as an advertising promotion in connection with the annual Calgary Stampede which will take place again in Canada next year .
Brilliant ideas to get Ontario Canada into the consciousness of New Yorkers. Who knows? When they make plans for 2012, they'll remember the Stampede hawkers on that New York sidewalk enticing as all to take part in the real thing in Calgary next year.
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
Sounds like a fun event! Would love to attend an event like this for once.
Posted by: Increase Profitability With | October 04, 2011 at 10:09 AM