We are delighted to announce the line up for More of Less Happy, a ‘pre-show’ mini-symposium inspired by The Anatomy of Melancholy and part of the Bedlam: Festival of Mad Ideas at The REP.
A panel of clever people will share their thoughts on the questions “are we more or less happy than we were in Burton’s time?”. The clever people are:
Bernard Capp is an Emeritus professor of History at Warwick University. A year ago he spoke to us in a hugely entertaining and provocative way about ‘Male Tears in Early Modern England’. We loved it and him so much we have invited him back to speculate about how happy or sad people were 400 years ago and if that seems any different to now.
Femi Oyebode is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Birmingham. He is also a poet and his fascinating reflections on the position of the humanities in the medical field are a great contemporary parallel to Robert Burton’s approach to Melancholy.
Unfortunately for our third speaker we couldn’t find a professor, so we’ve had to make to with a Doctor. Fortunately that Doctor is the wonderful Erin Sullivan, Fellow of the Shakespeare Institute: University of Birmingham. She is a renowned Burton scholar, our advisor through the challenge of adapting The Anatomy of Melancholy and an authority on the History of Emotions.
One of the great things about this panel is that alongside their great cleverness they have the ability to speak about their subjects at the level of ‘interested lay-person’ so if you consider yourself an ‘interested lay-person’ in the field of Happiness or Sadness then do come along. If you are not a lay-person but fully engaged in the field of being Happy or Sad you are even more welcome. Happily admission to discussion is just £5, it is also in the comfort of The DOOR at The REP and you don’t have to wait very long for it (it’s on Thursday 7th at 4pm). Sadly it’s only an hour and a half long (but I’m sure Extra Time could be played in a nearby Cafe-Bar should the need arise. Do come, it would make us happy to see welcome you.