“I don’t believe there is any other spot on earth where you can get so close to a man of genius.” These were the opening words of Dr Roy Lodge, founder of the annual Shakespeare lectures and master of ceremonies at the fourteenth annual Shakespeare Lecture held on April 6^th in Stratford Upon Avon’s magnificent, and recently refurbished, Town Hall.

Stratford Girls’ Grammar School English Literature students enjoyed an afternoon of scholarly lecture and debate focusing on: ‘Hamlet’, ‘The Tempest’, ‘Measure for Measure’ and ‘Othello’; each a text studied by the invited schools attending.

Leading Shakespearean scholar: Rev. Dr. Paul Edmondson, Head of  Research at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, who delivered the main lecture, was supported by a panel of scholars: Sir. Prof. Stanley Wells, Dr.Nick Walton, Dr, Viv Thomas and Jennifer Waghorn.

An hour’s Q and A session was held after the main lecture with SGGS student Lara Foxon kicking off the questions on the contentious issue of Gertrude’s silence in ‘Hamlet’. English Ambassador, Hannah Radley also posed an interesting argument about often omitted Fortinbras from productions. To have five leading Shakespeare experts debate your question is not something that happens every day! Plenty of notes were taken before Hannah gave the vote of thanks, notably to the Town Trust for enabling this wonderful event to take place.