On 6 February 2020, the guest speaker at the Shakespeare Institute's Thursday seminar in Stratford - which took place, thanks to the University's partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in the Gatsby rehearsal room at the RSC's Other Place studio theatre - was the distinguished Shakespearean actor David Troughton.
Also widely known for his work on television and in radio (not least as a member of the cast of The Archers), David was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University in 2019; indeed he has provided guest teaching of practical classes in Shakespearean acting at the Institute for more than twenty years.
In conversation with Professor Michael Dobson, Director of the Shakespeare Institute, David remembered some of his major Stratford performances - in roles including Falstaff, Bottom, Titus Andronicus, Richard III, Bolingbroke, Hector, Holofernes, and Caliban - and reflected on the changes he has experienced in the nature of live Shakespeare across his career.
To the pleasure of those in the Institute research community interested in Renaissance drama by other writers, he also expressed a continuing ambition to direct a film adaptation of Ben Jonson's 'The Devil is an Ass.'