Events

Myth and the birth of drama

Ben Stevens H P Stevens — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:20:16 +0000

These days, when people think of classical drama they think of Greek tragedy. Professor Gesine Manuwald (UCL Greek & Latin) sought to redress this notion with her enticingly-titled lecture, ‘Drama & theatre in ancient Rome: braggart soldiers, parasites & murderers’ on 15 May, which formed part of the UCL Festival of the Arts. She began [...]

Cigarettes: the most successful product ever?

James M Heather — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:38:24 +0000

On 14 March, sandwiched between the UK national No Smoking Day and the international World No Tobacco Day, a lunch hour lecture explored what might be the most successful product ever: cigarettes. Deputy director of Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Centre Professor Allan Hackshaw reminded us all just why cigarettes are so terrible. [...]

The big question: too many people on the planet?

Katherine L Aitchison — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:42:47 +0000

There are currently 6.9 billion people living on our planet and with that figure set to rise, many people are worried about how long the Earth will be able to sustain us all and cope with the damage that we are inflicting on it. The UCL Grant Museum of Zoology has a “case of extinction” [...]

To Hell and back over lunch: an introduction to Dante

Lara J Carim — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:33:14 +0000

Severed heads, rivers of blood and pools of faeces might not seem the most appealing topics over lunchtime, but there was standing room only at Professor John Took’s talk at the UCL Festival of the Arts on 14 May about Dante’s Divine Comedy – one of the most horrifying, yet uplifting, poems ever written in [...]

Mirror mirror, on the wall…

guest blogger — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:21:15 +0000

Written by Georgie Chesman, Graduate Trainee in UCL Communications and Marketing. A workshop encouraging doodling and making a mess? And it’s linked to self-identity? Over 90 minutes, Belinda Stojanovic, a psychologist from UCL Department of Hebrew & Jewish Studies, encouraged participants to engage with art as a way of exploring their self-identity. The workshop started [...]

Smoking at the Odeon: Memories of British Cinema-Going of the 1960s

Clare S Ryan — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:50:09 +0000

What are your most vivid memories of going to the cinema? Perhaps childhood visits to see cartoons, or seeing a film on a date? A new UCL project is asking people about their experiences of cinema-going in the 1960s, and, in doing so, raising interesting questions about what we remember about seeing films, and why. [...]

Choosing to Remember/Choosing to Forget: Shaping legacies of a violent past

guest blogger — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:37:53 +0000

How do victims cope with the atrocities that were committed during the Holocaust? What’s more, how do the perpetrators? This Festival of the Arts panel session on 9 May addressed different elements of how people struggle to remember or forget their experiences of the Holocaust. It was not, as I had expected, about the psychology [...]

What makes a piece of music Romantic?

Lara J Carim — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:01:17 +0000

Would you describe the piece of music below as Romantic, romantic, or both? > Extracts from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6 ‘Pathétique’ The answer, as with most model humanities essays, is of course ‘that depends’ – on whether we are talking strictly about the Romantic period within the history of Western classical music, or whether we simply [...]

Live at Lunchtime: Poets of UCL

guest blogger — Fri, 10 May 2013 08:45:22 +0000

As part of UCL’s Festival of the Arts, UCL English demonstrated its contribution to the arts by hosting a lunchtime poetry reading event featuring the work of two alumni, a current PhD student and published author Professor Mark Ford. Professor Ford opened the readings with his poem ‘Christmas’, published in 2011. It was a sharp [...]

Lost and found in translation: honorary British dramatists

Clare Bowerman — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:15:40 +0000

What does it take for a foreign language playwright to become an ‘honorary British dramatist’? What is the difference between a translation, an adaptation and a version? Theatre-lovers and the generally curious enjoyed the chance to ponder these questions at a talk on translation on the London stage by Dr Geraldine Brodie on 7 May, [...]