Sir Gregory Doran reflects on his extraordinary journey through the works of the Bard, having directed or produced all 36 plays in Shakespeare’s First Folio.

Beginning his career with the Royal Shakespeare Company as an actor in 1987, Doran later served as Artistic Director from 2012 to 2022. In My Shakespeare, he shares illuminating insights into each play, from introducing Falstaff to China to how an encounter with Nelson Mandela inspired his Julius Caesar. With stories of collaborations with David Tennant, Judi Dench, Janet Suzman, and his late husband Antony Sher, Doran offers a deeply personal portrait of theatrical mastery.

This event will last approximately 1 hour, without an interval.

About the speakers:

Gregory Doran has been described as “one of the supreme Shakespeare directors of our era” (Financial Times) and “one of the finest present day directors of Shakespeare” (Sunday Telegraph). He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as an actor in 1987 and became its Artistic Director in 2012, stepping down in 2022. He has directed and/or produced every single play in the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays at Stratford-upon-Avon. His writing credits include the book Woza Shakespeare!, co-authored with Antony Sher. He was named as the 30th Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University for the academic year 2023-2024 and, in 2024, he received a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours.

Anthony Seldon is an educator, historian, writer and commentator. A former headmaster and vice-chancellor, he is the author or editor of over fifty books on contemporary history, politics and education, including Johnson at 10, The Impossible Office?, May at 10, Cameron at 10, Brown at 10, Blair Unbound and The Path of Peace. He’s been the co-founder of Action for Happiness and the Institute of Contemporary British History and is the founder of the Museum of the Prime Minister.