Download Renowned Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells is recipient of 2010

Press Release: 12 June 2010
Renowned Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells is recipient of
2010 Sam Wanamaker Award – Shakespeare's Globe’s top award
Leading Shakespeare scholar Professor Stanley Wells, CBE, has accepted Shakespeare's Globe’s prestigious
Sam Wanamaker Award, given annually in the name of the Globe's founder to celebrate work which has
increased the understanding and enjoyment of Shakespeare.
Author and editor of over 40 books, Professor Wells spent ten years editing the Oxford Complete Works of
Shakespeare - the most important and groundbreaking edition since the first ever collected works was
published in 1623.
As well as the Oxford editions, he was also General Editor of the Penguin series and 19 volumes of the
Shakespeare Survey journal. He is a former trustee of Shakespeare's Globe and a member of the Globe’s
Council, former Director of the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon and Emeritus Professor and an
Honorary Fellow at the University of Birmingham, as well as the Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace
Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon.
He is a former trustee of the Royal Shakespeare Company and a trustee of the Rose Theatre, and lectures
extensively on Shakespeare and his contemporaries. His recent engagements have taken him to Venice,
Elsinore and Romania, and his most recent book, published in April of this year by Oxford University Press, is
Shakespeare, Sex, and Love. He was awarded the CBE for services to literature in 1997.
Professor Wells celebrated his 80th birthday in May, and in July, he will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate
from the University of Marburg having been similarly honoured by Furman, Munich, Craiova, Durham, Hull
and Warwick Universities.
The Sam Wanamaker Award was instituted by Shakespeare’s Globe in 1994 to honour work which has a
similar quality to Sam’s own pioneering mission. Sam spent the final 23 years of his life tirelessly
fundraising, advancing research into the design of the original Globe, and planning the reconstructed
Theatre with its architect, Theo Crosby.
On receiving the award, Professor Stanley Wells, CBE, said: “I’m honoured and delighted to be the recipient
of the 2010 Sam Wanamaker Award. I knew Sam when the reconstruction of the Globe on Bankside was
no more than a twinkle in his eye, and I had the greatest admiration for the enthusiasm and doggedness
with which, against obstacles that would have defeated a lesser man, he pursued the task of raising funds
for its completion and of gaining support for its aims. He was a great man of the theatre who also had a
high respect for scholarly values.
“He saw the reconstructed Globe as an opportunity both for entertainment and for the pursuit of
knowledge and understanding about the theatrical conditions of Shakespeare’s time. He would have been
thrilled beyond measure to know of the success with which his aims have been fulfilled.
“It has been a privilege for me to be involved with the work of the Globe in a variety of ways at every stage
of its history, and in accepting the award I express both my thanks and my very best wishes for its future.”
The Award was presented on stage after the Globe Theatre’s matinee performance of Henry IV Part 1 on
Saturday, 12 June – the anniversary of Sam Wanamaker’s birthday – by Olivier Award-winning cast member
Roger Allam, who plays Falstaff. To coincide with this anniversary and the award presentation, a range of
free educational workshops, talks and demonstrations also took place around the Globe site as part of the
annual ‘Sam’s Day’ event.
Patrick Spottiswoode, Director of Globe Education, said "No scholar has contributed more to the study and
performance of Shakespeare's plays nationally and internationally than Stanley Wells."
ENDS
Further information from Chris Adams at Shakespeare’s Globe Press Office on +44 (0)20 7902 1468,
[email protected]
Interviews with Stanley Wells are available subject to availability. Please contact Chris Adams (above).
Photos of Roger Allam presenting the award to Stanley Wells are available at www.shakespearesglobe.org/press or from Chris Adams above.
Notes to Editors:
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Previous winners of the Sam Wanamaker Award include Professor Andrew Gurr (2008), Jenny Tiramani, Claire van
Kampen and Mark Rylance (2007), Dawn Saunders QSM (2006), John Orrell (2004), Stephen Unwin and Barry Rutter
(2003), Paul Scofield CBE (2002), John Barton CBE (2001), Cicely Berry OBE (2000), Glynne Wickham (1999), Janet Arnold
(1998), William Hutt (1996), Leon Garfield (1995) and Dr Rex Gibson (1994). For more details, visit
http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/information/samwanamakeraward/
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The Sam Wanamaker Award panel consists of Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole, Director of Globe Education Patrick
Spottiswoode, Chief Executive Peter Kyle and Chairman of the Globe Council Sir Michael Perry CBE.
Globe Education presents a programme of workshops, lectures, events and staged readings all year round. For general
enquires about Globe Education please call 020 7902 1430 or visit www.globe-education.org
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Shakespeare's Globe Theatre The 2010 Theatre Season is entitled 'Kings and Rogues', and includes Macbeth, Henry VIII,
Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Anne Boleyn by Howard Brenton and Bedlam by Nell Leyshon. Two
small-scale tours of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Comedy of Errors will visit venues across UK and Europe
between April and September. Box office: 020 7401 9919 or online at www.shakespeares-globe.org
Shakespeare’s Globe on film - Three productions from Shakespeare’s Globe’s 2009 theatre season will be screened in
cinemas and available on DVD and Blu-ray this spring and summer, as part of its new partnership with Opus Arte. For more
information visit www.shakespeares-globe.org/onfilm
Shakespeare’s Globe Exhibition and Theatre Tour is open daily – Oct to Apr from 10am to 5pm. May to Sep 9am –
5pm. Admission includes a guided tour of the Theatre. For further information, telephone 020 7902 1500.
Shakespeare's Globe Shop stocks a variety of products, including season specific merchandise. Items can be bought at
the on-site shop or on-line at www.globe-shop.com.
Capital Campaign – Shakespeare’s Globe is currently fundraising for a major development project. The first part of the
campaign – to develop a Globe Education and Rehearsal Centre – is underway. To find out more visit www.shakespearesglobe.org/thesecondstage
The Shakespeare Globe Trust is a registered charity No.266916. The Globe receives no public subsidy.