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Lecture

Judge Dennis Davis and Professor David Peimer
Descent into Authoritarianism: Cabaret, The Crucible, and Hamlet, Part 2

Saturday 23.01.2021

Summary

The significance of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible in relation to McCarthyism; an exploration of the political themes in Hamlet’s soliloquy; and an examination of the various themes and connections between Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the musical Cabaret.

Judge Dennis Davis

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Dennis Davis is a judge of the High Court of South Africa and judge president of the Competition Appeals Court of South Africa. He has held professorial appointments at the University of Cape Town and University of the Witwatersrand, as well as numerous visiting appointments at Cambridge, Harvard, New York University, and others. He has authored eleven books, including Lawfare: Judging Politics in South Africa.

Professor David Peimer

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David Peimer is a Professor of Literature, Film and Theatre in the UK. He has worked for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, New York University (Global Division) and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing in New York, UK, Berlin, EU Parliament (Brussels), Athens, Budapest, Zululand and more. He has most recently directed Dame Janet Suzman in his own play, Joanna’s Story, at London Jewish Book Week. He has published widely with books including: Armed Response: Plays from South Africa, the digital book, Theatre in the Camps. He is on the board of the Pinter Centre (London), and has been involved with the Mandela Foundation, Vaclav Havel Foundation and directed a range of plays at Mr Havel’s Prague theatre.

Yes, the divine right of kings was absolute. Whether in fact autocracy is our default position is an interesting debate. I would like to hope it isn’t, that we can still shift to a constitutional democratic phase.