i'm going to encourage er howard to take to the stage. To coax subtleties out of a shakespeare sonnet, or leave the theatre feeling you have finally understood what previously baffled you is one of life's supreme joys,. whoever you are. I use the word disinherit rather than deny, because literature is everybody's birthright. Art doesn't from the page or from the wall into our arms. It asks for reciprocity, and as often as not, will answer it. Every time we back away from a work of art in which we don't see a reflection of ourselves as we think we are, we lose sight of who else we might be.
Created in partnership with Sotheby's, in a debate that spans the centuries, Peabody Award-winning spoken word performer George the Poet and Booker Prize-winning author Howard Jacobson go head-to-head over which form of cultural expression best resonates now and forever. Does hip-hop and slam poetry speak more to society than historical texts that require background knowledge to be fully understood? Or does the lasting appeal of Shakespeare and other great figures from the canon show that some works have a universal value that stands the test of time?
This event was recorded on the 9th of June 2022, at Sotheby's in London and produced by Executive Producer Hannah Kaye and Audience Development Producer Yosola Olorunshola
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