The ninth in the series of Ideas@theHouse events — joint presentations of Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of New South Wales, and the Royal Society of New South Wales — was held on the evening of Wednesday 6 March 2024 in the Ballroom of Government House Sydney.

Acclaimed actor and theatre director, John Bell AO OBE, the Founder and former Artistic Director of Bell Shakespeare, presented “Shakespeare on politics — what can we learn” to a face-to-face audience of approximately 100 people, which included Society members and invited guests including students from NSW universities, together with an online audience.

In an erudite, thought-providing, and highly entertaining talk, Dr Bell presented a brief survey of the political scenarios in Shakespeare’s plays —Tragedies, Histories, and even the Comedies in the context of these three questions. He discussed how do Shakespeare’s observations resonate with us now, and what can we take from them to confront the dilemmas we face today?

A recording of his presentation is now available on the Society’s YouTube channel and a gallery of images from that occasion is available from the preceding link.