Henry VI: Shakespeare’s Portrayal of the Hundred Years’ War, Joan of Arc and the War of the Roses

Featured Speaker: Kim Keeline

William Shakespeare wrote three plays about the
reign of Henry VI, the English king from 1422 to
1461 and from 1470 to 1471. The first play is about
the clashes within the English nobility, the second
about the Hundred Years’ War and Joan of Arc and
the third about the War of the Roses. San Diego’s
Old Globe Theater is doing a production of the Henry
VI cycle this summer and we will explore the plays:
their plots, themes and best scenes (including Queen
Margaret carrying around her lover’s head and Joan
of Arc’s death). This will be the first time the Old
Globe has produced Henry VI; it has condensed the
three plays into two for the occasion.

Presenter Biography

Kim Keeline has a Ph.D. in English
Literature from the University of Southern
California and has been teaching for about 20
years at universities, community colleges, Navy
ships and various Osher programs. She’s been in
love with Shakespeare since seeing a play at the
Old Globe Theater when she was about 12. When
she is not volunteering as a steam-train engineer
at Old Poway Park, she writes mysteries and
works as a freelance web designer, publicist and
literature/history lecturer.

Coordinator: Mark Stadler