Shakespeare expert gives talk at Tonbridge and hosts Sixth Form seminar  

Award-winning Shakespeare scholar Dr Ben Higgins held an afternoon seminar for Tonbridge boys on Friday (19 April).

Tutorial Fellow in English Literature at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, Dr Higgins discussed Hamlet with Upper Sixth students preparing for their English A-levels.

The seminar (pictured) was also attended by Lower Sixth Oxbridge applicants.

Shakespeare’s Syndicate, Dr Higgins’ recent book, won a Shakespeare’s Globe Book Award in 2023.

His work explores the stories of the men who collected Shakespeare’s somewhat scattered and chaotic play texts into the famous First Folio edition, published in 1623, therefore giving the world the plays that are still loved, studied and watched on stage and screen to this day.

In the evening, he gave a lecture in the School’s EM Forster Theatre on Making the First Folio: 400 (and one) Years of Shakespeare’s Collected Works. This was a free event open to the wider public.

Dr Jonathan Reinhardt, Tonbridge’s Head of English, said: “We’re proud of the English Department’s tradition of hosting lectures by exciting academics in the field. Dr Higgins, a leading younger Shakespeare expert, is an engaging speaker and his visit was a great honour for the School.”