The Parkes Lecture 2024 | David Schneider in Conversation Event
- Time:
- 18:00
- Date:
- 19 March 2024
- Venue:
- Avenue Campus (LTA, 65/1133) and Online via Zoom
For more information regarding this event, please email parkes@soton.ac.uk .
Event details
Join actor and writer David Schneider as he sits down in conversation with Devorah Baum and Katie Power to talk about his wide-ranging career and how his identity has shaped this work, with the conversation reflecting more broadly on the topic of Jewish performance and comedy and how it has served as a response to persecution and suffering. The trio will reflect on David's family history, including his family's involvement in the Yiddish theatres of London in the 1940s and the ways that Yiddish culture was used as a tool for resistance during the Second World War and beyond, before going on to explore David's own career trajectory and how humour has played a central role to his work. This event is chaired by University of Southampton President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mark E. Smith. It is free to attend and all are welcome, but registration is required.
About the Participants
David Schneider
Having started as an actor/writer on shows like I’m Alan Partridge and The Day Today, David now works mainly behind the camera as a writer and director. He co-wrote The Death Of Stalin, which was nominated for two Baftas as well as winning a host of other awards, and recently directed on HBO sitcom Avenue 5, from the team behind Veep. David has a keen interest in Yiddish culture: his grandfather was a Yididsh playwright and his grandmother a Yiddish actress, and he researched a (sadly unfinished) Ph.D at Oxford in Yiddish Drama. He is currently writing a movie and a TV series both set during the Second World War.
Devorah Baum
Dr Devorah Baum is Associate Professor in English Literature at the University of Southampton. She is the author of three books: On Marriage (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Random House; Yale University Press; CITIC; others) which came out in 2023, Feeling Jewish: a book for just about anyone (Yale University Press) and The Jewish Joke: an essay with examples (less essay, more examples) (Profile), which came out in 2017. With Josh Appignanesi she co-directed the creative documentary feature film The New Man (2016) and the feature film Husband (2023). She guest edited the special issue of Granta #146 on 'The Politics of Feeling' and she has written for a range of publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Tate Etc.
Katie Power
Dr Katie Power is a recent alumna of the Parkes Institute and University of Southampton, and present Digital Officer for the Institute. Her research focuses on the history of Yiddish culture in London, with particular focus on Yiddish theatre in London during the 20th century.