Fiona Shaw to give public lecture at University of Roehampton

Fiona Shaw (Petunia Dursley) will speak about her life on stage, on screen, and in the director’s chair as part of a public lecture at the University of Roehampton in London next month.

Having trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), where she was awarded with the Bancroft Gold Medal, Shaw achieved critical acclaim with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Her film credits include Three Men and a Little Lady, The Tree of Life, My Left Foot, and The Black Dahlia. More recently, she played a central character in the fifth season of HBO’s True Blood. On Tuesday, May 19, she will give the University’s annual Hopkins Lecture, entitled “A Night Without a Staircase (Acting into the Unknown).”

During the lecture, the Olivier Award-winning actress will talk about her varied career, which has often involved reinventing or rediscovering herself through experimentation. She will explain how throughout her work she has seen and understood the vital importance of language in processes that have seen poetry become theater and classic texts become modern plays.

The lecture will be open to anyone with an interest in Shaw’s work and is free to attend, but booking is required; visit www.roehampton.ac.uk/hopkins. Head of English and Creative Writing at the University, Professor Laura Peters, said,

Most people will recognize Fiona from her role as Petunia in the ‘Harry Potter’ films, but she’s actually had an incredibly wide ranging and interesting career and will be recognized by people of all ages. We’re delighted to have her present this year’s Hopkins Lecture, I’m sure her insight will help our students a great deal, but it will also be a very enjoyable evening for visitors to the [u]niversity as well.

Previous Hopkins speakers have included Dr. Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and Sir Andrew Motion, the former poet laureate. Do you plan on attending Shaw’s lecture next month? Do you have a favorite role of hers? Let us know in the comments.