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Poet, author, actor, director, broadcaster,
& screenwriter
IN NORTH AMERICA
CBS TV (the Camera Three series) made three solo shows about him and
his work, as poet and translator, produced by Stephan Chodorov, directed
by John Musilli.
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New York: Camera rehearsal for a solo show on
CBS TV; director John Musilli
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Dr Leo Aylen has appeared on about a hundred campuses in the United
States and Canada, as the guest of Classics, English, Drama and Theatre,
Film and Communication, Departments. He is that rarity, a scholar who
is also a performer and director in both film and theatre.
He has been the Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor at Mc Master
University, Ontario, his chair held in the Department of Classics. But
while holding the Professorship and giving both public lectures and
specialised seminars and workshops on classical Greek drama to the Classics
department, he was also invited to perform his one-man play Red
Alert: this is a god warning in the theatre to public audiences;
to give a reading of his poetry to the English department; and a seminar
on French chanson, especially the work of Jacques Brel, to the French
department.
He was Poet in Residence at Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey.
When his year's residency was up, he was invited to stay for a second
year.
In other universities, he has been invited to show his films to the
Film department, to give workshops to acting students in theatre or
drama departments, and lectures, readings, and workshops, to English,
Classics, Comparative Literature, and Humanities, departments.
He has been invited for many special events. For example, one of his
Arvon poetry prizes was won for a long poem called The Day the
Grass Came, , (published in The Ring of Words,
Arvon prizewinning anthology 1998) a vision of an ecological Armageddon.
First performed in the Royal Festival Hall's Purcell Room, its second
performance was sponsored by the Biology Department of Principia College,
Illinois, the Christian Science university of the United States. The
Biology Professor was attempting to recreate - in an area of a few square
metres - the original prairie grass and its special ecology, since the
prairie has totally disappeared from Illinois.
Another interesting encounter came when he was filmed for TV in conversation
with Ogden Nash who, after the filming, presented Leo with a copy of
his Collected Poems, in which he wrote this dedication:
Were I graceful as Horace
Or wise as Galen
I'd pay proper tribute
To Leo Aylen.
Since I'm not
Here's all I've got.
Thank you
Ogden Nash
Leo has also lectured to women's lunch clubs, and given poetry performances
in high schools.
Frequent lectures he has given on campuses include: -
On the ancient Greek Theatre
The Staging of Fifth Century Greek Drama
The Choreography of Fifth Century Greek Drama
The Vulgarity of Tragedy
On particular plays
The Prometheus Bound of Aeschylus
The Antigone of Sophocles
The Frogs of Aristophanes
(He has, however, by request, lectured on other fifth century plays
as well)
On translating from classical Greek
General topics
'Song for Skyscrapers', a poetics for the twenty-first century (The
Hooker lecture, first given at McMaster University)
On the Possibility of Modern Tragedy
On Filming History (with reference to his recreations of historical
periods for British television, and his work with Ron Maxwell on the
American Civil War movies - Gods and Generals, and The
Last Full Measure.)
For a Drama Department
Shakespeare from text to performance. (This achieves best results
as a master-class with participants and an audience.)
For an English Department
How sexy was the Wife of Bath? (An examination of some of Chaucer's
characters in The Canterbury Tales.)
Poetry - page or stage (There is a sharp divide between literary
poets whose work may be published in respected books and periodicals
but may not appeal when read aloud, and those calling themselves 'Performance
Poets' whose work may feel unsatisfactory when read off the page.
Is there an approach to poetry which results in work which is satisfactory
when read in a book, and yet which also can appeal to an audience
of the general public? Leo Aylen, scholar and performer, is ideally
suited to work from both positions.)
Poetry in Performance (A practical workshop for either English or
Drama students. This will be similar to the regular workshops which
Leo Aylen gives to professional actors in the London Actors' Centre.)
For a public audience
Why I'm not a Policeman (Leo Aylen's life as a poet, describing how
some of his encounters, with scientists, musicians, Hollywood, the
King of Thailand, the Zulus, the Haida people of the Pacific north-west
coast, and so on, have shaped his life and writing.)
Choose your Tomorrow
A poet looks at the implications of the new technology. As one futurologist
said: "Technology can give us any miracles we ask for. The question
is - what miracles should we ask for?"
Current Activities
Leo is waiting to hear when he is to start writing The Last Full Measure, the sequel to Gods and Generals, which was released in the U.S.A. January 2003, and in Britain on July 4th,2003.
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