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Watkins's publications include
Moonlight at the Globe (Michael Joseph, 1946) and On Producing Shakespeare (Michael Joseph, 1950; reprinted by Benjamin Blom, 1964). He also co-authored, with Jeremy Lemmon, the series in Shakespeare's Playhouse. Watkins donated the manuscript of his final work, Why Not
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in 1999. A celebratory event commemorating this gift was held in
October 1999, and a Shakespeare in Education symposium took place at Wake Forest in August 2000. His association with Wake Forest began in the 1960s, when the university was a stop on his North American speaking tours.
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in 1956, went on to achieved wider fame as the United
Kingdom's top civil servant. In 1952 some of Watkins' former student actors formed the Old Harrovian Players, and this alumni company returned each year to present its own Shakespeare play at Harrow.
271:—at Harrow School in 1941, the damaged stage lacked a proscenium curtain and stage lighting. Watkins turned these problems to his advantage, realising that the minimalist conditions of his stage were similar to those of Shakespeare's own
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Watkins retired from his teaching post at Harrow in 1964 and embarked on a 20-year career as a travelling lecturer, touring Europe, the United States, and Canada to promote "The Cause." In 1965 and 1967 he was visiting professor at the
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Ask
Shakespeare? (Winston-Salem, NC: Stratford Books, 2002), to Wake Forest. The manuscript was edited by Professor Don Wolfe of Wake Forest University and published posthumously.
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Source includes a link to a short video including a description of
Watkins' approach to Shakespeare productions at Harrow in the 1950s
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This article is about the
English drama teacher and director. For the American conspiracy theorist and site administrator, see
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near its original site in London. He played the double bass and was a keen watercolourist. Ronald
Watkins was awarded the
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In 1940 a German bomb severely damaged the Harrow Speech Room. When
Watkins produced his first Shakespeare play –
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in 1932, teaching
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in 1996 "for services to the Globe." Watkins died in 2001, at the age of 96.
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book review of On Producing Shakespeare. By Ronald Watkins, (Michael Joseph)
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Finding aid to the Ronald Watkins Papers, 1938–2001
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