Throwback Thursday to a Lesson in Rhetoric: Damian Lewis as Antony

To be filed in the category of “This is a guy who makes you want to go back to school”, we learned and reported (on our lovely sister site damian-lewis.com) that Damian’s version of Antony’s funeral speech from Julius Caesar, for The Guardian’s video series Shakespeare Solos, was featured in a seminar on rhetoric. This wasn’t an avenue for literary criticism or drama theory, but a newsletter on effective public speaking.

How is speaking any different from writing and reading, you may wonder? Well, there are components to classical rhetoric, when dissected, can show you what makes one speech different from another. Such an analysis would reach your brain (or at least attempt to). Alternatively, we can talk about how a speech makes you feel. Granted we’re not seeing much great oratory from our current elder statesmen, so examples are few and far between. But, there was a time, wasn’t there? In our not too distant history, when a leader spoke, it did a heart good to hear, didn’t it?

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TOP Damian Lewis Moments 2022: Celebrating and Remembering Helen

‘There will be dying, but there is no need to go into that…The sun rises in spite of everything…Everything is going to be all right.’ – Derek Mahon

Helen McCrory was a class act not only in her acting career but also in life and death. The way she chose to live, bravely, focusing on her family, work and charity rather than on her illness is a lesson for us all. Her personality and life deserve a big celebration and we are thrilled to share with you the way Damian has kept celebrating Helen all year long.

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Damian Lewis and The Queen: A Tribute

When he was asked about how his favorite member of the Royal Family was a few years ago, Damian did not even hesitate for a moment:

Queen Elizabeth II, the second longest reigning monarch in history, passed away last week. Even if you are not a student of history, just knowing that her first Prime Minister was born in 1874 (Winston Churcill) and her last was born in 1975 (Liz Truss) is quite enough to recognize what a remarkable life and reign she had. I understand that emotions are still high about her passing, but the Queen’s life is certainly one to celebrate. And Damian has paid a tribute to the late Monarch on Twitter sharing a sweet moment he had with her once.

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Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis as Oedipus Rex: Archetype of a King

Wow, this pandemic, amirite? Depending on where you live you may be still hunkered down, resisting social gatherings, wearing masks whenever you go out. Maybe you’re somewhere where things are fully open and things are back to normal. For most of us, though, it’s certainly a new way of life. And, it may be with us much longer than anyone hoped it’d be.

Some of us are fortunate enough to have jobs that weren’t too affected, or actually took off, due to the nationwide lock down. (once folks can no longer mill around the water cooler in the office, they seem very keen to get stuff done. I sense in some industries, like tech, for example, productivity is at a record high) Too many of us haven’t been so lucky. And what about our artists, the stories that we need to watch, the performances that entertain and sustain us? Obviously they have been affected in a major way. Those in Damian’s profession are still learning how to get their work running again.

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A Lesson in Rhetoric: Damian Lewis as Antony

To be filed in the category of “This is a guy who makes you want to go back to school”, we learned and reported (on our lovely sister site damian-lewis.com) that Damian’s version of Antony’s funeral speech from Julius Caesar, for The Guardian’s video series Shakespeare Solos, was featured in a seminar on rhetoric. This wasn’t an avenue for literary criticism or drama theory, but a newsletter on effective public speaking.

How is speaking any different from writing and reading, you may wonder? Well, there are components to classical rhetoric, when dissected, can show you what makes one speech different from another. Such an analysis would reach your brain (or at least attempt to). Alternatively, we can talk about how a speech makes you feel. Granted we’re not seeing much great oratory from our current elder statesmen, so examples are few and far between. But, there was a time, wasn’t there? In our not too distant history, when a leader spoke, it did a heart good to hear, didn’t it?

Continue reading “A Lesson in Rhetoric: Damian Lewis as Antony”