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Culture Corner: Noel Coward, Impressionists and The Royal Albert Dock

Each week, we're sharing cultural experiences you can access from home during the pandemic, such as online concerts, theater and art. This week we suggest:

  • Noël Coward's comic play, Present Laughter with Kevin Kline in the lead role (for which he won a Tony Award). Present Laughter was in rehearsal in 1939 when London's theatres closed at the start of World War II, so its first production was not until 1942 (at which time the Germans had stopped bombing British cities in favor of other targets). It's name is from a line in Shakespeare's Twelth Night: "What is love? 'tis not hereafter; Present mirth hath present laughter." This production was recorded for PBS and first broadcast in 2017. It's available for free until Aug 29, after which it will probably still be available to PBS Passport members.
  • An up close view of ten summer paintings by some of the greatest artists of the 19th century, mostly Impressionists.
  • A virtual tour of Liverpool's Royal Albert Dock which opened in 1846. Take a walk around the dock, peer into the stores and gaze across the scenic harbor and imagine what it was like back in its heyday. Between 1830 and 1930, nine million people sailed from Liverpool to the Americas, so if your family originated from the British Isles, there's a good chance that their journey began at this dock.

Also, check out our "beyond the book" articles that explore a historical, cultural or contextual aspect of every book we feature.

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