Speaker - Gwyn Daniel OXFORD

In many of his plays, Shakespeare deals with profound political questions that have continuing relevance for the contemporary world. His tragedies often have a family drama at their heart. They include conflicts between personal and family loyalties, on the one hand, and on the other the demands of realpolitik. In Macbeth and Coriolanus, his themes include the violent seizure of power, dilemmas of political representation, and the perspectives of ordinary citizens on leaders and their personalities.

Gwyn Daniel is a family therapist and clinical supervisor in the National Health Service at the Tavistock Clinic, London, and the co-founder of the Oxford Family Institute. She is the co-author of Gender and Family Therapy (1994). Her most recent book is Family Dramas: Intimacy, Power and Systems in Shakespeare’s Tragedies (Routledge, 2018).