Professor David Peimer
‘55 Days at Peking’: Colonialism, Controversy, Contemporary?
Summary
55 Days at Peking is an epic and controversial 1963 historical film starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven that focuses on the siege of foreign legations in Beijing (then called Peking) during the Boxer Uprising. In this presentation we will look at how colonialism, rebellion, the clash of East and West, political intrigue, and the role of religion are portrayed in the film.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a professor of theatre and performance studies in the UK. He has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and New York University (Global Division), and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing. He has written eleven plays and directed forty in places like South Africa, New York, Brussels, London, Berlin, Zulu Kingdom, Athens, and more. His writing has been published widely and he is the editor of Armed Response: Plays from South Africa (2009) and the interactive digital book Theatre in the Camps (2012). He is on the board of the Pinter Centre in London.