Douglas Murray and Kevin Spacey: what Shakespeare can teach us about cancel culture | SpectatorTV

Douglas Murray introduces Kevin Spacey’s recital of a scene from William Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens. His performance was part of an annual series of free lectures in honour of Sir Roger Scruton, hosted in the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford University. ’In an era of cancellation and defenestration we sometimes forget that we both cannot go on like this and that we have been here before. We know this because our greatest writers and artists have addressed this question in their own times. When Roger was going through his own battle with the shallows I often thought of Shakespeare’s rarely performed but great play Timon of Athens. Timon has the whole world before him. He is surrounded by friends and admirers. He is generous to all. Yet he falls on hard times and when he does absolutely everybody deserts him. He is left with nothing and nobody, and risks being filled with despair and rage. It does not help that he is shadowed by the cynical philosopher Apemantus, who has warned him that just such a desertion might occur.’ // SUBSCRIBE TO THE SPECTATOR Get 12 issues for £12, plus a free £20 Amazon voucher // FOLLOW US @thespectatormagazine