“To Begin the World Again” in Boston

Starting next week, the Associates of the Boston Public Library will host free performances of Ian Ruskin’s one-person show, To Begin the World Again: The Life of Thomas Paine.

The show description says:

Through his portrayal of this pivotal patriot, Ruskin will provide audiences with an intimate insight into Paine’s life and his important role in bringing about revolutionary changes in the world. The play’s period costuming and props, the soundtrack of original music by Joe Romano, and the sound effects by Keith Robinson will add immediacy and intimacy to Ruskin’s powerful performance.

Like Paine, Ruskin started his career in Britain before coming to America, in his case in 1985. He appeared on many television shows, often playing “the intelligent villain,” as his website says. (There are advantages to a British accent in our culture.)

Ruskin has developed at least three one-person shows reflecting his interests in history and social justice; the subjects beside Paine include labor leader Harry Bridges and inventor Nikola Tesla.

There will be two in-person performances in Rabb Hall of the Boston Public Library’s central branch:

• Tuesday, 1 November, 10:00 A.M.
• Wednesday, 2 November, 6:00 P.M.

At the second performance, Thomas E. Patterson, the Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, will introduce the show and connect it to today’s issues. He is the author of, among other books, How America Lost Its Mind: The Assault on Reason That’s Crippling Our Democracy.

Reserve tickets for those live performances through this page. Folks can also tune into showings of a prerecorded performance on 3–9 November. Again, that requires tickets, but the tickets are free.

(Some folks might remember the film of To Begin the World Again directed by Haskell Wexler, which aired on PBS for several years. These performances are, of course, Ruskin’s latest iteration.)