LSE Language Centre, in collaboration with the LSESU Drama Society, presents an evening of theatre and discussion, featuring Paul Kelly, author of Conflict, War and Revolution.

Is Britain’s near 350 year old form of constitutional monarchy truly original and unique, or is democracy, as William F Buckley declared, ultimately no more than a ‘utilitarian’ means to a more important end? The discussion of the attractions or otherwise of the various forms of government currently to the fore will be followed by a performance of Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III.

Meet our speakers and chair

Paul Kelly is Professor of Political Theory at LSE and a former Pro-Director of the School. He is the author and editor of sixteen books and edited collections and published numerous scholarly articles. His interests range across political theory and philosophy and the history of thought. He has edited and co-edited the Journals Utilitas and Political Studies and cofounded Political Studies Review. His most recent books are Political Thinkers (with David Boucher) Oxford 2017, Conflict, War and Revolution, and he is currently working on a book entitled Against Post Liberalism for Polity Press.

Angus Wrenn teaches courses covering Literature and Comparative Literature which are available at undergraduate level, and which form a major component of the BSc Language, Culture and Society programme. He specialise in nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century English Literature, American Literature and Comparative Literature. His book-length publications include works on Henry James and French literature, the Russian dimension of the Irish playwright (and LSE founder) George Bernard Shaw, and the influence of Russian Literature upon British culture in the early twentieth century in From Orientalism to Cultural Capital: the Myth of Russia in British Literature in the 1920s (2017). His most recent publication (2018) is the chapter on Ford Madox Ford's literary criticism. in the Routledge Research Companion to Ford Madox Ford (2018). He is one of the editors of the ongoing Cambridge University Press edition of the complete fiction of Henry James.

Olga Sobolev is the Programme Director for LSE’s BSc Language, Culture and Society programme. She co-ordinates Literature Courses, as well as coordinating Russian Language provision. She specialises in Comparative Literature (British-French-Russian) with particular reference to modernism and British-Russian cultural relations, reflected in her monographs  Film Adaptations of Russian Classics (2024): From Orientalism to Cultural Capital: the Myth of Russia in British Literature in the 1920s (2017); G. B. Shaw in Russia; and The Silver Mask (on the Russian Symbolist poetry).  

More about this event

This event is part of the LSE Festival: Visions for the Future running from Monday 16 to Saturday 21 June 2025, with a series of events exploring the threats and opportunities of the near and distant future, and what a better world could look like. Booking for all Festival events will open on Monday 19 May.  

The Language Centre teach people to speak languages, but also teach about language (socio-linguistics and intercultural communication) and offer a range of courses on literature and society.

Hashtag for this event: #LSEFestival