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Professor Siobhan Keenan

Job: Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature

Faculty: Arts, Design and Humanities

School/department: School of Humanities

Research group(s): Centre for Adaptations and Centre for Textual Studies

Address: De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, UK, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 207 8883

E: skeenan@dmu.ac.uk

W: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/soh

 

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Personal profile

I joined De Montfort University as a Senior Lecturer in English in 2005. I have a special interest in Renaissance Literature, Shakespeare, and Early Modern Women’s Writing. These interests are reflected in my teaching and research. I have published a number of essays on theatre history, early modern acting companies, and Renaissance drama, and I am the author of Travelling Players in Shakespeare’s England (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), Renaissance Literature (Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature) (Edinburgh University Press, 2008) and Acting Companies and Their Plays in Shakespeare's London (Arden Shakespeare, 2014).  I am also the editor of two seventeenth-century manuscript plays for the Malone Society, The Emperor's Favourite (Manchester University Press, 2010) and The Twice Chang'd Friar (Manchester University Press, 2017). My latest book is a monograph on The Progresses, Processions, & Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-1642 (Oxford University Press, 2020). 

I welcome PhD applications, especially in the fields of Shakespeare, Renaissance drama, Renaissance theatre history and Early Modern Women's Writing.

Research group affiliations

I am a member of the Institute of Humanities and Political Studies.

Publications and outputs

  • The Aphrodysial or Sea-Feast (Scholarly edition)
    dc.title: The Aphrodysial or Sea-Feast (Scholarly edition) dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan; Shmygol, Maria dc.description.abstract: This edition for the first time makes available in print a semi-diplomatic edition of William Percy’s The Aphrodysial, as preserved in Huntington Library MS HM4. The accompanying introduction provides an account of Percy and his manuscript, and discusses the layers of authorial revisions and extensive stage directions found in the play.
  • New Evidence about Tudor Royal Players, George and John Birche, and their connection with James Burbage
    dc.title: New Evidence about Tudor Royal Players, George and John Birche, and their connection with James Burbage dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan
  • (General Editor) Collections Volume XVIII: Two Plays from the ‘Decameron’, ed. Shakespeare Institute Palaeography Group and Kirsten Inglis, Malone Society Reprints, Volume 187
    dc.title: (General Editor) Collections Volume XVIII: Two Plays from the ‘Decameron’, ed. Shakespeare Institute Palaeography Group and Kirsten Inglis, Malone Society Reprints, Volume 187 dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: Collections XVIII brings together the earliest texts of the first and last pre-Civil War plays to deal with Boccaccio’s tragic story of the lovers, Gismond and Guiscardo: the Hargrave MS of Inner Temple tragedy, Gismond of Salern (1568), and the first ever printed edition of the 1620s manuscript play, Glausamond and Fidelia.
  • The Progresses, Processions, and Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-1642
    dc.title: The Progresses, Processions, and Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-1642 dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: The Progresses, Processions, and Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-1642 is the first book-length study of the history, and the political and cultural significance, of the progresses, public processions, and royal entries of Charles I. As well as offering a much fuller account of the king’s progresses and progress entertainments than currently exists, this study throws new light on one of the most vexed topics in early Stuart historiography—the question of Charles I’s accessibility to his subjects and their concerns, and the part that this may, or may not, have played in the conflicts which culminated in the English civil wars and Charles’s overthrow. Drawing on extensive archival research, the book opens with an introduction to the early modern culture of royal progresses and public ceremonial as inherited and practiced by Charles I. Part I explores the question of the king’s accessibility and engagement with his subjects further through case studies of Charles’s ‘great’ progresses in 1633, 1634, and 1636. Part II turns attention to royal public ceremonial culture in Caroline London, focusing on Charles’s royal entry on 25 November 1641. More widely travelled than his ancestors, Progresses reveals a monarch who was only too well aware of the value of public ceremonial and who did not eschew it, even if he was not always willing to engage in ceremonial dialogue with his people or able to deploy the power of public display to curry support for his policies as successfully as his Tudor and Stuart predecessors. dc.description: I received a small Scouloudi Historical Award (2018) to support some of the archival research for the book.
  • New evidence about Shakespearean star actor, Richard Burbage
    dc.title: New evidence about Shakespearean star actor, Richard Burbage dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: Richard Burbage was one of England’s first theatrical entrepreneurs and its first theatrical stars. As well as enjoying a professional acting career that spanned more than thirty years, Burbage was a theatre builder and owner. Following the example of his father, James Burbage, who co-founded one of London’s first permanent playhouses (The Theatre), Richard and his brother Cuthbert established the Globe Theatre (1599) and managed the Second Blackfriars Theatre (inherited from their father). However, today Richard Burbage is arguably best known for being the lead actor in Shakespeare’s acting company (the Lord Chamberlain's/King's Men) and as the man for whom Shakespeare created some of his most memorable leading roles, including Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. Theatre historians have been able to establish some of the key facts about Burbage’s life but there are some gaps in the biographical picture drawn so far. One of these relates to the details of Burbage’s marriage. However, fresh investigation of the surviving marriage records from early modern London has led to a discovery which appears to solve the question of when and where Richard Burbage got married. This article documents this discovery and its implications for our knowledge of Burbage and his London connections. dc.description: This is a copy of the author's original version of the article. The article has been accepted for publication in 'Notes & Queries' (published by Oxford University Press).
  • The Twice Chang'd Friar
    dc.title: The Twice Chang'd Friar dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: 'The Twice Chang'd Friar' is one of four early 17th-century plays preserved in a manuscript miscellany in the library of Arbury Hall, Nuneaton (Arbury Hall MS A414), the seat of the Newdigate family, one of whose members, John Newdigate III, is believed to be the author. The play is an Italianate comedy based on a tale from Boccaccio's 'Decameron'. This is the first published edition of the play. As a rare example of amateur manuscript drama from the period, it will be of interest to students and scholars at all levels of the academic community.
  • Re-Reading Shakespeare's Richard III: Tragic Hero and Villain?
    dc.title: Re-Reading Shakespeare's Richard III: Tragic Hero and Villain? dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: The discovery of the body of the historical Richard III under a Leicester car park in 2012 sparked fresh interest in one of England’s most controversial kings. Accused of murdering his nephews—the Princes in the Tower—Richard’s reign was cut short when he was defeated by Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (later Henry VII), at the Battle of Bosworth (1485). Richard was subsequently demonised in Tudor historiography, perhaps most famously by Sir Thomas More in his “History of King Richard the thirde” (printed 1557). It is to More that we owe the popular image of Richard III as a “croke backed” and “malicious” villain (More 37), an image which Shakespeare has been accused of further codifying and popularising in his Richard III. Today, the historical Richard III’s defenders argue for the king’s good qualities and achievements and blame early writers such as More and Shakespeare for demonising Richard; but, in Shakespeare’s case at least, this essay argues that the possibility of a sympathetic—and even a heroic—reading of the king is built in to his characterisation of Richard III. dc.description: Open Access journal
  • 'Politics, Satire and Caroline Manuscript Drama: The Example of "The Twice Chang’d Friar" (Arbury Hall MS A414)'
    dc.title: 'Politics, Satire and Caroline Manuscript Drama: The Example of "The Twice Chang’d Friar" (Arbury Hall MS A414)' dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: Recent years have seen important work on political and topical satire in early Stuart England, with special attention being paid to manuscript culture and genres such as the verse libel.There has also been significant research on the importance of political drama and satire on the Caroline stage. However, despite the case made by scholars such as Andrew McRae for the pervasiveness of political satire in early Stuart culture, less attention has been paid to the politics of manuscript plays of this era. "The Twice Chang’d Friar" (Arbury Hall MS A414) – a little known manuscript comedy (written c. 1627-30), soon to be published for the first time – suggests that political satire was similarly important in the world of Caroline manuscript drama and that at least some amateur playwrights, followed the example of their professional peers, and used their plays to reflect on the contemporary political scene and topical issues. This essay explores how, in the case of "The Twice Chang'd Friar", this includes satirising Caroline court corruption, the career of controversial court favourite the Duke of Buckingham and the behaviour of one-time Spanish ambassador Count Gondomar, and highlighting the perceived threat posed to the English by Catholicism and the French. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
  • Collections XVII (The Malone Society)
    dc.title: Collections XVII (The Malone Society) dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan; Giddens, Eugene dc.description.abstract: Collections XVII is the latest volume in the Malone Society's pioneering series of editions of miscellaneous documents relating to English theatre and drama before 1642. It is likely to be of special interest not only to early theatre historians but to those working on Tudor and Stuart court and civic culture, manuscript writing, household drama and early modern women's writing, as it publishes new material in each of these fields. The book includes items such as Revels Office accounts, a playscript fragment, entertainments, poems and civic shows. Many of these documents are previously unpublished, and have been freshly edited and transcribed; each has an introduction giving details of its date, authorship and historical importance.
  • Introduction
    dc.title: Introduction dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan; Shellard, Dominic dc.description.abstract: This chapter introduces the topic of Shakespeare’s cultural capital and the marketplace, offering an overview of some of the different ways in which Shakespeare and his work have been marketed and had an economic and cultural impact in, and since, his own day in the UK and beyond. This includes addressing the emergence of Shakespeare as a cultural icon, the wider impact of Shakespeare in fields such as education, and the commercial use of Shakespeare as a brand in the advertising and tourist industries. The introduction also discusses the emergence of modern scholarship on the marketing and economic impact of Shakespeare and offers an overview of the following chapters and the different ways in which they reflect on the cultural and economic impact of Shakespeare.

View a full listing of Siobhan Keenan‘s publications and outputs.

Key research outputs

Authored Books

Travelling Players in Shakespeare’s England. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. ISBN: 0333968204. 250pp.

Renaissance Literature (Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780748625833. 282pp.

Acting Companies and Their Plays in Shakespeare’s London (The Arden Shakespeare). London: Bloomsbury, 2014. ISBN: 9781408146637. 272pp. (see www.bloomsbury.com/9781408146637)

The Progresses, Processions, and Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-1642 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020). ISBN: 9780198854005. 236pp.

Edited Books

Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey. Cologne: Könemann, 1999. ISBN: 3829030010. (Text edited with a note on the text and critical apparatus). 249 pp. [pp. 243-249].

(Play edition) Anonymous. The Emperor’s Favourite (Malone Society Edition, Volume 174). Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780719086090. (Text transcribed and edited with a 20,000 word introduction). 130 pp. [pp. vii-xliii].

For a short film about this play and its interest for modern students and scholars, see http://malonesociety.com/tag/emperors-favourite/

Malone Society: Collections XVII. Ed. with Eugene Giddens. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016. ISBN: 0719099277. 104pp.

Shakespeare’s Cultural Capital: His Economic Impact from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Ed. with Dominic Shellard. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. ISBN: 1137583150. [202 pp.].

(Scholarly Play Edition) Anonymous. The Twice Chang’d Friar (Malone Society, Volume 184). Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017. ISBN: 9781526113924. (Text transcribed and edited with a 10,000-word introduction). 110 pp. [pp. vii-xxvi].

Chapters in Books

(Joint) ‘The Iconography of the Bankside Globe’, with Peter Davidson. Shakespeare’s Globe Rebuilt. Ed. J. R. Mulryne and Margaret Shewring. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0521590191. 192 pp. [pp. 147-156].

‘Spectator and Spectacle: Royal Entertainments at the Universities in the 1560s’. The Progresses, Pageants and Entertainments of Queen Elizabeth I. Ed. Jayne Elisabeth Archer, Elizabeth Goldring, and Sarah Knight. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN: 0199291578. 352 pp. [pp. 86-103].

(Joint) ‘Introduction’ with Dominic Shellard. Shakespeare’s Cultural Capital: His Economic Impact from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Ed with Dominic Shellard. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. ISBN: ADD. 1137583150. [pp. 1-12].

 ‘Shakespeare and the Market in his Own Day’. Shakespeare’s Cultural Capital: His Economic Impact from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Ed with Dominic Shellard. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. ISBN: 1137583150. [pp. 13-31].

 

Journal Articles

‘Recusant Involvement in a Robin Hood Play at Brandsby Church, Yorkshire, 1615’. Notes & Queries, New Series 47:4 (December 2000). ISSN: 0029-3970 [pp. 475-478].

‘An Allusion to a Provincial Play Performance in the Memorandum Book of Richard Cholmeley of Brandsby in 1618’. Notes & Queries, New Series 47:4 (December 2000). ISSN: 0029-3970 [pp. 478-479].

‘A Little-Known Allusion to an Inn Performance in the Suburbs of Jacobean London’. Notes & Queries, New Series 50:4 (December 2003). ISSN: 0029-3970 [pp. 437-440].

‘Patronage, Puritanism and Playing: Travelling Players in Elizabethan and Stuart Maldon, Essex’. Theatre Notebook, 58:2 (2004). ISSN: 00405523 [pp. 48-70].

‘Reading Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II: The Example of John Newdigate in 1601’. Notes & Queries, 53:4 (December 2006). ISSN:  0029-3970. [pp. 452-58].

‘“Embracing Submission”: Motherhood, Marriage and Mortality in Katherine Thomas’s Seventeenth-Century “Commonplace Book” (NLW MS 4340A)’. Women’s Writing, 15:1 (2008). ISSN: 09699082. [pp. 69-85].

‘Staging Roman History, Stuart Politics, and The Duke of Buckingham: The Example of The Emperor’s Favourite’. Early Theatre, 14:2 (2011). ISSN: 1206-9078. [pp. 63-103]. Available at: http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/earlytheatre/vol14/iss2/3.

‘Representing the Duke of Buckingham: Libel, Counter-Libel and the Example of The Emperor’s Favourite’. Literature Compass, 9 (4) (2012). pp. 292-305.

‘The Royal Shakespeare Company at 50’. Shakespeare, 8:2 (2012). [pp. 195-201].

‘The Simpson Players of Jacobean Yorkshire and the Professional Stage’, Theatre Notebook, 67:1 (2013). ISSN: 00405523 [pp. 16-35].

‘Re-Reading Shakespeare’s Richard III: Tragic Hero and Villain?’ Linguaculture, The Journal of Linguaculture Centre of (Inter)cultural and (Inter)lingual Research, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, 8:1 (2017). ISSN: 2285-9403. [pp. 23-34]. (Invited article)

‘Politics, Satire and Caroline Manuscript Drama: The Example of The Twice Chang’d Friar (Arbury Hall MS A414)’. Notes & Queries, September 2017. ISSN:  0029-3970. [pp. 395-401].

‘New Evidence About Shakespearean “Star” Actor, Richard Burbage’, Notes & Queries, 66:3 (September 2019). ISSN:  0029-3970. [pp. 460-4]. Available at https://doi.org/10.1093/notesj/gjz077. 

‘New Evidence about Tudor Royal Players, George and John Birche and their connection with James Burbage’. Notes & Queries, 69:3 (2022). ISSN:  0029-3970. [pp. 204-7.] DOI: 10.1093/notesj/gjac082

 

Research interests/expertise

Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama, Theatre History, Early Modern Women’s Writing. 

Areas of teaching

Medieval, Renaissance, Restoration and early eighteenth-century literature, Shakespeare.

Qualifications

BA (Hons) English Literature (Cambridge University, 1994)

Postgraduate Certificate in Education (Swansea University, 1995)

MA, English Literature (University of Warwick, 1996)

PhD, Renaissance Studies (University of Warwick, 2000)

Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (UWE, Bristol, 2001)

Courses taught

ENGL2001 Exploration and Innovation: 14th Century to 18th Century Literature

 

Honours and awards

Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award (DMU, Leicester) (2007, 2011, 2015) 

Membership of external committees

Chairman and Member of the Malone Society Council (2012-): The Malone Society is a registered charity which publishes editions of sixteenth and seventeenth century plays from manuscript, photographic facsimile editions of printed plays of the period, and editions of original documents relating to Renaissance theatre and drama.

Membership of professional associations and societies

Member of the British Shakespeare Association

Member of the International Shakespeare Association

Member of the Shakespeare Association of America

Member of the Society for Renaissance Studies

Member of the Malone Society

Member of the Society for Theatre Research

Member of the Society for Court Studies

Conference attendance

‘Touching’ the Duke of Buckingham: Roman History, Stuart Politics and the example of The Emperor’s Favourite’.  Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Washington, USA, 11 April 2009
(Invited Workshop Paper). 

‘The Difference that REED makes: Writing the histories of Early Modern English Drama’, ‘Shakespeare after REED’ Workshop, 9th World Shakespeare Conference, Prague, 17-22 July 2011.

‘Adapting Shakespeare for a “dark corner” of the land: The Simpson Players in Jacobean Yorkshire’, ‘Shakespeare: Sources and Adaptation Conference’, University of Cambridge, 9-11 September 2011.

‘Amateur Shakespeare in Jacobean Yorkshire: Or, Shoemakers’ Shakespeare’.  Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Boston, USA, 5-7 April 2012.

‘Philip Herbert, the King’s Men, and the Influence of Patrons: A Case Study’ (Seminar Paper). Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada, 28-30 March 2013.

‘Beyond the Renaissance Closet: Amateur Playwriting, Manuscript Drama and the Example of The Twice Changed Friar’ (Seminar Paper). Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, St Louis, USA, 10-12 April 2014.

'Shakespeare, the King's Men and Revisiting the theory of "Strong" and "Weak" Acting Companies'. Reforming Shakespeare: 1593 and After Conference, De Montfort University, Leicester, 3 June 2014.

‘Shakespeare and Advertising’ Seminar (Co-organiser with Professor Deborah Cartmell). Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 1-4 April 2015.

‘Digital Shakespeare: Audiences and Scholars’ Seminar (Co-organiser with Professor Suzanne Westfall, Dr Erin Sullivan and Dr Penelope Woods).World Shakespeare Conference of the International Shakespeare Association, King’s College, London, 6 August 2016.

(Invited Keynote Lecture) ‘How chances it they travel? (Hamlet, 2.2.317): Shakespeare & his Plays on Tour’, ‘Shakespeare Lives – Re-reading, Re-writing, Re-contextualising Shakespeare’ Conference, organised by the British Council and Alexandra Ioan Cuza University of Iasi as part of the British Council’s Shakespeare Lives initiative in Iasi, Romania, 27 October 2016.

(Invited Keynote Lecture) ‘Re-Reading Shakespeare’s Richard III: Tragic Hero/Villain?’. ‘Shakespeare Lives – Re-reading, Re-writing, Re-contextualising Shakespeare’ Conference, organised by the British Council and Alexandra Ioan Cuza University of Iasi as part of the British Council’s Shakespeare Lives initiative in Iasi, Romania, 28 October 2016.

‘Negotiating and Representing Court, Country and Self in Caroline Royal Progress Entertainments: The Example of King Charles I’s 1633 Entertainment at Welbeck Abbey’. Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 5-8 April 2017.

‘Entertaining King Charles I on Progress: Ben Jonson’s Love’s Welcome to Bolsover and Courtly Ceremony, Dialogue and Reciprocity’. English Research Seminar, Canterbury Christ Church University, 10 May 2017 (By invitation).

‘Love and Loyalty on Progress: The Earl of Newcastle and Ben Jonson’s 1634 Bolsover Entertainment for King Charles I’. Loyalty to the British Monarchs, c. 1400-1688 Conference, Nottingham University, Nottingham, 24 January 2018.

(Invited Panel Paper) ‘In Search of the Author of the Arbury Hall Plays (MS A414): Evidence, Interpretation and Manuscript Drama’. The International Shakespeare Conference, The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, Stratford-upon-Avon, 24 July 2018.

‘Compliment and Counsel: King Charles I’s 1633 Royal Entry to Edinburgh’. Performance, Royalty and the Court, 1500-1800. Society for Court Studies Conference. London, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, 11-12 April 2019.

‘Anti-Spanish Drama and the Palatine Cause: The King’s Men’s performance of Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany (1636)’. British Shakespeare Association 2019 Conference, Swansea University, 17-20 July 2019.

‘The City as Stage and Monarch as Spectacle: Charles I’s 1641 Royal Entry to London’, Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado, USA, 15-18 April 2020 [Shared virtually as the physical conference was cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.]

‘Richard Burbage, a “delightful Proteus”: On the acting and reputation of the first Shakespearean star’. Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham (26 November 2020) (By invitation).

‘The King’s Players and Civic Drama in London: The example of London’s Love to the Royal Prince Henry (1610)’. Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, 30 March-4 April 2021 (online).

 ‘New Evidence about Tudor Royal Players, George and John Birche and St Stephen Coleman Street Parish, London’, Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Jacksonville, Florida, USA, 6-9 April 2022.

‘“Though this be madness yet there is / method in’t” (2.2.202-3): Richard Burbage and the performance of madness in Hamlet’, British Shakespeare Association Conference, University of Liverpool, 25-28 July 2023.

(Invited Lecture) ‘Richard Burbage (1568-1619): The First Shakespearean Star’, Hall’s Croft, The Shakespeare Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 3 August 2023.

Consultancy work

Area of Expertise: Shakespearean Theatre; currently available

Consultancy / Media Work:

(Invited Expert Guest) CavalierCast: The Civil War in Words, podcast with Mark Turnbull (7 September 2024) (Episode 37 - King Charles I's Relationship with his People (buzzsprout.com)

(Invited Expert Guest), ‘Shakespeare’s Players: Burbage and Kemp’, Not Just the Tudors podcast with Professor Susannah Lipscomb (13 June 2024), available at: Not Just the Tudors: Shakespeare's Players: Burbage and Kempe on Apple Podcasts

Interviewed by NYT journalist Derrick Bryson Taylor to discuss the evidence for Shakespeare having visited King’s Lynn as a player in 1592-3, where he could have played at the St George’s Hall. See Derrick Bryson Taylor, ‘Floorboards (Possibly) Trodden by Shakespeare Are Found in England’, New York Times, 5 October 2023.

Interviewed on BBC Radio Sheffield about Shakespeare and touring players’ performances in Doncaster as part of a Shakespeare feature on their afternoon show (1-3) (20 November 2019). 

Interviewed by NYT journalist Alexis Soloski  for information about travelling theatre traditions in Shakespeare’s era. See Alexis Soloski, ‘3 Days in a Van With a Shakespeare Troupe: Daggers and Dunkin’ Donuts’, New York Times, 22 May 2019. 

BBC – 'Shakespeare on Tour' (2016): ‘Shakespeare on Tour’ is a website of around 200 stories about Shakespeare and Shakespearean performances in and beyond London, from his own day to the present. The online resource was launched on 21 March 2016 to coincide with the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in April 2016 (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03fcz11).

 I helped co-develop the resource with the BBC and contributed sixteen separate stories about touring performances by Shakespearean companies and drama beyond London in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, drawing upon my research on early modern acting companies and their plays. 

BBC’s Countryfile Shakespeare special (April 2016): I advised on a story about Shakespeare's acting company visiting Fordwich in Kent and was interviewed on the programme by John Craven and Dame Judi Dench. The programme had over 6.393 million viewers and the story with which I was involved was the subject of considerable advance press coverage nationally, including articles in The Guardian (19 April 2016), The Independent (20 April 2016), International Business Times (20 April 2016), The Express (20 April 2016), The Irish Examiner (20 April 2016) and The Huffington Post (20 April 2016). In July 2018 the interview was chosen by John Craven as one of his five ‘Magic Moments’, as the programme celebrated its 30th anniversary (see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1n9kSnFLVp55YKG7YVm2311/john-s-top-5-magic-moments).

Interviewed by Dominic Heale for BBC East Midlands Today at Leicester Guildhall (7 March 2016) about the visits to Leicester by Shakespeare’s acting company; broadcast as part of a Shakespeare feature on the East Midlands Today programme on 21 March 2016

Interviewed by Jonathan Lampon for BBC Radio Leicester (18 March 2016) about the visits to Leicester by Shakespeare’s acting company; broadcast on the morning show on 21 March 2016

 Interviewed by Sophie Law for BBC Radio Oxford (18 March 2016) about the 1610 visit to Oxford by Shakespeare’s acting company; broadcast on the station’s breakfast show on 21 March 2016 and added to the ‘Shakespeare on Tour’ website (23 March 2016)

Interviewed by Ed Stagg for BBC Radio Leicester at Leicester Guildhall (13 April 2016) for ‘Was Shakespeare here?’ feature (broadcast on BBC Radio Leicester’s Breakfast Show with Jim Davis and Jo Hayward and the Mid-Morning Show with Jonathan Lampon, 19 April 2016) 

‘Shakespeare Beyond London’ (15 minute essay), commissioned by BBC Radio 3 as one of a series of Shakespeare 400 essays; recorded on 24 April 2016 and broadcast on 29 April 2016; also available as a podcast.

Interviewed about George Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham in Sarah Staples, ‘Loved by the king, loathed by a nation. How court favourite met his grisly end’, Leicester Mercury, 21 February 2012, pp. 8-9. 

Theatrical Consultant for the Four-Part BBC2 Series In Search of Shakespeare (Maya Vision International Production for BBC and PBS, 2003; written and presented by Michael Wood; screened from 28 June 2003): I offered the programme makers advice on touring players’ activity in the North of England at a time when Shakespeare may have been based in a Northern household.

Theatrical Researcher and Consultant for the Real History Television Programme on ‘The Florists’ Feast at Norwich, 1631’ (Maya Vision, 1998; Televised on Channel 4, 19 March 2000): The episode was part of a series commissioned for Channel 4, presented by Bernard Hill.  In this episode Hill leads an investigation of Ralph Knevet’s play, The Florists’ Feast and its historical performance at Norwich in the 1630s.  The programme culminates with a reconstruction of the play’s production before the society of Norwich Florists for whom it was commissioned. I advised the programme makers on the staging of the play and am featured in the episode discussing questions of staging and performance with Hill and the boy actors used in the reconstruction.

 

 

Current research students

 (Second supervisor): 1 student (part-time) 

(Third supervisor): 1 student (full-time)

Externally funded research grants information

British Academy Small Research Grant (2009): for final research relating to my Malone Society edition of The Emperor’s Favourite.

British Academy Small Research Grant (2014-15) and a Society for Theatre Research Small Research Grant (2015): to support the research for my Malone Society edition of a seventeenth-century manuscript comedy, The Twice Chang'd Friar.

Scouloudi Historical Award (2018): to support the research for my monograph on The Progresses, Processions and Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-42. 

Society for Theatre Research Anthony Denning Award (2020) and Small Research Grant (2023): to support research for my new project on Shakespearean actor, Richard Burbage.

 

Professional esteem indicators

I have acted as a reader for Palgrave Macmillan, Arden Shakespeare and the journals Shakespeare, Palgrave Communications, and Renaissance Quarterly. 

I am chairman (2023-) and an elected member of the Malone Society Council (2012-).

I am on the editorial board for the journal Shakespeare (since 2014).

Member of the AHRC Peer Review College (2021-).

Elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (2022-)

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2024-)

Case studies

 

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