After 10 years of work on this, it’s both a pleasure and a relief to finally hold the finished book in my hand! I’ve enjoyed taking little snapshots of the index, which give some sense of the crazy amount of cultural ground this covers. manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526103574/

What made Troilus and Cressida so relevant to audiences who had lived through two world wars? Why did it speak to the 'angry young men' of the post-war era and to the countercultural movements of the 1960s? Find out here 👇 manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526103574/ @stevetpurcell.bsky.social

Another great review! “Hamlet may have lost all his mirth, but the quality of tonight’s performance took The Pantaloons to another level altogether.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ @thepantaloons.bsky.social northwestend.com/hamlet-sir-k...

Hamlet – Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden, Shakespeare North Playhouse - North West End UK

Director Steve Purcell is to be praised for his heavily abridged adaptation which, coming in at less than half the length of the full text, focuses on the family drama at the heart of the play, bringi...

northwestend.com

A lovely write-up of @thepantaloons.bsky.social Hamlet from the St Albans Times - we even made the front page! issuu.com/stalbanstime... Full tour dates are here: thepantaloons.co.uk/hamlet/

Very excited to be contributing to this!

Dr. Benjamin Broadribb@benbroadribb.bsky.social · last yr.

Very happy to say I will be spending a lot more time with these books over the next year or so, as this week I've signed a contract with @manchesterup.bsky.social to edit the first ever academic collection of essays on the landmark BBC anthology series Inside No. 9 🥳 #InsideNo9

Nearing the end of a busy and exciting week opening @thepantaloons.bsky.social Hamlet at St Albans Roman Theatre! Full tour dates are here: thepantaloons.co.uk/hamlet/

It's opening night for Hamlet! This has been a very special one to work on. Opening in St Albans before a UK-wide tour: thepantaloons.co.uk/hamlet/

Hamlet opens tonight at St Albans Roman Theatre where it runs for a week before heading off on tour! Here's some rehearsal photos of our fantastic cast: new Pantaloons Laura Cooper-Jones and Tamsin Lynes with 'loon veterans Martin Gibbons and Richard Lessen.

Free workshop on “Talking to the audience in Hamlet” with me and the cast of @thepantaloons.bsky.social Hamlet! Information and booking here: ovo.org.uk/shows/talkin...

It was great fun workshopping scenes from Hamlet with @thepantaloons.bsky.social today at the @bsashakespeare.bsky.social conference on the beautiful University of York campus!

Best of luck to the cast of @thepantaloons.bsky.social Robin Hood, opening this weekend! Full tour dates are here: thepantaloons.co.uk/robin-hood/

Best of luck to the cast of @thepantaloons.bsky.social Sense and Sensibility, which opens this evening! Tour details are here: thepantaloons.co.uk/sense/

At Jackson's Lane today doing auditions for @thepantaloons.bsky.social Hamlet!

Spent a lovely afternoon at the leafy University of Buckingham, talking to English Literature postgraduates about the performance history of Troilus and Cressida (what else?). Here’s John Barton directing Patrick Stewart and Sebastian Shaw in the play in 1968.

One of the things I love about the discovery reported in today’s Guardian is that it puts paid to the prejudice you see in a lot of biofiction that Anne Shakespeare/Hathaway would have been illiterate. Nope! www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Shakespeare did not leave his wife Anne in Stratford, letter fragment suggests

Professor says text shows Hathaway lived with playwright in London, upending the established idea of an unhappy marriage

theguardian.com

I’m pleased to say that we’re advertising an open ended lectureship in Early Modern English Literature at Glasgow. Details here, and please share: www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/lecturer...

Had a great afternoon at the Shakespeare Institute talking about homosexuality in postwar productions of Troilus and Cressida. Here are Charles Gray as Achilles, Jeremy Brett as Patroclus and Paul Rogers as Pandarus in Tyrone Guthrie’s 1956 production at the Old Vic.

My book has a cover! A history of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida in performance, from John Dryden's Restoration adaptation to the rediscovery of the play in the twentieth century. manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526103574/

Make me a willow cabin at your gate, And call upon my soul within the house… Making a willow cabin today at Peace Cottage Community Hub, Hoddesdon.

Such a wonderful and brilliantly written tribute to Claire van Kampen from the Globe’s former artistic director Dominic Dromgoole www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

Claire van Kampen: a world-class theatre composer and bright star of Shakespeare’s Globe

The pianist, director and playwright of Farinelli and the King, which starred her husband Mark Rylance, is remembered by the Globe’s former artistic director

theguardian.com

This is such sad news. Claire van Kampen was a remarkable artist whose work had a huge impact on modern theatre. I was fortunate enough to meet her a few times, and she was a lovely person, too. Sending condolences to all those whose lives she touched. www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

Director and composer Claire van Kampen dies aged 71

Wife of actor Mark Rylance had worked in various roles at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre and had been diagnosed with cancer

theguardian.com

This year’s #BSA2025 in York is shaping up to be a fantastic conference for lovers of all things #shakespeare & #performance. Click to join the conversation here: www.britishshakespeare.ws/call-for-par... then we can all go hit up the snickelways in June!

Call for Participation, second round:  - British Shakespeare Association

Practising Shakespeare: new collaborations, expanding horizons British Shakespeare Association Conference Wednesday 25 – Saturday 28 June 2025 School of Arts and Creative Technologies, University of Y...

britishshakespeare.ws

Churchill's play Love and Information was broadcast on @BBCRadio3 last year and was brilliant. If you don't know what all the fuss is about, treat yourself to a great 80 minutes: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... And do sign the petition: www.change.org/p/save-audio...

BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3, Love and Information

The first audio production of Caryl Churchill's thrilling kaleidoscope of human behaviour.

bbc.co.uk

The Stage@thestage.co.uk · 2y ago

Plans to cut audio drama from BBC Radio 3 have been labelled a “devastating loss for writers and actors alike”, with critics calling it the end of the “National Theatre of the airwaves” 👇 www.thestage.co.uk/news/cuts-to...

A statistical breakdown of the lyrics to We Wish You a Merry Christmas…

Feeling very Christmassy after seeing @thepantaloons.bsky.social perform A Christmas Carol at the Southern Maltings, Ware. Catch it if you can!

A lovely ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review for our The Pantaloons’ touring production of The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeare North Playhouse yesterday! northwestend.com/the-merry-wi... Full tour dates here: thepantaloons.co.uk/merry-wives/

The Merry Wives of Windsor – Shakespeare North Playhouse - North West End UK

If Shakespeare chose a modern company to perform his work then it would undoubtedly be The Pantaloons; I’m equally sure he would be thrilled with director Steve Purcell’s adaptation of a play that had...

northwestend.com

Really delighted to share my and Maria Shmygol's special issue of Shakespeare on 'Shakespeare in Action' with outstanding contributions from our authors. Hope that you enjoy! www.tandfonline.com/toc/rshk20/2...

Shakespeare

Special issue on 'Shakespeare in Action', guest-edited by Eleanor Rycroft and Maria Shmygol. Volume 20, Issue 2 of Shakespeare

tandfonline.com

Essential reading for anyone who works on Shakespearean performance - download it while you can!

Nora J. Williams@norajw.bsky.social · 2y ago

My article“Incomplete Dramaturgies” and all of issue 40.1 @shaxbull.bsky.social is currently available open access on Project Muse — no paywall! I don’t know how long this will last, so download while you can 👀 muse.jhu.edu/article/8580...

Arrived in the office today to discover a lovely present from my dissertation student. The dissertation was an eco-feminist reading of flowers in Shakespeare, so this is right on theme! Absolutely made my day.