by Kim Gilchrist The conference’s special panel on Christopher Marlowe offered a range of approaches to Marlowe’s plays, but all three highlighted themes of subjugation and violence, perhaps hinting at factors that made Marlowe’s plays so shocking and influential when first performed. Nicole Mennell’s paper, “Horsemanship and Governance in Tamburlaine the Great Parts I and … Continue reading CONFERENCE Panel: Marlowe
Panel Blog
CONFERENCE Panel: Theatre History 3: Metre and Repertory
by Romola Nuttall Disclaimer: this post will be a grossly incomplete summary of a tremendously rich and engaging panel "Metre and Repertory", which was so full of fascinating facts and questions that I cannot do them justice here. Robert Stagg's 'Metre before Shakespeare', contested prevailing orthodoxy of Shakespeare as creator and chief innovator of blank … Continue reading CONFERENCE Panel: Theatre History 3: Metre and Repertory
CONFERENCE Panel: Circulating Stories
by Callan Davies Our fourth panel had a wonderful coherence to it, with all four papers complementing each other in fascinating and provocative ways. First up were two papers on the underappreciated and underdiscussed William Painter and his "play-fodder" (as it has sometimes been dismissed), The Palace of Pleasure (first printed 1566) from Mark Houlahan and … Continue reading CONFERENCE Panel: Circulating Stories
CONFERENCE Panel: Theatre History 2: Geographies and People
by Derek Dunne Theatre history isn’t what it used to be. After a stimulating opening plenary by William Ingram entitled ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Theatre History’, the Before Shakespeare conference continued to challenge/re-negotiate/overturn/burn down everything we think we know about those simple things we call playhouses. The second panel took up … Continue reading CONFERENCE Panel: Theatre History 2: Geographies and People
CONFERENCE Panel: Theatre History 1: Texts and Places
by Kim Gilchrist The first panel of Before Shakespeare kicked off with four fantastic papers that set the tone and the agenda perfectly by opening up underexplored yet fundamental areas of the sixteenth-century performance industries. Tracey Hill’s paper, “The Theatrical City Revisited,” presented what Hill described as a “revisionist account of the role of the … Continue reading CONFERENCE Panel: Theatre History 1: Texts and Places
Before Shakespeare 