Galatea (c.1584) enjoyed some more research and development with actors in August 2021, as it heads towards a production in collaboration with Wildworks, when director Emma Frankland gathered theatremakers at the 101 Outdoor Creation Space (thanks to their seed funding). This post brings together a series of A Bit Lit videos with performers to discuss … Continue reading Galatea 101: Performing John Lyly in the 21st Century
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Galatea 101 #3: Bea Webster on signing early modern English and queer virgins
Bea Webster talks about the process of turning sixteenth-century English into British Sign Language and the creation of appropriate signs, the importance of a diverse rehearsal room, and what it's like playing a character about to be sacrificed... Part of the Galatea residency at 101 Outdoor Creation Space. https://www.youtube.com/embed/5NeEba3FLbE
Galatea 101 #2: Nadia Nadarajah and Brian Duffy tell us about performing Diana and directing the show
Nadia Nadarajah and Brian Duffy tell us about their experiences working on the play Galatea, including translations into British Sign Language, exploring the character of the goddess Diana, and using physical communication and visual vernacular. The work forms part of Emma Frankland's production and comes out of a residency at 101 Outdoor Creation Space in … Continue reading Galatea 101 #2: Nadia Nadarajah and Brian Duffy tell us about performing Diana and directing the show
Galatea 101 #1: Emma Frankland and Andy Kesson
This week and next, Galatea is back on its feet once more! Now heading towards a production in collaboration with Wildworks, director and theatremaker Emma Frankland has gathered theatremakers at the 101 Outdoor Creation Space (made possible thanks to their seed funding). In this A Bit Lit feature video, the first of a series of … Continue reading Galatea 101 #1: Emma Frankland and Andy Kesson
Box Office Bears: a new research project on animal-baiting
Box Office Bears has begun! But who were they and what does it mean? We are delighted to announce the start of the £978,319 AHRC-funded project ‘Box Office Bears (BOB): Animal baiting in early modern England’, officially starting today. Over the next three years we’ll be exploring the lives of the animals and people involved … Continue reading Box Office Bears: a new research project on animal-baiting
Performing words #6: matter
what’s the matter? This post follows up some of the points raised by Andy in his discussion of “story” and early modern theatre as part of his Performing Words series. Here, I suggest that the term “matter” might afford a more historically nuanced—and appropriate—vocabulary for thinking about the intersection of “story,” words, and performance. the … Continue reading Performing words #6: matter
A slice of Christmas (b)log
This has been the only full year of our two year research project, and we have been busy. This blog offers a summary of the year's blog activity, from furries to archives, from handwriting competitions to virgin sacrifice. And whatever else you do, do be sure to take our fabulous and not-in-any-way-difficult Christmas quiz. Our … Continue reading A slice of Christmas (b)log
Performing words #2: No room in the inns?
This post is part of a series on theatrical words. For an introduction to the series, see Performing words: introduction to a new thread on theatre and language. It's nearly Christmas, and I'm writing to ask if there might be room for the inns in our accounts of early London playing spaces. When we think of … Continue reading Performing words #2: No room in the inns?
The Woman in the Moon: Interviews with the Cast
During rehearsals for James Wallace’s The Dolphin’s Back production of John Lyly’s The Woman in the Moon (Shakespeare's Globe, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) back in August 2017, we had time to catch up with a few of the cast members and ask them how it felt to play gods, Nature, men, and women on the Sam Wanamaker stage … Continue reading The Woman in the Moon: Interviews with the Cast
Performing words #1: what is an actor?
This post is part of a series on theatrical words. For an introduction to the series, see Performing words: introduction to a new thread on theatre and language. Do actors act? And what would it mean if they did? The current post concerns the word 'actor' and its surprisingly untheatrical history. It asks why and when … Continue reading Performing words #1: what is an actor?
Before Shakespeare 