Election of New BSA Trustee (and Chair of Honorary Fellowships Committee)

8th August 2022

The Board of Trustees of the British Shakespeare Association wishes to appoint a new Trustee to further the Association’s aims to educate, promote and foster a better understanding of Shakespeare and his work. We are looking for someone who will be able to join the Board and serve as the Chair of the Honorary Fellowships Committee. Applications are open to any member of the BSA, and we particularly welcome applications from disabled applicants, those from BAME backgrounds, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Trustees work voluntarily (with reasonable expenses reimbursed) to further the aims of the BSA across its four main constituencies of members: academic researchers, teachers, theatre practitioners and members of the public.

The British Shakespeare Association is a registered Charity and its Trustees are also Directors and take joint responsibility to help the Board promote the Association’s objectives which are: to educate, promote, and foster a better understanding of Shakespeare and his works in a manner consistent with an educational charity limited by guarantee; and benefiting those individuals, members, charities, or institutions with an educational purpose toward the study of Shakespeare in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In line with these objectives, and with its policy for diversity, inclusivity and equal opportunities, the Board warmly welcomes applications from any member of the Association, from any part of the United Kingdom as well as from our international members so that different constituencies are represented.

Trustee profile and duties

Trustees are required to attend three meetings of the Board of Trustees per year, which are normally held via Zoom in January, May, and September, and to attend the Association’s AGM. The BSA will meet reasonable expenses for UK travel associated with attending any BSA meetings where necessary, and accepts virtual attendance via videoconferencing. In addition, some of our Trustees also sit on sub-Committees of the Board (whose business is usually conducted virtually).

The Board seeks to elect a Trustee who will also take up the role of Chair of the Honorary Fellowships Committee. The Honorary Fellowships scheme was set up by the Board of Trustees in 2011, to recognise those who have demonstrated a lifetime’s achievement of excellence in the field of Shakespeare by means of scholarship, performance, education or any other allied areas (e.g. commissioning and publishing series on Shakespeare). A third category (innovation award) was created in 2022, with the first such award expected to be made at the 2022 AGM. Honorary Fellowships is a standing item on the agenda for our Board meetings.

At the Board Meetings and the AGM the Trustee will:

• Report to the Board about nominations and awards.
• Receive nominations for the three award categories annually, collate them, and distribute to the Honorary Fellowships Committee.
• Convene their Committee (virtually) and facilitate the process of selecting three awardees based on the nominations.
• Liaise with the Chair of the BSA and Chair of Events to organise the awards ceremony (normally held after the AGM) where the awardees normally give interviews or short talks.
• Organise the purchase and engraving of presentational award for each of the awardees.

In addition, we would like the Trustee to be prepared to:

• Publicise the Honorary Fellowships scheme to their networks and online (via social media, mailing lists).

The BSA is a charitable company limited by guarantee and all Trustees share a responsibility as Directors to ensure that the BSA is managed well.

Trustees are elected by the membership for three years and may stand for re-election for a second term.

• For more information on the roles and responsibilities of a Trustee, please read the documents published by the Charity Commission here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-essential-trustee-what-you-need-to-know-cc3
• To make sure you are eligible to become a Trustee, please check the criteria on the Charity Commission website: https://www.gov.uk/government/get-involved/take-part/help-run-a-charity

What are the benefits of joining the BSA Board?

You will gain:

• opportunities for networking, mentoring and collaboration with scholars, practitioners and education professionals in Shakespeare studies
• professional development through contributing to a non-profit charitable organisation
• a wider perspective on Shakespeare and advance knowledge of Shakespeare-related events and research
• the opportunity to steer the organisation to better meet the needs of practitioners in theatre, radio, tv, film, education, and academia, and to engage members of the public with the work of Shakespeare.

Application process

If you wish to nominate yourself please submit a CV and a 300-word (max) statement that outlines your interest in the role and any relevant experience. Please submit this by email to José Pérez Díez and Maria Shmygol at the BSA’s email address by Monday 12th of September 2022.

Please contact Eleanor Rycroft (current Honorary Fellowships Committee Chair) should you require any further information about this role.

The new Trustee will be expected to take up their role from December 2022.

In the event of there being multiple applications for the post, we will invite you to amend your statement if you wish to do so in preparation for an election (by electronic means) by BSA members.

Election of New BSA Trustee (and Chair of Performance and Media Committee)

8th August 2022

The Board of Trustees of the British Shakespeare Association wishes to appoint a new Trustee to further the Association’s aims to educate, promote and foster a better understanding of Shakespeare and his work. We are looking for someone who will be able to join the Board and serve as the Chair of the Performance and Media Committee. Applications are open to any member of the BSA, and we particularly welcome applications from disabled applicants, those from BAME backgrounds, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Trustees work voluntarily (with reasonable expenses reimbursed) to further the aims of the BSA across its four main constituencies of members: academic researchers, teachers, theatre practitioners and members of the public.

The British Shakespeare Association is a registered Charity and its Trustees are also Directors and take joint responsibility to help the Board promote the Association’s objectives which are: to educate, promote, and foster a better understanding of Shakespeare and his works in a manner consistent with an educational charity limited by guarantee; and benefiting those individuals, members, charities, or institutions with an educational purpose toward the study of Shakespeare in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In line with these objectives, and with its policy for diversity, inclusivity and equal opportunities, the Board warmly welcomes applications from any member of the Association, from any part of the United Kingdom as well as from our international members so that different constituencies are represented.

Trustee profile and duties

Trustees are required to attend three meetings of the Board of Trustees per year, which are normally held via Zoom in January, May, and September, and to attend the Association’s AGM. The BSA will meet reasonable expenses for UK travel associated with attending any BSA meetings where necessary, and accepts virtual attendance via videoconferencing. In addition, some of our Trustees also sit on sub-Committees of the Board (whose business is usually conducted virtually).

The Board seeks to elect a Trustee who will also take up the role of Chair of the Performance and Media Committee. This Committee was set up by the Board of Trustees in 2018 to support the community of practitioners working with Shakespeare in performance. Its aims include: to promote membership of the BSA among theatre practitioners; to establish networks and facilitate connections between producers, directors, actors, and academic researchers; to promote the dissemination of research resources on Shakespeare for use in the rehearsal room; to encourage the organisation of events to bring theatre practitioners, teachers, and academic specialists together.

At the Board Meetings and the AGM the Chair will:

• Report to the Board about the discussions and activities of the committee.
• Raise any initiatives suggested by the committee to fulfil its aims (outlined above).
• Convene the committee (virtually) and implement measures to further the committee’s aims (outlined above).
• Liaise with the Chair of the BSA and Chair of Events to organise any events.

In addition, we would like the Trustee to be prepared to:

• Publicise the activities of the Performance and Media Committee.

The BSA is a charitable company limited by guarantee and all Trustees share a responsibility as Directors to ensure that the BSA is managed well.

Trustees are elected by the membership for three years and may stand for re-election for a second term.

• For more information on the roles and responsibilities of a Trustee, please read the documents published by the Charity Commission here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-essential-trustee-what-you-need-to-know-cc3
• To make sure you are eligible to become a Trustee, please check the criteria on the Charity Commission website: https://www.gov.uk/government/get-involved/take-part/help-run-a-charity

What are the benefits of joining the BSA Board?

You will gain:

• opportunities for networking, mentoring and collaboration with scholars, practitioners and education professionals in Shakespeare studies
• professional development through contributing to a non-profit charitable organisation
• a wider perspective on Shakespeare and advance knowledge of Shakespeare-related events and research
• the opportunity to steer the organisation to better meet the needs of practitioners in theatre, radio, tv, film, education, and academia, and to engage members of the public with the work of Shakespeare.

Application process

If you wish to nominate yourself please submit a CV and a 300-word (max.) statement that outlines your interest in the role and any relevant experience. Please submit this by email to José Pérez Díez and Maria Shmygol at the BSA’s email address by Monday 12th September 2022.

Please contact Mark Thornton Burnett (current Chair of the Performance and Media Committee) should you require any further information about this role.

The new Trustee will be expected to take up their role from October 2022.

In the event of there being multiple applications for the post, we will invite you to amend your statement if you wish to do so in preparation for an election (by electronic means) by BSA members.

Election of New BSA Trustee (and Chair of Events Committee)

8th August 2022

The Board of Trustees of the British Shakespeare Association wishes to appoint a new Trustee to further the Association’s aims to educate, promote and foster a better understanding of Shakespeare and his work. We are looking for someone who will be able to join the Board and serve as the Chair of the Events Committee. Applications are open to any member of the BSA, and we particularly welcome applications from disabled applicants, those from BAME backgrounds, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Trustees work voluntarily (with reasonable expenses reimbursed) to further the aims of the BSA across its four main constituencies of members: academic researchers, teachers, theatre practitioners and members of the public.

The British Shakespeare Association is a registered Charity and its Trustees are also Directors and take joint responsibility to help the Board promote the Association’s objectives which are: to educate, promote, and foster a better understanding of Shakespeare and his works in a manner consistent with an educational charity limited by guarantee; and benefiting those individuals, members, charities, or institutions with an educational purpose toward the study of Shakespeare in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In line with these objectives, and with its policy for diversity, inclusivity and equal opportunities, the Board warmly welcomes applications from any member of the Association, from any part of the United Kingdom as well as from our international members so that different constituencies are represented.

Trustee profile and duties

Trustees are required to attend three meetings of the Board of Trustees per year, which are normally held via Zoom in January, May, and September, and to attend the Association’s AGM. The BSA will meet reasonable expenses for UK travel associated with attending any BSA meetings where necessary, and accepts virtual attendance via videoconferencing. In addition, some of our Trustees also sit on sub-Committees of the Board (whose business is usually conducted virtually).

The Board seeks to elect a Trustee who will also take up the role of Chair of the Events Committee. This Committee was set up by the Board of Trustees to liaise with the organisers of the BSA conferences on behalf of the Board and to oversee applications for the BSA’s Small Events Fund. Its aims include: to function as the first and regular point of contact for the organisers of BSA conferences; to promote and oversee Small Events Fund applications; to encourage the organisation of events to bring theatre practitioners, teachers, and academic specialists together.

At the Board Meetings and the AGM the Chair of the Events Committee will:

• Report to the Board about the discussions and activities of the committee.
• Raise any initiatives suggested by the committee to fulfil its aims (outlined above).
• Convene the committee (virtually) and implement measures to further the committee’s aims (outlined above).
• Liaise with the Chair of the BSA and other members of the Board.
• Issue and coordinate the call for applications to host the BSA conference, and actively promote applications among potential academic hosts.
• Perform the preliminary assessment of applications to host the BSA conference for presentation of candidates to the Board.
• Oversee the preparations for the conference at all stages in conjunction with the Chair and other members of the Board.
• Receive applications for the Small Events Fund (two calls per year: March and September), and liaise with committee members in order to select awardees.
• Invite Small Event Fund awardees to write a short report about their event (for the BSA blog).

In addition, we would like the Trustee to be prepared to:

• Occasionally organise and/or host online BSA events (such as book launches, in memoriam events, etc).
• Encourage their committee members to organize and/or host BSA events, in-person or virtually.

The BSA is a charitable company limited by guarantee and all Trustees share a responsibility as Directors to ensure that the BSA is managed well.

Trustees are elected by the membership for three years and may stand for re-election for a second term.

• For more information on the roles and responsibilities of a Trustee, please read the documents published by the Charity Commission here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-essential-trustee-what-you-need-to-know-cc3
• To make sure you are eligible to become a Trustee, please check the criteria on the Charity Commission website: https://www.gov.uk/government/get-involved/take-part/help-run-a-charity

What are the benefits of joining the BSA Board?

You will gain:

• opportunities for networking, mentoring and collaboration with scholars, practitioners and education professionals in Shakespeare studies
• professional development through contributing to a non-profit charitable organisation
• a wider perspective on Shakespeare and advance knowledge of Shakespeare-related events and research
• the opportunity to steer the organisation to better meet the needs of practitioners in theatre, radio, tv, film, education, and academia, and to engage members of the public with the work of Shakespeare.

Application process:

If you wish to nominate yourself please submit a CV and a 300-word (max.) statement that outlines your interest in the role and any relevant experience. Please submit this by email to José Pérez Díezand Maria Shmygol at the BSA’s email address by Monday 12th September 2022.

Please contact Karen Eckersall (current Chair of the Events Committee) or Maria Shmygol (Web and Comms Officer) should you require any further information about this role.

The new Trustee will be expected to take up their role from October 2022.

In the event of there being multiple applications for the post, we will invite you to amend your statement if you wish to do so in preparation for an election (by electronic means) by BSA members.

Robert Myles: Owning Shakespeare, The Podcast

20th July 2022

Robert Myles is an actor, writer and director, known for The Show Must Go Online, The Shakespeare Deck, and the new podcast, Owning Shakespeare. He has acted in over 30 Shakespearean roles and has directed all 36 First Folio plays before age 36. His book on formal innovation in digital theatre with Valerie Clayman Pye is forthcoming with Routledge in 2023.

After completing the First Folio series of The Show Must Go Online, there was a great deal for me to unpack and reflect on. That process is still ongoing.

One aspect that seemed so valuable was TSMGO’s role in empowering people to tackle Shakespeare out loud. The open access it gave people in the rehearsal room, drawn from all walks of life, to a get a window into the process and choices of industry veterans was invaluable.

These plays were produced at breakneck speed, and consequently we were unable to delve as deeply into the text as we might wish. This, it seems, is a common complaint of actors with a love of Shakespeare’s text; the complexity and density of opportunity the text presents are rarely able to be mined in full under the practical and commercial pressures of modern theatre.

To address that in my 6-week intensive online training course, there is a point at which I ask participants to unpick Enobarbus’ speech “The Barge she sat in, like a Burnisht throne” from Antony and Cleopatra. We frequently spend over an hour, as a group, identifying the opportunities in just six lines and a half of text – the varying effect of metaphor and simile on the listener, the choice of imagery by the speaker and its associations for those on stage and off, the pop and crackle of rhythmic variations. The desire is there, as is the potential – the challenge is always creating the time and focus to unravel all that we could take advantage of.

Owning Shakespeare, The Podcast is my attempt to answer this challenge. To create the time to take a deep dive into a single Shakespeare speech, and to enlist the help of a veteran of the craft. I want to understand their personal approach, and in the process, get a greater grasp of preparing 400-year-old text for contemporary performance through peer-to-peer exchanges.

The show offers a first read of the actor’s chosen text, followed by a free-flowing discussion around their methods and interests, culminating in a performance that seeks to put into action some of the discoveries made.

The aim is to make the doing of Shakespeare more accessible to all. Performance has been an oral tradition for most of its history, and we continue that tradition here: whoever has the eagerness to listen can benefit from the wisdom of those who have an extraordinary facility for breathing life into the words.

Every episode comes with a link to an annotated Google Doc in the description, enabling listeners to read along and see the discoveries made in relation to the episode on the page.

Season One has now been recorded, with six incredible guests tackling six varied and fascinating speeches:

1. Isabel Adomakoh Young (Queer theatremaker and Black British Theatre Award winner for her Juliet at Regents Park Open Air Theatre) – Cleopatra (Antony & Cleopatra, 1.5) “O Charmian, Where think’st thou he is now?”
2. Paterson Joseph (Star of Peep Show, Noughts & Crosses and Brutus in the RSC’s Julius Caesar): Shylock (The Merchant of Venice, 1.3) “Signor Antonio, many a time and oft”
3. Austin Tichenor (Co-Artistic Director of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, actor, director, writer, author and educator)– Henry IV (Henry IV Part I, 3.2) “For all the world”
4. Miguel Perez (Former US Marine and veteran of stage and screen, who has acted alongside Mark Rylance in Hamlet and Sir Patrick Stewart in The Tempest) – Nurse (Romeo & Juliet, 1.3) “Even or odd, of all days in the year”
5. Debra Ann Byrd (Artistic Director of Southwest Shakespeare Festival and multi-award-winning writer-performer of Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey) – Richard III (Richard III, 4.4) “Look what is done cannot be now amended”
6. Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury in Netflix smash Bridgerton, BSA Honorary Fellow, and veteran of the Globe and RSC) – York (Henry VI Part III, 1.3) “She-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France”

Each speech throws up its own challenges, peculiarities and discoveries, and each actor approaches the process uniquely. Across the recording of the episodes, I was thrilled to discover a healthy amount of both similarities and differences. The similarities proved that there are common things we can all do to quickly get to grips with Shakespeare, while the differences leapt out as especially valuable pearls of wisdom: “Shakespeare’s Inky Finger” “Look for the Cousins” “Cut it!” and “Chosen Words” all leap back fresh in my memory.

Where The Show Must Go Online took on Shakespeare at breakneck speed, creating a full-cast performance of a play in just two and a half days, Owning Shakespeare takes in a single speech very slowly with a single actor, to allow us to marinade in the thrill of discovery, and benefit from what is once again an oral tradition.

When teaching Shakespeare, I frame this process as though we are pirates, raiding the treasure house of tradition. If a jewel gleams in just that certain way you like, add it to your lapel. Unlike silver and gold, however, knowledge shared is twice blest, it blesseth those that give and those that take (to echo The Merchant of Venice).

I thank every guest for their willingness to share their time, talent and insight with the world. I hope you’ll join us on these journeys of discovery over the next six weeks, and on into the future.

Robert Myles

Owning Shakespeare can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher and more at this link: https://anchor.fm/owning-shakespeare/

Eric Dunnum: Unruly Audiences and the Theater of Control in Early Modern London

13th July 2022

Eric Dunnum, Associate Professor at Campbell University, tells us about his first monograph, published by Routledge in 2020.

The kernel of my monograph, Unruly Audiences and the Theater of Control in Early Modern London, was formed way back in Dr Amelia Zurcher’s class at Marquette University on early modern drama in 2008. We read Richard II in conjunction with Tamburlaine, and I was struck by the similar (but contrasting) way Richard and Tamburlaine handled audiences. Richard refused to hand over the crown in front of an audience and Tamburlaine refused to take the crown from Mycetes until he had an audience. They both understood the power of performance and the need for an audience. I had a hunch that these texts weren’t just interested in statecraft or political power, but were also meditating on the efficacy and nature of stage performance. 

From there, I became interested in what early modern playwrights thought about performance and audiences. At the time, I was surprised to learn that there was no sustained treatise on acting, performance, or dramaturgy written by an early modern playwright, except perhaps Thomas Heywood’s Apology for Actors (1612). I began to wonder what it would look like if there was one. My dissertation tried to use clues from metadramatic scenes and inset performances to understand how playwrights thought through their own performances. 

I began by tracking down as many metadramatic scenes as I could, and what I found was odd: playwrights, it seemed, were not particularly confident in the effective power of their own plays. For instance, when playwrights staged plays, the performance didn’t actually work. That is, when a fictive performance is given a specific purpose, that purpose is almost never achieved. This may seem surprising since the most famous example of an inset performance actually does work. In Hamlet, an inset performance is used to “catch the conscience of the king,” and it works. However, the success of “The Mousetrap” obscures dozens of other examples throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth century where inset performances fail. A clear example is found in Philip Massinger’s The Roman Actor (1628)a play is produced to teach a miser a lesson about the dangers of greed. However, the plan doesn’t work, and the miser remains as greedy as ever. A similar scheme fails in Massinger’s The City Madam (1632). But it isn’t just Massinger. James Shirley’s The Bird in a Cage (1633). George Chapman’s The Gentlemen Usher (1605), John Marston’s Histrio-Mastix (c.1598-1599), Thomas Middleton’s Hengist, King of Kent (c.1615), among others, feature an inset performance that fails to achieve its goal. In fact, the only fictive play besides Hamlet that scripts a successful performance is Richard Brome’s A Jovial Crew (1641). 

Why were playwrights seemingly so hesitant to stage plays that changed their audience’s behaviour? My first attempt at an answer was to theorize that these plays were in dialogue with anti-theatrical writers. Writers such as Anthony Munday, Stephen Gosson and John Northbrooke argued that plays had a direct (and negative) effect on the actions of the audience. Playwrights within their plays were attempting to counter that message with one of their own – plays don’t affect the audience at all. They were essentially saying, “plays can’t hurt you, so don’t worry about it and come enjoy some live performances at Bankside.”

And yet there was more, I think, going on. After all, beyond some negative PR, anti-theatrical writers didn’t pose a huge threat to the playwrights. They were mostly active in the 1580s and 90s, and probably didn’t have a massive influence or readership. So I doubt playwrights would put this much work into countering a fairly fringe discourse. The effort they put into countering this message suggests a deeper anxiety.

And they were right to be anxious. The basic premise of the anti-theatrical writers (that performance influences the actions of the audience) was repeated by those with much more power over the theatres. London authorities used this same argument when they closed the theatres. 

Early in my research I became fascinated by the 1597 riot at the Swan theatre, seemingly caused by a performance of the Isle of Dogs. Warrants were issued for the authors, and all the theatres in London were slated for destruction. The order to close the theatres used similar logic (and language) as the anti-theatrical writers: the play affected the audience’s actions and so the play, playwrights and playhouse were at fault. Although the riot at the Swan was the only documented disturbance that occurred within a playhouse, plenty of riots happened in the vicinity of the theatres, including the almost yearly apprentice riots. These too resulted in closings, and the orders of closure again used language that mirrored the anti-theatrical writers. The evidence suggested to me that the existence of the theatres and early modern drama itself was contingent on the behavior of audiences. 

Much of the research I did while expanding my dissertation into a book centred on these riots. I read documentation on and responses to the unruly activities of Londoners. My research, aided by some of the fantastic work on riots and unrest by historians like Roger Manning, Tim Harris, Ian W. Archer, and Taylor Aucoin, as well as early modern scholars Ian Munro, Paul Menzer, and Chris Fitter painted a picture of a very unstable London and some very fearful London authorities, who were willing to shut down the theatres whenever the social order was threatened. This put the playhouses in an extremely precarious position: in order to stay open and continue to produce plays and make money, they had to find a way of controlling their unruly audiences.

The similarity between anti-theatrical arguments and the logic of theatre closures provided the key, I think, for understanding why playwrights were so hesitant to embrace the efficacy and power of their own performances. They wanted to construct a theory of performance that controlled their audiences’ physical responses in the theatre. To oversimplify, they were trying to teach their audience to not respond to performances, thereby training them to watch a performance in a polite and nonthreatening way.

The failure of inset performances to affect their audience in plays like The Roman Actor is just one strategy that I explore in my book. I find that plays throughout the period use a variety of methods to control their audiences because they feared what might happen if their unruly audiences were inflamed in the playhouse and let loose in London.

As an American, it is interesting to look back on my research on riots after the unrest in the summer of 2020. In early modern London, capital (the playhouses) collaborated, perhaps unwillingly, with the state to ensure social order. The plays may have been exploring or even endorsing radical and subversive ideas, but the institution of the playhouse was fundamentally conservative. Its first and most important job was to stay open and make money. It is a reminder, I think, that no matter how progressive a stance an institution might take, capital will always work with the state to protect itself. This might help explain why a mass movement against police brutality, which was nominally endorsed by institutions and companies throughout the world, resulted in more brutality and increased police budgets.

Part of the value, then, of studying Shakespearean era drama and its relationship to early modern London is being able to trace how modern systems of power emerge. When we read Shakespeare and his contemporaries, we are watching as they negotiate new institutions that they are partially inventing. While my work is specifically focused on trying to understand how playwrights were working to construct the new institution of playgoing, to understand this institution, we also have to learn how broader systems of state and financial power operated, systems that are still with us today.

Eric Dunnum

Campbell University

To learn more about Eric’s research and publications please visit his departmental page.

Image credit: Detail from title page of A students lamentation that hath sometime been in London an apprentice, for the rebellious tumults lately in the citie hapning (London, [1595]), Folger Shakespeare Library, STC 23401.5. Reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Creating meaning through Shakespeare in and out of lockdown: Walking Shadows

8th July 2022

Benjamin Broadribb is a final-year doctoral student at The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, and co-curator of the blog ‘Action is eloquence’: (Re)thinking Shakespeare.

During the Covid-19 lockdowns across the planet in 2020 and 2021, ‘Shakespeare, both as a cultural figure and in the shape of his plays, “went viral”’ (Aebischer 2021: 3). Whilst dealing with every new challenge the pandemic threw at us all, the proliferation of digital performances of Shakespeare created and released online during lockdown naturally fascinated me. Over two years later, lockdown performances of Shakespeare are now included in my soon-to-be-submitted doctoral thesis, and in Lockdown Shakespeare: New Evolutions in Performance and Adaptation, an edited collection co-edited by Gemma Kate Allred, Erin Sullivan and me, which was published by Bloomsbury Arden in June 2022. In my own chapter in the collection, I suggest that those who turned to Shakespeare did so ‘in an attempt to make sense of living through a period in which many of the ways we give our lives meaning have suddenly, and indefinitely, been removed’ (Broadribb 2022: 60). This idea stems from Terence Hawkes’s earlier assertion that ‘[w]e use [Shakespeare’s plays] in order to generate meaning … [They] have become one of the central agencies through which our culture performs this operation … Shakespeare doesn’t mean: we mean by Shakespeare’ (1992: 3).

Whilst the pandemic is sadly far from over in mid-2022, most people around the world are not experiencing the same level of restriction and isolation as they did during the stay-at-home measures enforced during 2020 and 2021. The reopening of in-person theatre venues for cast, crew and audiences means that digital performances of Shakespeare created and released online are not nearly as common as they were during the height of lockdowns across the globe. However, new examples are continuing to appear – and continuing to use Shakespeare to find meaning and make sense of a world still offering uncertainty. One of the most recent is Walking Shadows Vol. 1, a web series created and directed by Sally McLean. The series was commissioned by Howard Fine Acting Studio Australia, and features graduates from their 2021 acting program. Walking Shadows is a follow-up to McLean’s 2020 web series Shakespeare Republic: #AllTheWebsAStage (The Lockdown Chronicles), which featured isolated actors performing Shakespearean monologues, each framed as occurring at a particular time during the first year of the pandemic. Shot during the Melbourne lockdowns of 2021, Walking Shadows is ‘set as the world began to re-emerge from lockdowns due to Covid-19’, and ‘shines a light on the little things as our cities and towns slowly came back to life during the pandemic’ (‘about’ 2022). Where The Lockdown Chronicles uses Shakespeare to make sense of a rapidly changing global situation as people around the world were thrust into isolation, Walking Shadows returns to Shakespeare to find meaning in what normality means now that the restrictions of the past two years are largely no longer in place.

The first episode of Walking Shadows features Alyssa Kale performing Luciana’s ‘And may it be that you have quite forgot / A husband’s office?’ speech from The Comedy of Errors (3.1.1-28). In the play, Luciana is attempting to dissuade Antipholus of Syracuse from pursuing her romantically – or at least to do so more surreptitiously than he has been – believing him to be her sister Adriana’s husband, Antipholus of Ephesus. McLean transforms the comedic case of mistaken identity into a serious monologue. Kale stands in her kitchen speaking directly into the camera, positioning the viewer as the source of her unwanted attention. The effect is one of discomfort, the actor and director forcing the viewer to suddenly and unexpectedly be thrust into proximity and conspiracy with Luciana. Lines such as ‘Look sweet, speak fair, become disloyalty’ (3.1.11) take on a newly sinister sense, further punctuated by Kale’s restless delivery as if constantly on edge.

The feeling of uneasiness displayed by Kale and engendered in the viewer encapsulates Walking Shadows’s wider framing device of emerging from lockdown, and is evidenced further in the choices McLean makes at the beginning of the episode. Luciana is seen hurriedly entering the kitchen holding an empty wine glass. She heads to the corner of the room, sits on the kitchen counter and pours herself a glass of wine. Midway through raising the glass to her lips, Luciana stops to look straight into the camera, as if noticing the viewer for the first time. She hops off the counter, then takes a sip of her wine whilst staring directly down the lens. The performance choices by Kale position Luciana as someone driven to distress in her own home, but also struggling to escape into the wider world. This is emphasised further by McLean’s choice to have Luciana rush past a message left for her in magnetic letters on the fridge – ‘LUCIANA GET MILK FFS’ – subtly hinting at her unwillingness to leave the house even for the relatively simple task of going to the shop.

The episode concludes with a shot of three birds outside in the sunshine, which then cuts to a long shot of Luciana standing alone in her kitchen – sipping her wine, taking a deep breath, holding back tears. The framing of the shot makes Luciana appear boxed into the room, as if imprisoned by her own home. The juxtaposition with the preceding image of the bright green birds together on verdant grass emphasises both Luciana’s aloneness and the relatively dimly lit shot of her kitchen – the contrast encapsulated in the words ‘LIGHT’ and ‘SHADOW’ hidden amongst the now jumbled letters on the fridge door. McLean’s episode encapsulates the conflicting experience of regaining at least some of the freedoms lost during lockdown. Whilst they may not have experienced the same situation as Luciana, watching the first episode of Walking Shadows, the audience see reflected in her their own anxieties and apprehensions from the past two years. McLean’s series presents just one example of how Shakespeare continues to be used by people around the world to create meaning, as the world continues to move through the uncertainties of the pandemic.

Benjamin Broadribb

The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham

At the time of writing, the first nine episodes of Walking Shadows Vol. 1 have been released on the YouTube channel for McLean’s production company, Incognita Enterprises, and are collected into a playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-GevPJD7cQM77qCok2DgSOxWpJj90lQ5. New episodes will be added to the playlist as they are released.

Image credit: Alyssa Kale as Luciana in Walking Shadows Vol. 1, dir. Sally McLean, 2022. Screenshot reproduced courtesy of Incognita Enterprises and Howard Fine Acting Studio Australia.

Works Cited

‘about’ (2022), Walking Shadows Vol. 1. Available online: https://walkingshadows.com.au/about/ (accessed 25 June 2022).

Aebischer, P. (2021), Viral Shakespeare: Performance in the Time of Pandemic, Cambridge University Press.

Broadribb, B. (2022), ‘Lockdown Shakespeare and the Metamodern Sensibility’, in Lockdown Shakespeare: New Evolutions in Performance and Adaptation, eds G. K. Allred, B. Broadribb and E. Sullivan, London: Bloomsbury Arden. 45-63.

Hawkes, T. (1992), Meaning by Shakespeare, London: Routledge.

BSA 2023 Conference: ‘Re-locating Shakespeare’ (University of Liverpool, 25th – 28th July 2023)

17th June 2022

The British Shakespeare Association is delighted to announce that our next conference will take place at the University of Liverpool, Tuesday 25th – Friday 28th July 2023, organised by Dr Esme Miskimmin (University of Liverpool), Dr Katie Knowles (University of Liverpool) and Professor Elspeth Graham (Liverpool John Moores University).

In Shakespeare’s lifetime, and in the four hundred years since the relocation of his plays from stage to page in the First Folio, his work has had a sustained and varied life in multiple geographical and theoretical locations through print, performance, research and education. More importantly, perhaps, there has been a concomitant narrative of ‘relocation’ associated with Shakespeare. The physical journeys of his works and their performers, including the visits of Lord Strange’s Men to the Northwest in the late sixteenth-century, performers who used the plays for colonialist and imperialist purposes overseas, or the arrival of Ira Aldridge, the ‘Black Roscius’ at the Liverpool docks in 1824, attest to a constant geographical relocation of Shakespeare and his performers. There have also always been sustained theoretical re-locations of Shakespeare in relation to changing contexts and prevailing critical, socio-historical and theatrical perspectives. Most recently, the opening of the Shakespeare North Playhouse in Knowsley has relocated performances and narratives of Shakespeare in the Northwest of England.

This conference explore the geographical, temporal and semantic ‘Re-locations’ of Shakespeare, looking again at the place(s) of his works and reassessing them through the wider contexts of performance, print, translation, teaching and research:

• Notions of location, locating and re-locating within Shakespeare, including explorations of travel, exile, pilgrimage and direction.
• Claiming and ‘owning’ locations, including colonial and postcolonial re/appropriations.
• The cartographies of Shakespeare – the mapping / remapping, navigation and ‘discovery’ of locations.
• Re-locating through the imagination and / or the virtual:  the movement from the ‘wooden O’ to the ‘vasty fields of France’ or the virtual Dover cliff; online performances.
• Re-locating through translation and adaptation, including dramatic, musical, operatic and fictional adaptations.
• Location / Re-location in the teaching of Shakespeare – where and how pupils and students experience Shakespeare.
• Voluntary and / or forced relocations – in Shakespeare’s texts, or for pedagogical or political uses.
• Re-locating perspectives (critical, pedagogical or performative) in relation to cultural and social changes, disability and LGBTQ+
• Relocating in times of pandemic (from the touring circuit outside of London during the plagues and beyond, to the internet during covid).
• ‘What do they in the North?’ (RIII 4.4.398): Implications / connotations arising from a specifically ‘northern’ Shakespeare.
• Re-locating Shakespeare’s work in understandings of literary / theatrical / critical canons, in the light of any of the above (or any other types of ‘re-locations’).

Submissions for the conference are now closed and the conference programme is currently in preparation.

Please visit https://www.britishshakespeare.ws/conference/ for further information about the event, provisional registration fees, news, and announcements.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr Esme Miskimmin, Dr Katie Knowles, and Professor Elspeth Graham at the conference address:

british.shakespeare.conference[at]gmail.com

Please follow the BSA 2023 conference Twitter account for updates: @BSA_Conference

Applications open for new Chair of the BSA

31st May 2022

Chair of the Board of Trustees of the British Shakespeare Association

The Board of the British Shakespeare Association is looking to appoint new leadership from Summer 2023 onwards. This is an exciting opportunity to lead the Board of the BSA during the year of Shakespeare’s quarter-centenary and help take the BSA forward.

The BSA is committed to values of equality, diversity, and inclusion, and are keen to reflect this within its governing body. We welcome and support applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those who have been traditionally less well-represented by the BSA and the field of Shakespeare scholarship more broadly. The process of appointment is governed by the BSA’s EDI policy.

About the BSA

The BSA was founded in 2002 with a mission to bring together academics, teachers, theatre practitioners and other people who work with Shakespeare’s texts into a professional association. In 2007, the BSA was incorporated as a charitable company limited by guarantee with a commitment to educate the general public about Shakespeare and his works. The BSA typically has around 300 paid up members and over 1000 members on its database. Members pay an annual subscription fee of £25 although there are also concessionary rates. The BSA’s flagship event is its Biennial Conference, which brings together Shakespeareans from all of its communities to discuss latest research and the most recent insights into teaching and performance. Between conferences, the BSA runs a number of other events, most notably an annual Honorary Fellows event. We appoint two Honorary Fellows a year – past Fellows include Stanley Wells, Chris Grace, Janet Suzman, Cicely Berry, Adrian Lester, John Russell Brown and Adjoa Andoh. The BSA is also associated with two publications: Teaching Shakespeare, a magazine edited by Myfanwy Edwards and published through the BSA website and Shakespeare: the Journal of the British Shakespeare Association, which is published by Routledge and is considered to be one of the best academic journals on Shakespeare in the world. The BSA’s website disseminates news and events relating to Shakespeare and gives members access to additional resources.

About the Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees (which is also a Board of Directors) is made up of: 4 Officers, 6 elected Trustees, and 3 ex officio Trustees representing the Shakespeare Institute, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Routledge Journal. Four committees also report directly to the Board: the Events Committee, the Honorary Fellowship Committee, the Education Committee and the Performance and Media Committee. The Chairs of these Committees are appointed by the Board and are entitled to attend Board meetings, but can only vote if they are also Trustees. The Board meets three times a year, usually online  and holds one Annual General Meeting. As well as overseeing the various activities of the BSA, the Board is responsible for ensuring good governance and for ensuring compliance with auditing requirements for Companies House and the Charity Commission. The Board’s work is governed by three documents: its Articles of Association, the Rules of the BSA, and the Financial Procedures of the BSA. Meetings typically last 2-hours and currently follow a standing agenda.

Chair

The Chair of the British Shakespeare Association is also the Head of the British Shakespeare Association. The main duty of the Chair is to ensure that the charitable object of the BSA, to educate the general public about Shakespeare’s works, is being fulfilled by its activities. The Chair is responsible for the day-to-day management of the BSA and for working with the Board to set its strategic priorities. This person chairs meetings of the Board and reports to it. The Chair also manages the Officers of the Board (the Treasurer, the Membership Officer and the Web and Communications Officer) and the Chairs of the Board’s Committees to ensure that they are working effectively towards furthering the BSA’s charitable objects. The Chair also chairs the Annual General Meeting.

The Board is looking for someone who is committed to the BSA’s vision and is able to work across its different communities in ways that bring them together into a positive and dynamic association. In normal circumstances, the Chair will serve between 3 and 6 years, in line with the terms for our Trustees. After their appointment, the incoming Chair will be asked to shadow the outgoing Chair to ensure smooth transition of BSA business.

Essential Criteria

1. A natural negotiator and diplomat who is able to collaborate with other members of the Board and make the most of their talents
2. A good strategic thinker who is able to balance risk and opportunity to help the BSA grow
3. An effective leader with good communication skills and the ability to articulate a clear achievable vision for the BSA
4. Experience of chairing meetings and effectively following up agreed actions
5. Willing and able to act as the public face of the BSA
6. Either a long-standing member of the BSA who has demonstrated a commitment to its values or substantial equivalent experience of a cognate charity
7. IT-literate

Desirable

• An experienced Chair and/or a Trustee of a charity
• Pro-active in using modern technology to engage members

As Chair, you will also be a trustee and consequently cannot stand for the Board if you are disqualified from being a trustee either by law or under the constitution of the BSA. For more details on eligibility criteria for trustees, please see this document: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/finding-new-trustees-cc30/finding-new-trustees  

The deadline for applications is 1 October 2022. Shortlisted candidates for the Chair will be invited to an informal meeting with the current Board followed by an interview with a panel.

This is a volunteer position, but reasonable expenses will be paid.

To apply, please send a letter of application, a CV and the names of two referees to britishshakespeareassociation[at]gmail.com by the appropriate deadline.

For an informal discussion about any of these roles please contact Alison Findlay, the outgoing Chair of the Board, by emailing a.g.findlay[at]lancaster.ac.uk

A PDF version of this text is available here. A document outlining the BSA’s policies and procedures for appointments to the Board is available here.

New special issue of ‘Shakespeare’ journal: Shakespeare and the Jews

24th April 2022

The BSA is delighted to announce the recent publication of a special issue of our journal Shakespeare on the theme of ‘Shakespeare and the Jews’, edited by Coen Heijes and Sabine Schülting. This special issue brings together eight articles that explore, in the editors’ words, ‘the incredible width of the topic in their approaches, some more historicist, some more presentist, some theatre oriented, some focusing on adaptations in the cinema or on the page, some more autobiographical, some zooming in on specific aspects of Jewishness’.

Parts of the special issue are available in Open Access here: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rshk20/current

If you are a BSA member who has purchased journal access, please log in to the BSA website and click on ‘Journal‘ on the dashboard in order to access the entire issue.

If you would like to add a journal subscription to your BSA membership, please log in and click on ‘Edit Membership‘ to purchase the £15 journal upgrade, which will remain active until the end of the membership year (31 December 2022).

Attendance at ‘Readings of Shakespeare with Honorary Fellows’ Free for BSA Members (5th and 6th March, Stratford-Upon-Avon)

17th February 2022

The BSA has contributed to sponsorship of a community-based reading of Shakespeare’s complete works from in the ballroom of the Town Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon.

The event, ‘Shakespeare’s Coming Home’ which runs from 1st to 12th March 2022 is to raise money to restore the statue of Shakespeare given by David Garrick in 1769. A full programme for all the days of the event and information about participation for non-BSA members can be found here.

Our sponsorship entitles each member of the BSA to attend as audience or readers on 5th to 6th March 2022, led by BSA Honorary Fellows

Dame Harriet Walter.and Dame Janet Suzman. Please see the details below.

Each BSA member is also entitled to bring a guest. To attend, simply send your name (and that of your guest if appropriate) and your contact details to the organiser, Paul Edmondson by email paul.edmonson@shakespeare.org.uk.

If you wish to participate as a reader please indicate to Paul which play readings(s) you would like to participate in as a general reader.

Further Details Programme for Weekend of Saturday 5^th and Sunday 6^th March from 11.30am to 11.00pm:

Saturday 5 March

11.00am to 2.00pm King John. Led by The Stratford Society.

3.00pm to 6.00pm As You Like It. Led by Dame Harriet Walter as Rosalind and Guy Paul as Orlando.

7.30pm to 11.00pm Measure for Measure. Led by The Reading Early Modern Plays group.

Sunday 6 March

11.00pm to 2.00pm Timon of Athens. 

2.30pm to 6.00pm Antony and Cleopatra. Led by Dame Janet Suzman as Cleopatra. John Heffernan as Caesar. Andrew French as Antony.

7.00-11.00 pm Coriolanus