Professor Robert Shaughnessy
Biography
Before joining GSA in 2017 I was Professor of Theatre at the University of Kent; prior to that I held posts at Roehampton University and the University of the West of England. My work engages with theatre history and contemporary performance, with a particular emphasis on Shakespeare both then and now.
Research
Research interests
I research Shakespeare in performance, and, more broadly, of the arts in their political and cultural contexts, historically and in the present. I have published work on contemporary playwrights, practitioners and companies, Shakespeare’s contemporaries, and on eighteenth century actors. My current research has two strands. My work as a theatre historian is represented by two monographs: As You Like It (MUP, 2017), and Shakespeare in the Theatre: The National Theatre, 1963-1975: Olivier and Hall for Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare (2018). The first of these offers an account of the play on the British and European stage and screen; the second draws upon previously unseen archival records to trace the history of Shakespeare at the Old Vic. Having once written on the idea of the ‘Shakespeare effect’ within performance and culture, I am currently developing an interdisciplinary approach to contemporary theatre-making that draws upon the cognitive sciences to investigate the notion of the ‘Shakespeare affect’, whether in the rehearsal room or in inclusive performance (in particular, Shakespeare for autistic participants, and I am currently developing collaborative research in applied Shakespeare.
I am a member of the editorial boards of Shakespeare and Literature Compass, and have acted as a peer reviewer for a wide range of publishers and, amongst others, for the AHRC, Hong Kong Research Grants Council, and the National Research Council of Canada.
Research collaborations
I work closely with Flute Theatre on Shakespeare for inclusive audiences.
My teaching
My teaching lies mainly in the areas of theatre and performance history, with a particular emphasis on Shakespeare and early modern drama in its own time and our own, as well as on the theatres of the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States from the twentieth century to the present. My approach rests upon a combination of practical exploration, close engagement with current professional practice, and with the primary materials of performance history through archive work, which I have introduced at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I teach Shakespeare through a company-based structure, and have pioneered the practical teaching of theatre history.
Supervision
Postgraduate research supervision
I have supervised PhD projects ranging from Shakespeare in performance and on film to Meisner technique, the dramaturgy of contemporary dance, psychic distress in modern British theatre, and theatre and globalisation.
Postgraduate research supervision
My publications
Highlights
Shakespeare and the National Theatre, 1963-1975: Olivier and Hall
London: Arden Shakespeare, 2018.
Shakepeare in Performance: As You Like It
Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017
Additional publications
Books Authored
The Routledge Guide to William Shakespeare
London and New York: Routledge, 2011.
The Shakespeare Effect: A History of Twentieth-Century Performance
Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2002
Representing Shakespeare: England, History and the RSC
Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1994
Books Edited
Lives of Shakespearean Actors, Volume 3: Margaret Woffington
Co-edited with Nicola Shaughnessy
London: Pickering and Chatto, 2008
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007
Shakespeare and Childhood
Co-edited with Kate Chedgzoy and Susanne Greenhalgh
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007
A.C. Bradley, Shakespearean Tragedy, 4th Edition
Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2006. Introduction and Notes.
Shakespeare in Performance: Contemporary Critical Essays
Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2000
Shakespeare on Film: Contemporary Critical Essays
Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 1998
Articles and Essays (selected)
‘As if’. Shakespeare Bulletin, 36 (2018). 37-48.
‘All eyes’: Experience, Spectacle and the Inclusive Audience in Flute Theatre’s The Tempest’, in Shakespeare: Actors and Audiences, ed. Fiona Banks. Arden Shakespeare, forthcoming, 2018
‘The time is out of joint: Shakespeare, jet lag, and the rhythms of performance’, in The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Performance, ed. James C. Bulman. Oxford University Press, 2018. 200-17.
‘Film and Film Audiences’, in The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare, ed. Bruce R. Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. 1935-40.
‘Connecting the Globe: Actors, Audience and Entrainment’, Shakespeare Survey 68 (2015). 294-305.
‘Tyrone Guthrie’, for Great Shakespeareans,
‘As if’. Shakespeare Bulletin, 36 (2018). 37-48.
‘All eyes’: Experience, Spectacle and the Inclusive Audience in Flute Theatre’s The Tempest’, in Shakespeare: Actor and Audience, ed. Fiona Banks. Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, forthcoming, 2018
‘The time is out of joint: Shakespeare, jet lag, and the rhythms of performance’, in The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Performance, ed. James C. Bulman. Oxford University Press, 2018. 200-17.
‘Film and Film Audiences’, in The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare, ed. Bruce R. Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. 1935-40.
‘Connecting the Globe: Actors, Audience and Entrainment’, Shakespeare Survey 68 (2015). 294-305.
‘Tyrone Guthrie’, in Great Shakespeareans, Volume XV, ed. Cary Mazer. London: Arden Shakespeare, 2013. 98-150.
‘Hamlet on the English Stage Since 1945’ and ‘England’, in Hamlet Handbuch: Stoffe, Aneignungen, Deutungen, ed. Peter W. Marx. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 2014. 168-72; 273-78.
‘Silence’, in Shakespeare and the Making of Theatre, ed. Stuart Hampton-Reeves and Bridget Escolme.. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2012. 199-219.
‘Falstaff’s Belly: Pathos, Prosthetics and Performance’, Shakespeare Survey, 63 (2010), 63-77.
‘A Choice of Programs’, Shakespeare Bulletin, 28 (2010), 55-76.
‘Behind the Scenes’, Shakespeare Survey, 62 (2009), 236-47.
‘Tyrone Guthrie’, in The Routledge Companion to Directors’ Shakespeare, ed. John Russell Brown. London: Routledge, 2008. 123-39.
‘One Piece at a Time’, Shakespeare Bulletin, 25 (2007), 11-26. Reprinted in New Directions in Renaissance Drama and Performance, ed. Sarah Werner. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2010. 15-29.
olume ed. Cary Mazer. London: Arden Shakespeare, 2013. 98-150.
‘Hamlet on the English Stage Since 1945’ and ‘England’, in Hamlet Handbuch: Stoffe, Aneignungen, Deutungen, ed. Peter W. Marx. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 2014. 168-72; 273-78.
‘Shakespeare and the London Stage’, in Shakespeare and the Eighteenth Century, ed. Fiona Ritchie and Peter Sabor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. 161-84.
‘Silence’, in Shakespeare and the Making of Theatre, ed. Stuart Hampton-Reeves. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2012. 199-219.
‘Falstaff’s Belly: Pathos, Prosthetics and Performance’, Shakespeare Survey, 63 (2010), 63-77.
‘A Choice of Programs’, Shakespeare Bulletin, 28 (2010), 55-76.
‘Behind the Scenes’, Shakespeare Survey, 62 (2009), 236-47.
‘Tyrone Guthrie’, in The Routledge Companion to Directors’ Shakespeare, ed. John Russell Brown. London: Routledge, 2008. 123-39.
‘One Piece at a Time’, Shakespeare Bulletin, 25 (2007), 11-26. Reprinted in New Directions in Renaissance Drama and Performance, ed. Sarah Werner. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2010. 15-29.