Shakespeare and Co.: On the Page and on the Stage

Actor and author of Shakespeare on Toast—Getting a Taste for the Bard and You Say Potato: A Book about Accents

Come join our talented group of postgraduate and early career scholars and practitioners for our one-day conference as we explore the multiple functions of the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries as both texts and performance pieces.

‌Conference registration through Eventbrite 
Free for University of York staff and students
Public registration is £15 (includes coffee/tea and lunch)

As part of the York International Shakespeare Festival’s programme of pre-show talks, keynote presenter Ben Crystal, will be delivering a fascinating talk on Shakespeare’s Original Pronunciation. In his talk, Speaking the Bright and Beautiful English of Shakespeare, Ben investigates the fascinating 400-year-old sound of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, Original Pronunciation, showing a world hidden beneath our modern accent readings full of rhyme, rhythm, and a very subtle humour (and a not-so-subtle one too) to reveal a bright and beautiful English.

We are also pleased to announce that The Playhouse Lab from the University of Leeds will be presenting an improvised staged reading of Thomas Middleton’s A Yorkshire Tragedy. Delegates are cordially invited to take part in this “unrehearsed, totally improvised, script-in-hand performance.” This event will provide a unique opportunity to experience and embody the text in a relaxed and friendly environment. 

Shakespeare and Co. programme (PDF , 90kb)

Travel bursaries are available for current postgraduate students. Bursaries will cover up to £20 of travel expenses (every little bit helps!) and will be awarded on a first-come basis. Please only request a bursary if you have no alternate source of funding.

To sign-up for a role in A Yorkshire Tragedy (and we hope that you do!) or to request a travel bursary, please contact Andrea Paquin (alp558@york.ac.uk). 

Those who will not be attending the conference but would like to join us for Ben's pre-show talk may register HERE. (Pre-show talk ONLY. Begins at 4.15pm; registration is free.)

Sponsored by the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies and the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York. Funding is also provided by the Graduate Students' Association Postgraduate Community Fund and organised in partnership with the York International Shakespeare Festival.