PhD Shakespeare Studies – (Ph.D.)

Contents

The Institute has a world-class research library covering all aspects of Shakespeare and English Renaissance drama studies, including the history of the period and the subsequent reception, interpretation, and performance of Shakespeare’s plays. In addition, we have close links with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, whose Library houses the archives of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and The Malone Society. The Bodleian Library in Oxford and the Shakespeare collection of the Birmingham Central Reference Library are also within easy reach.

PhD: The thesis for a PhD is 80,000 words in length. Students who have not already completed a research Masters will normally register for an MPhil in the first instance, and apply to upgrade their registration to a PhD on the basis of progress made. Period of Registration: three years full-time, six years part-time.

All research students take a course on the Methods and Materials of Research, which is taught during the first six weeks of the academic year. The aim is to provide an initial training in the methodologies of research in the various fields associated with Shakespeare Studies. Some seminars are shared with students reading for the MA in Shakespeare Studies. There are no other compulsory courses, but research students are expected to attend the Thursday lectures and the Research Seminars; they are also given the opportunity of undertaking specialist training in palaeography.

The Research Seminars meet most weeks during term and offer research students who have reached a relatively advanced stage in their work the opportunity to present a chapter of their thesis in the form of a lecture. As well as enabling students to practice the techniques of oral delivery, the Research Seminars aim to provide a formal basis for the discussion of one another's work which characterizes the Institute as a research community.

Research interests of staff

* The role of theatre and drama in early-modern culture and the impact of that drama on our own time; Shakespeare and Performance, Shakespeare and Film and the theatrical culture of the 1630s; Shakespeare’s ‘value’ in 21st century culture. Contact: Professor Kate McLuskie
Director of The Shakespeare Institute
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 9504
Email: k.mcluskie@bham.ac.uk
* Bibliography, editing, textual criticism, textual theory, Renaissance theatre culture and print culture, and Shakespeare’s contemporary dramatists. Contact: Professor John Jowett
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 9500
Email: j.d.jowett@bham.ac.uk
* The full corpus of dramatic works written in the British Isles, and by ‘British’ authors overseas, between the English Reformation and the English Revolution, including both commercial and literary plays, masques and entertainments, and drama in Latin, Greek, Cornish, and Welsh. Contact: Dr Martin Wiggins
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 9500
Email: m.j.wiggins@bham.ac.uk
* Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century; Shakespeare in education. Contact: Dr Catherine Alexander
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 9500
Email: c.m.s.alexander@bham.ac.uk
* Acting, directing and dramaturgy, in the context of (but not limited to) the Early Modern drama. Contact: Dr Jacquelyn Bessell
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 9500
Email: j.bessell@bham.ac.uk
* Cultural history, visual arts and material culture of early modern Britain; Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture.
Contact: Dr Tara Hamling
c/o Department of Modern History
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 9510
Email: t.j.hamling@bham.ac.uk

Associated Members of English, Drama and American and Canadian Studies
* Ben Jonson and his contemporaries; The relationships of Renaissance and Romantic writers; The relationships of manuscript and print; Early modern poetry and drama. Contact: Dr Tom Lockwood
c/o Department of English
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 2763
Email: t.e.lockwood@bham.ac.uk
* Women's writing in the 17th century; Manuscript Studies; History of Translation. Contact: Dr Gillian Wright
c/o Department of English
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 5671
Email: g.wright.1@bham.ac.uk
* Shakespearean performance, Anglo-European theatrical relationships, Victorian and Edwardian theatre and the History of Film. Contact: Professor Russell Jackson
c/o Department of Drama and Theatre Arts
Tel: +44 (0)121 414 5790
Email: r.b.jackson@bham.ac.uk

Faculty

The Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham, offers postgraduate students and scholars an academic experience unequalled by any other university. Students study Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon, within walking distance of his birthplace, school and grave, and the theatres of the Royal Shakespeare Company

We pride ourselves on our International community of students of all ages and backgrounds which enhances the learning environment. You will have the opportunity to explore the work of Shakespeare and the drama of his time, broader aspects of early modern culture and literature, its subsequent cultural significance and performance on stage and screen.

Your learning resources are all around you. The Shakespeare Institute’s own library is a renowned collection of international importance and you have access to outstanding picture collections, records and library holdings of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust including the archives of the Royal Shakespeare Company. The University Library of The University of Birmingham and the remarkable Shakespeare collection of the Birmingham Central Reference Library are just a short journey away. In addition there are the world-class resources of the Royal Shakespeare Company on our doorstep.

Founded in 1951, by the theatre historian Allardyce Nicoll, The Shakespeare Institute has gone from strength to strength. Many of the Institute’s former students teach in the world’s most important universities and other centres of higher education. Staff and students have been and continue to be responsible for many significant contributions to scholarship.