Michelle Manning

Michelle is a doctoral researcher with a particular interest in reconstructed early modern theatres.

Background

Michelle completed her BA Hons and MRes in English Literature at Nottingham Trent University. Her Master’s dissertation focused on the newly built Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, on the site of Shakespeare’s Globe, and the original Blackfriars theatre.

Michelle is currently undertaking a PhD project which studies the differences between the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London, and the Blackfriars theatre in Staunton, Virginia. Her thesis examines the concept of the reconstructed spaces as academic arenas, and their impact on early modern scholarship.

Research interests

• Reconstructed early modern playhouses
• Elizabethan theatre
• Jacobean theatre
• The construction of Shakespeare in modern culture
• Jacobean staging practices

The aim of Michelle’s research is to examine two indoor theatre reconstructions, situated in London and Virginia. Her thesis questions the impact the two theatres have had on the academic and cultural landscape of each country, and resulting wider implications on the perception of early modern drama in a modern climate. Her thesis specifically works on, but is not limited to Shakespearean texts and productions. 

Qualifications

• BA Joint Hons, English Literature and Media Studies, Nottingham Trent University (2010)
• MRes English Literary Research, Nottingham Trent University (2014)

Memberships, editorial boards

• British Shakespeare Association

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• Anglia Ruskin University, AHSS Tuition Studentship
• Nottingham Trent University, Tuition Grant

Recent presentations and conferences

September 2016, British Shakespeare Association, University of Hull, '"Here burns my candle out" The afterlife of Shakespeare's indoor theatre'
June 2016, University of York, James Shirley Symposium, 'Moving Shirley's The Ball and The Bird in a Cage into the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse'
March 2016, Social History Society Conference, Lancaster University, ‘Sam Wanamaker the construction of a Shakespearean’
June 2014, British Graduate Shakespeare Conference, Shakespeare Institute,‘Globe-al Dominance: The Globe and the rest’
July 2014, British Shakespeare Association, University of Stirling, ‘Globe-al Dominance: The Globe and the rest’
June 2013 British Graduate Shakespeare Conference, Shakespeare Institute, ‘Spenser's Irish 'Other': Binary Opposition within The Faerie Queene’