Travelling Players in Early Modern England: Civic Spaces and Provincial Performance

Tuesday 26th November at 7pm (GMT) – Online Event on the Upcoming Exhibition at the Guildhall of Stratford-upon-Avon

Featuring Dr William David Green and host Robert Crighton (Other guests tba)

In celebration of an upcoming exhibition at the Guildhall of Stratford-upon-Avon, we’ll be discussing all things about touring theatre in early modern England (1560s through to 1622) and the use of civic buildings like guildhalls as regional theatre venues by the professional playing companies. The reasons for, and the practicalities of, taking plays on tour outside London, as well as success stories and horror stories from companies on tour.

We won’t just be talking about the major London companies, but also many minor companies that many people haven’t even heard of.

There’ll also be discussion of the evidence of performances in the Stratford-upon-Avon Guildhall, and more, to whet your appetite for the exhibition, which will open at Stratford-upon-Avon’s Guildhall in January 2025.

Running Time: Main Discussion 1 hr +

This is an online event, via zoom, which will be recorded for the Beyond podcast. Audience questions will be open in the chat after the main body of the discussion.

Ticket sign up – https://forms.gle/nE3RiB1aehpb5ArT7

Will Green – is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Nottingham and Resident Historian at Shakespeare’s Schoolroom & Guildhall. He received his PhD from the University of Birmingham’s Shakespeare Institute in 2021, and his work has appeared in journals including Theatre Notebook, Critical Survey, and The Explicator. Recently, he served as the lead editor on the essay collection The Theatrical Legacy of Thomas Middleton, 1624-2024 (alongside Anna Hegland and Sam Jermy), and he is currently completing his first solo-authored book on Middleton’s drama during the 1620s, which will be published by Routledge in 2025.