Abigail Rokison-Woodall

Dr.

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

I currently supervise PhDs in a range of areas connected to the history of Shakespeare in performance, contemporary theatre practice, and Shakespeare and mental health. I am interested in supervising PhDs in areas of Shakespeare in performance, Shakespeare’s language, Shakespeare and adaptation, Shakespeare for young people and applied Shakespeare.

20092018

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Research interests

I am one of the general editors of the Arden Shakespeare Performance Editions, for which series I have recently edited A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet. I am currently writing a book about Shakespeare in Performance at The Other Place and am working on a project on Teaching Shakespeare to D/deaf Children.

Biography

I began my career as a professional actor, my acting work including numerous roles in theatre, and, amongst other television roles, Primrose Larkin in TV’s The Darling Buds of May. Following a degree with the Open University, undertaken whilst acting, I went on to take an MA in ‘Shakespeare: Text and Playhouse’ at the Globe Theatre/ King’s College London. I completed my PhD in ‘Shakespearean Verse Speaking’ in the English faculty at Cambridge University in 2006 after which I became a lecturer in Drama and English in the Education Faculty in Cambridge and Director of Studies in English and Drama at Homerton College, Cambridge. I joined the Shakespeare Institute in January 2013.

I was on the board of the British Shakespeare Association from 2002-2010 and Chair from 2008-10. My first monograph, Shakespearean Verse Speaking was published by Cambridge University Press in January 2010, and in July 2012 won the Shakespeare’s Globe First Book Award, as a result of which I was invited to give public lectures at Shakespeare’s Globe, Cheltenham Literary Festival and the Shakespeare Institute.  Following these lectures Shakespeare's Globe and The Shakespeare Institute collaborated on a series of Verse Speaking Symposia - 'The End of Shakespeare's Verse?' in which Giles Block I presented our ideas about verse speaking in venues in Staunton Virginia, New York, Stratford Ontario, Stratford upon Avon and at Shakespeare's Globe in London. 

I completed a second monograph – Shakespeare for Young People: Productions, Versions and Adaptations for Bloomsbury Arden in 2013 and a third – Shakespeare in the Theatre: Nicholas Hytner for Bloomsbury Arden in 2017.

In 2017, I was appointed one of the general editors of the new Arden Shakespeare Performance Editions with Michael Dobson and Simon Russell Beale.  I have edited A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet for the series.

I have contributed chapters to King's College Cambridge 1415-2015 (Harvey Miller), Shakespeare Beyond English (CUP), Shakespeare in Stages (CUP), The Children’s Literature Handbook (Routledge), The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare’s Poetry (OUP) and The Great Shakespeareans: Gielgud, Olivier, Ashcroft, Dench (Bloomsbury Arden) and the supplementary material on Much Ado About Nothing for the Greenwood Companion to Shakespeare.

I have written a number of journal articles including the only interview given by David Tennant on his performance as Hamlet.  In 2013 I edited a special edition of Shakespeare journal for Routledge on  ‘Shakespeare and Authenticity’.

I am currently working on a book about The Other Place (RSC) for Bloomsbury Arden and a project about Teaching Shakespeare to D/deaf Children with RSC Education.

I am represented for academic presenting work by Sara Cameron at Take Three Management. I acted as an academic advisor/ interviewee on the first, second and third series of Shakespeare Uncovered (Thirteen/ BBC/ Sky).

Qualifications

2006 - PhD in 'Shakespearean Verse Speaking' - Trinity Hall College, Cambridge

2002 - MA in Shakespeare: Text and Playhouse (with Distinction) - King's College London and Shakespeare's Globe

2001 - BA Hons in Humanities with Literature (First Class) - The Open University

1998 - LLAM Teaching Diploma in Drama

1996 - Diploma in Acting (Three Year Course) - LAMDA

Education/Academic qualification

Doctor of Philosophy, Shakespearean Verse Speaking, Trinity Hall College, Cambridge

Award Date: 1 Jan 2006

Master of Arts, Making the Point: The Punctuation in Hamlet, King’s College London

Award Date: 1 Jan 2002

Bachelor of Arts, Open University

Award Date: 1 Jan 2001

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