Professor Elizabeth Schafer

My research focusses around two main areas:  Shakespeare in production and Australian drama and theatre.  I am particularly interested in the different meanings Shakespeare’s plays acquire in different cultural locations – different times, different countries, different social structures. I have written a performance history of The Taming of the Shrew  (Cambridge University Press, 2002) and Twelfth Night (Cambridge University Press, 2009).  I have  also written on women directors and their contributions to Shakespeare theatre history, MsDirecting Shakespeare (Women’s Press, 1998).  My Lilian Baylis:  A Biography (University of Hertfordshire Press, 2006) offers a completely new different view of this extremely influential woman, who has a claim to be seen as a founder of the National Theatre, the English National Opera, Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Ballet. 

I edited The City Wit by Richard Brome for the pioneering online edition of Brome’s complete works: http://www.shef.ac.uk/hri/projects/projectpages/rbrome.html.

Currently I am writing a performance history of The Merry Wives of Windsor for the Manchester University Press Shakespeare in Performance series.  I am also running 'The Mariam Project' which is marking the 400th anniversary of the publication of Elizabeth Cary's pioneering play The Tragedy of Mariam with a series of performances and workshops.

I have supervised research degrees mainly in the area of Shakespeare in production but also in the area of  intercultural theatre; the performance of illness;  Australian drama and theatre.

I am editor of Australian Studies an online journal hosted by the National Library of Australia.