Her Make is Perfect: A Seminar Interrogating Women's Dramatic Writing, Text and Performance (1600-1830)
5 September 2008 - 6 September 2008
‘Her Make is Perfect’: a seminar interrogating women's dramatic writing, text and performance (1600-1830) is the first event of a new collaboration between the Departments of Dance, Film and Theatre and English at the University of Surrey and the Guildford School of Acting. The first day of the seminar will be held at Chawton House Library, which opened in 2003 and holds a unique collection of women's writing. At the University of Surrey the establishment of new degree programmes in English and Theatre Studies, together with the expertise in drama and women's writing of Professor Marion Wynne-Davies and Professor Rachel Fensham, has served to initiate research expansion in this area. Students from the Guildford School of Acting, directed by Kate Napier, will contribute to the performance aspect of the programme at Chawton. As such, the seminar offers an exciting opportunity to promote regional, national and international research on women’s dramatic writing of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The quotation, 'her make is perfect,' derives from David Garrick's description of Elizabeth Hartley (1751-1824); she was one of the finest actors of her age and her portrait hangs in the Great Hall at Chawton House. The words and image together serve to highlight the seminar’s focus on the way in which women engaged with dramatic writing and performance, in other words, the 'make' of plays, both text and performance.
Keynote speakers:
- Professor Alison Findlay, University of Lancaster
- Professor Fiona Ritchie, McGill University
- Professor Gweno Williams, York St John University
Organisers:
Professor Rachel Fensham (Dance Studies) and Professor Marion Wynne-Davies (English)