Placement at Shakespeare's Globe

by Emma Rose Kraus, CHASE funded doctoral researcher at the University of Kent

During my time at the Globe, I assisted researchers Dr Will Tosh and Dr Hanh Bui directly, building lasting relationships and learning important skills that will help me in my post-PhD career endeavours. One of the most critical skills I had the opportunity to work on was my ability to distil scholarly research into a public-facing format.  

In some cases, I wrote for Globe staff, putting together research packets for tour guides and a series of short statements for teaching artists on the presentation of disability in Shakespeare’s most popular plays. After a short piece on Richard III and disability that I wrote for employees involved in the production went over well enough to be published online, I was asked to author the introduction to the theatre’s upcoming Disability Archive Guide. 

Due to my placement, I was also introduced to a plethora of timely resources on disability in early modern theatre studies, a topic close to my work on madness. Dr Bui was impressed by my dedication and asked me to lecture the Globe master’s students on disability in performances of Richard III. A daunting but rewarding task that tested and validated my strengths as a teacher and not simply an academic.  

In all, I found my time at the Globe to be incredibly productive. I was introduced to new ideas that reinvigorated my interest in my thesis and redirected some of my long-held research goals. Working with scholars whom I have looked up to for some time, I had the incredible opportunity to create relationships that would have otherwise been unattainable to me without this placement. In a recent progress review, my primary supervisor noted how incredibly I have grown due to my placement, and all my supervisors agreed that it has had a positive impact on me as a student and an academic. 

To everyone at CHASE, thank you for making my placement at Shakespeare’s Globe possible. I am grateful for the experiences this studentship has allowed me to have and the opportunities this position is already affording me.