Siobhan Keenan

Professor Siobhan Keenan

Job: Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature

Faculty: Arts, Design and Humanities

School/department: School of Humanities

Research group(s): Centre for Adaptations and Centre for Textual Studies

Address: 黑料网, The Gateway, Leicester, UK, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 207 8883

E: skeenan@dmu.ac.uk

W: /soh

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Personal profile

I joined 黑料网 as a Senior Lecturer in English in 2005. I have a special interest in Renaissance Literature, Shakespeare, Theatre History and Early Modern Women’s Writing. These interests are reflected in my teaching and research. I have published a number of essays on early modern performance culture, acting companies, and Renaissance drama, and I am the author of Travelling Players in Shakespeare’s England (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), Renaissance Literature (Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature) (Edinburgh University Press, 2008), Acting Companies and Their Plays in Shakespeare's London (Arden Shakespeare, 2014), and The Progresses, Processions, & Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-1642 (Oxford University Press, 2020). I am also the editor of two seventeenth-century manuscript plays for the Malone Society, The Emperor's Favourite (Manchester University Press, 2010) and The Twice Chang'd Friar (Manchester University Press, 2017). My latest book is Richard Burbage and the Shakespearean Stage: A 'Delightful' Proteus (Arden Shakespeare, forthcoming 2025).

I welcome PhD applications, especially in the fields of Shakespeare, Renaissance drama, Renaissance theatre history and Early Modern Women's Writing.

Research group affiliations

I am a member of the Institute of Global Challenges and Cultures.

Publications and outputs

dc.title: The Aphrodysial or Sea-Feast (Scholarly edition) dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan; Shmygol, Maria dc.description.abstract: This edition for the first time makes available in print a semi-diplomatic edition of William Percy鈥檚 The Aphrodysial, as preserved in Huntington Library MS HM4. The accompanying introduction provides an account of Percy and his manuscript, and discusses the layers of authorial revisions and extensive stage directions found in the play.
dc.title: New Evidence about Tudor Royal Players, George and John Birche, and their connection with James Burbage dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan
dc.title: (General Editor) Collections Volume XVIII: Two Plays from the 鈥楧ecameron鈥�, ed. Shakespeare Institute Palaeography Group and Kirsten Inglis, Malone Society Reprints, Volume 187 dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: Collections XVIII brings together the earliest texts of the first and last pre-Civil War plays to deal with Boccaccio鈥檚 tragic story of the lovers, Gismond and Guiscardo: the Hargrave MS of Inner Temple tragedy, Gismond of Salern (1568), and the first ever printed edition of the 1620s manuscript play, Glausamond and Fidelia.
dc.title: The Progresses, Processions, and Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-1642 dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: The Progresses, Processions, and Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-1642 is the first book-length study of the history, and the political and cultural significance, of the progresses, public processions, and royal entries of Charles I. As well as offering a much fuller account of the king鈥檚 progresses and progress entertainments than currently exists, this study throws new light on one of the most vexed topics in early Stuart historiography鈥攖he question of Charles I鈥檚 accessibility to his subjects and their concerns, and the part that this may, or may not, have played in the conflicts which culminated in the English civil wars and Charles鈥檚 overthrow. Drawing on extensive archival research, the book opens with an introduction to the early modern culture of royal progresses and public ceremonial as inherited and practiced by Charles I. Part I explores the question of the king鈥檚 accessibility and engagement with his subjects further through case studies of Charles鈥檚鈥榞reat鈥� progresses in 1633, 1634, and 1636. Part II turns attention to royal public ceremonial culture in Caroline London, focusing on Charles鈥檚 royal entry on 25 November 1641. More widely travelled than his ancestors, Progresses reveals a monarch who was only too well aware of the value of public ceremonial and who did not eschew it, even if he was not always willing to engage in ceremonial dialogue with his people or able to deploy the power of public display to curry support for his policies as successfully as his Tudor and Stuart predecessors. dc.description: I received a small Scouloudi Historical Award (2018) to support some of the archival research for the book.
dc.title: New evidence about Shakespearean star actor, Richard Burbage dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: Richard Burbage was one of England鈥檚 first theatrical entrepreneurs and its first theatrical stars. As well as enjoying a professional acting career that spanned more than thirty years, Burbage was a theatre builder and owner. Following the example of his father, James Burbage, who co-founded one of London鈥檚 first permanent playhouses (The Theatre), Richard and his brother Cuthbert established the Globe Theatre (1599) and managed the Second Blackfriars Theatre (inherited from their father). However, today Richard Burbage is arguably best known for being the lead actor in Shakespeare鈥檚 acting company (the Lord Chamberlain's/King's Men) and as the man for whom Shakespeare created some of his most memorable leading roles, including Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. Theatre historians have been able to establish some of the key facts about Burbage鈥檚 life but there are some gaps in the biographical picture drawn so far. One of these relates to the details of Burbage鈥檚 marriage. However, fresh investigation of the surviving marriage records from early modern London has led to a discovery which appears to solve the question of when and where Richard Burbage got married. This article documents this discovery and its implications for our knowledge of Burbage and his London connections. dc.description: This is a copy of the author's original version of the article. The article has been accepted for publication in 'Notes & Queries' (published by Oxford University Press).
dc.title: The Twice Chang'd Friar dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: 'The Twice Chang'd Friar' is one of four early 17th-century plays preserved in a manuscript miscellany in the library of Arbury Hall, Nuneaton (Arbury Hall MS A414), the seat of the Newdigate family, one of whose members, John Newdigate III, is believed to be the author. The play is an Italianate comedy based on a tale from Boccaccio's 'Decameron'. This is the first published edition of the play. As a rare example of amateur manuscript drama from the period, it will be of interest to students and scholars at all levels of the academic community.
dc.title: Re-Reading Shakespeare's Richard III: Tragic Hero and Villain? dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: The discovery of the body of the historical Richard III under a Leicester car park in 2012 sparked fresh interest in one of England鈥檚 most controversial kings. Accused of murdering his nephews鈥攖he Princes in the Tower鈥擱ichard鈥檚 reign was cut short when he was defeated by Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (later Henry VII), at the Battle of Bosworth (1485). Richard was subsequently demonised in Tudor historiography, perhaps most famously by Sir Thomas More in his 鈥淗istory of King Richard the thirde鈥� (printed 1557). It is to More that we owe the popular image of Richard III as a 鈥渃roke backed鈥� and 鈥渕alicious鈥� villain (More 37), an image which Shakespeare has been accused of further codifying and popularising in his Richard III. Today, the historical Richard III鈥檚 defenders argue for the king鈥檚 good qualities and achievements and blame early writers such as More and Shakespeare for demonising Richard; but, in Shakespeare鈥檚 case at least, this essay argues that the possibility of a sympathetic鈥攁nd even a heroic鈥攔eading of the king is built in to his characterisation of Richard III. dc.description: Open Access journal
dc.title: 'Politics, Satire and Caroline Manuscript Drama: The Example of "The Twice Chang鈥檇 Friar" (Arbury Hall MS A414)' dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan dc.description.abstract: Recent years have seen important work on political and topical satire in early Stuart England, with special attention being paid to manuscript culture and genres such as the verse libel.There has also been significant research on the importance of political drama and satire on the Caroline stage. However, despite the case made by scholars such as Andrew McRae for the pervasiveness of political satire in early Stuart culture, less attention has been paid to the politics of manuscript plays of this era. "The Twice Chang鈥檇 Friar" (Arbury Hall MS A414) 鈥� a little known manuscript comedy (written c. 1627-30), soon to be published for the first time 鈥� suggests that political satire was similarly important in the world of Caroline manuscript drama and that at least some amateur playwrights, followed the example of their professional peers, and used their plays to reflect on the contemporary political scene and topical issues. This essay explores how, in the case of "The Twice Chang'd Friar", this includes satirising Caroline court corruption, the career of controversial court favourite the Duke of Buckingham and the behaviour of one-time Spanish ambassador Count Gondomar, and highlighting the perceived threat posed to the English by Catholicism and the French. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
dc.title: Collections XVII (The Malone Society) dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan; Giddens, Eugene dc.description.abstract: Collections XVII is the latest volume in the Malone Society's pioneering series of editions of miscellaneous documents relating to English theatre and drama before 1642. It is likely to be of special interest not only to early theatre historians but to those working on Tudor and Stuart court and civic culture, manuscript writing, household drama and early modern women's writing, as it publishes new material in each of these fields. The book includes items such as Revels Office accounts, a playscript fragment, entertainments, poems and civic shows. Many of these documents are previously unpublished, and have been freshly edited and transcribed; each has an introduction giving details of its date, authorship and historical importance.
dc.title: Introduction dc.contributor.author: Keenan, Siobhan; Shellard, Dominic dc.description.abstract: This chapter introduces the topic of Shakespeare鈥檚 cultural capital and the marketplace, offering an overview of some of the different ways in which Shakespeare and his work have been marketed and had an economic and cultural impact in, and since, his own day in the UK and beyond. This includes addressing the emergence of Shakespeare as a cultural icon, the wider impact of Shakespeare in fields such as education, and the commercial use of Shakespeare as a brand in the advertising and tourist industries. The introduction also discusses the emergence of modern scholarship on the marketing and economic impact of Shakespeare and offers an overview of the following chapters and the different ways in which they reflect on the cultural and economic impact of Shakespeare.

Key research outputs

Authored Books

Travelling Players in Shakespeare’s England. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. ISBN: 0333968204. 250pp.

Renaissance Literature (Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780748625833. 282pp.

Acting Companies and Their Plays in Shakespeare’s London (The Arden Shakespeare). London: Bloomsbury, 2014. ISBN: 9781408146637. 272pp. (see www.bloomsbury.com/9781408146637)

The Progresses, Processions, and Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-1642 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020). ISBN: 9780198854005. 236pp.

Edited Books

Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey. Cologne: Könemann, 1999. ISBN: 3829030010. (Text edited with a note on the text and critical apparatus). 249 pp. [pp. 243-249].

(Play edition) Anonymous. The Emperor’s Favourite (Malone Society Edition, Volume 174). Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780719086090. (Text transcribed and edited with a 20,000 word introduction). 130 pp. [pp. vii-xliii].

For a short film about this play and its interest for modern students and scholars, see

Malone Society: Collections XVII. Ed. with Eugene Giddens. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016. ISBN: 0719099277. 104pp.

Shakespeare’s Cultural Capital: His Economic Impact from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Ed. with Dominic Shellard. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. ISBN: 1137583150. [202 pp.].

(Scholarly Play Edition) Anonymous. The Twice Chang’d Friar (Malone Society, Volume 184). Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017. ISBN: 9781526113924. (Text transcribed and edited with a 10,000-word introduction). 110 pp. [pp. vii-xxvi].

Chapters in Books

(Joint) ‘The Iconography of the Bankside Globe’, with Peter Davidson. Shakespeare’s Globe Rebuilt. Ed. J. R. Mulryne and Margaret Shewring. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0521590191. 192 pp. [pp. 147-156].

‘Spectator and Spectacle: Royal Entertainments at the Universities in the 1560s’. The Progresses, Pageants and Entertainments of Queen Elizabeth I. Ed. Jayne Elisabeth Archer, Elizabeth Goldring, and Sarah Knight. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN: 0199291578. 352 pp. [pp. 86-103].

(Joint) ‘Introduction’ with Dominic Shellard. Shakespeare’s Cultural Capital: His Economic Impact from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Ed with Dominic Shellard. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. ISBN: ADD. 1137583150. [pp. 1-12].

‘Shakespeare and the Market in his Own Day’. Shakespeare’s Cultural Capital: His Economic Impact from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Ed with Dominic Shellard. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. ISBN: 1137583150. [pp. 13-31].

Journal Articles

‘Recusant Involvement in a Robin Hood Play at Brandsby Church, Yorkshire, 1615’. Notes & Queries, New Series 47:4 (December 2000). ISSN: 0029-3970 [pp. 475-478].

‘An Allusion to a Provincial Play Performance in the Memorandum Book of Richard Cholmeley of Brandsby in 1618’. Notes & Queries, New Series 47:4 (December 2000). ISSN: 0029-3970 [pp. 478-479].

‘A Little-Known Allusion to an Inn Performance in the Suburbs of Jacobean London’. Notes & Queries, New Series 50:4 (December 2003). ISSN: 0029-3970 [pp. 437-440].

‘Patronage, Puritanism and Playing: Travelling Players in Elizabethan and Stuart Maldon, Essex’. Theatre Notebook, 58:2 (2004). ISSN: 00405523 [pp. 48-70].

‘Reading Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II: The Example of John Newdigate in 1601’. Notes & Queries, 53:4 (December 2006). ISSN: 0029-3970. [pp. 452-58].

‘“Embracing Submission”: Motherhood, Marriage and Mortality in Katherine Thomas’s Seventeenth-Century “Commonplace Book” (NLW MS 4340A)’. Women’s Writing, 15:1 (2008). ISSN: 09699082. [pp. 69-85].

‘Staging Roman History, Stuart Politics, and The Duke of Buckingham: The Example of The Emperor’s Favourite’. Early Theatre, 14:2 (2011). ISSN: 1206-9078. [pp. 63-103]. Available at: .

‘Representing the Duke of Buckingham: Libel, Counter-Libel and the Example of The Emperor’s Favourite’. Literature Compass, 9 (4) (2012). pp. 292-305.

‘The Royal Shakespeare Company at 50’. Shakespeare, 8:2 (2012). [pp. 195-201].

‘The Simpson Players of Jacobean Yorkshire and the Professional Stage’, Theatre Notebook, 67:1 (2013). ISSN: 00405523 [pp. 16-35].

‘Re-Reading Shakespeare’s Richard III: Tragic Hero and Villain?’ Linguaculture, The Journal of Linguaculture Centre of (Inter)cultural and (Inter)lingual Research, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, 8:1 (2017). ISSN: 2285-9403. [pp. 23-34]. (Invited article)

‘Politics, Satire and Caroline Manuscript Drama: The Example of The Twice Chang’d Friar (Arbury Hall MS A414)’. Notes & Queries, September 2017. ISSN: 0029-3970. [pp. 395-401].

‘New Evidence About Shakespearean “Star” Actor, Richard Burbage’, Notes & Queries, 66:3 (September 2019). ISSN: 0029-3970. [pp. 460-4]. Available at .

‘New Evidence about Tudor Royal Players, George and John Birche and their connection with James Burbage’. Notes & Queries, 69:3 (2022). ISSN: 0029-3970. [pp. 204-7.] DOI: 10.1093/notesj/gjac082

Research interests/expertise

Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama, Theatre History, Early Modern Women’s Writing.

Areas of teaching

Medieval, Renaissance, Restoration and early eighteenth-century literature, Shakespeare.

Qualifications

BA (Hons) English Literature (Cambridge University, 1994)

Postgraduate Certificate in Education (Swansea University, 1995)

MA, English Literature (University of Warwick, 1996)

PhD, Renaissance Studies (University of Warwick, 2000)

Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (UWE, Bristol, 2001)

Courses taught

ENGL2001 Exploration and Innovation: 14th Century to 18th Century Literature

Honours and awards

Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award (黑料网, Leicester) (2007, 2011, 2015)

Membership of external committees

Chairman and Member of the Malone Society Council (2012-): The Malone Society is a registered charity which publishes editions of sixteenth and seventeenth century plays from manuscript, photographic facsimile editions of printed plays of the period, and editions of original documents relating to Renaissance theatre and drama.

Membership of professional associations and societies

Member of the British Shakespeare Association

Member of the International Shakespeare Association

Member of the Shakespeare Association of America

Member of the Society for Renaissance Studies

Member of the Malone Society

Member of the Society for Theatre Research

Member of the Society for Court Studies

Conference attendance

‘Touching’ the Duke of Buckingham: Roman History, Stuart Politics and the example of The Emperor’s Favourite’. Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Washington, USA, 11 April 2009
(Invited Workshop Paper).

‘The Difference that REED makes: Writing the histories of Early Modern English Drama’, ‘Shakespeare after REED’ Workshop, 9th World Shakespeare Conference, Prague, 17-22 July 2011.

‘Adapting Shakespeare for a “dark corner” of the land: The Simpson Players in Jacobean Yorkshire’, ‘Shakespeare: Sources and Adaptation Conference’, University of Cambridge, 9-11 September 2011.

‘Amateur Shakespeare in Jacobean Yorkshire: Or, Shoemakers’ Shakespeare’. Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Boston, USA, 5-7 April 2012.

‘Philip Herbert, the King’s Men, and the Influence of Patrons: A Case Study’ (Seminar Paper). Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada, 28-30 March 2013.

‘Beyond the Renaissance Closet: Amateur Playwriting, Manuscript Drama and the Example of The Twice Changed Friar’ (Seminar Paper). Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, St Louis, USA, 10-12 April 2014.

'Shakespeare, the King's Men and Revisiting the theory of "Strong" and "Weak" Acting Companies'. Reforming Shakespeare: 1593 and After Conference, 黑料网, Leicester, 3 June 2014.

‘Shakespeare and Advertising’ Seminar (Co-organiser with Professor Deborah Cartmell). Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 1-4 April 2015.

‘Digital Shakespeare: Audiences and Scholars’ Seminar (Co-organiser with Professor Suzanne Westfall, Dr Erin Sullivan and Dr Penelope Woods).World Shakespeare Conference of the International Shakespeare Association, King’s College, London, 6 August 2016.

(Invited Keynote Lecture) ‘How chances it they travel? (Hamlet, 2.2.317): Shakespeare & his Plays on Tour’, ‘Shakespeare Lives – Re-reading, Re-writing, Re-contextualising Shakespeare’ Conference, organised by the British Council and Alexandra Ioan Cuza University of Iasi as part of the British Council’s Shakespeare Lives initiative in Iasi, Romania, 27 October 2016.

(Invited Keynote Lecture) ‘Re-Reading Shakespeare’s Richard III: Tragic Hero/Villain?’. ‘Shakespeare Lives – Re-reading, Re-writing, Re-contextualising Shakespeare’ Conference, organised by the British Council and Alexandra Ioan Cuza University of Iasi as part of the British Council’s Shakespeare Lives initiative in Iasi, Romania, 28 October 2016.

‘Negotiating and Representing Court, Country and Self in Caroline Royal Progress Entertainments: The Example of King Charles I’s 1633 Entertainment at Welbeck Abbey’. Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 5-8 April 2017.

‘Entertaining King Charles I on Progress: Ben Jonson’s Love’s Welcome to Bolsover and Courtly Ceremony, Dialogue and Reciprocity’. English Research Seminar, Canterbury Chris