CLAMOROUS VOICE
316 FOLLOWERS
I'm Dr Sophie Duncan, and I'm an academic based at the Calleva Centre, Magdalen College, University of Oxford, where I research Shakespeare in performance, cognition, Victorian literature, and audience psychology. My first book, Shakespeare's Women and the Fin de Siecle, is out now from Oxford University Press! My new projects include work on props and cognition and on Oscar Wilde.
CLAMOROUS VOICE
3w ago
I’m delighted to be speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival later this month! I’ll be speaking about Searching for Juliet, romance, and the myth of Verona’s most famous teenager (from Shakespeare to West Side Story) in Lincoln College’s Oakeshott Room at 10 am on Friday, 22 March. It’s my first time at the Oxford Literary Festival and a lovely way to mark Searching for Juliet’s publication in paperback! You can book tickets (and order Searching for Juliet in both hardback and paperback!) here. Hope to see many of you there ..read more
CLAMOROUS VOICE
2M ago
Last month, I had a great time on Free Thinking discussing Shakespeare’s Women with Anne McElvoy, Hailey Bachrach, Anouska Lester, and Emma Whipday. I also saw absolutely enormous posters of The Traitors: thrilled. Listen to us talk about Ellen Terry, Marie Corelli, the incomparable Harriet Walter, and also yes technically W. Shakespeare himself ..read more
CLAMOROUS VOICE
3M ago
Earlier this term I was delighted to appear on the BBC History Extra podcast discussing Romeo and Juliet and what Shakespeare’s play can teach us about Tudor youth in Early Modern England. You can listen on Spotify or Apple (and, I should think, plenty of other places too). If you enjoyed it, please let me know!
Some of the research in this episode is taken from my book Searching for Juliet, available here ..read more
CLAMOROUS VOICE
1y ago
There’s a lovely & generous review of Searching for Juliet by Sophie Elmhirst in The Sunday Times today, specifically the Culture magazine. I love Culture magazine so reading such kind words about my book is a dream. I was especially glad that the reviewer talked about the work I did with older people at the Oxford Playhouse – for me, this was one of the book’s great joys. Run, do not walk to buy The Sunday Times! There is also an excellent pic of Ms Danes and Mr DiCaprio at their absolute 90s peak ..read more
CLAMOROUS VOICE
1y ago
I’m thrilled to say that my next book, Searching for Juliet (UK) or just Juliet (USA title) is now available for pre-order!
This book has been a delight to write, and I am – say it quietly – proud of it. I said a little bit about why, and about the benefits of writing for a wider audience, here.
Here is some blurb for Juliet:
Romeo and Juliet may be the greatest love story ever told, but who is Juliet? Demure ingénue? Or dangerous Mediterranean madwoman? From tearstained copies of the First Folio to Civil War–era fanfiction, Shakespeare’s star-crossed heroine has long captured ..read more
CLAMOROUS VOICE
3y ago
My review of William Palmer’s In Love With Hell: Drink in the Lives and Work of Eleven Writers (Robinson, 262pp, £20) is out now in May’s issue of Literary Review. Subscribers can also read the review via the Literary Review website. To my mind, the best aspects of the book are the passages describing postwar backstreet & provincial pub culture. Parts chimed sometimes of the work of C.P. Snow (early Strangers and Brothers), Colin Dexter, Stan Barstow, and Keith Waterhouse. Elsewhere in In Love With Hell, I had reservations about the author’s depiction of non-consensual sex, as I discuss in ..read more
CLAMOROUS VOICE
3y ago
I’m quoted in playwright Naomi Obeng’s lengthy article for The Stage‘s special issue on theatre and race this week, guest edited by Naomi with actor Emmanuel Kojo.
Race and criticism: Actor @EmmanuelKojo_ and critic and playwright Naomi Obeng (@NAnarty) have guest-edited a special feature exploring the impact of theatre criticism on theatremakers of colour and how the industry must take action. It's free to read at https://t.co/1HpP5GRTu1 pic.twitter.com/YrlSjVwKEr
— The Stage (@TheStage) April 22, 2021
You can read the article here – although The Stage is usually subscription-only, a ..read more
CLAMOROUS VOICE
3y ago
I didn’t know theatrical wonder was possible on Teams: guess what
— Dr Sophie Duncan (@clamorousvoice) November 23, 2020
I am wearing a jumper with Rock & Roll written on it, and to honour that garment I have spent the past hour finalising the cast list for Monday’s online Christ Church playreading, which will be Romeo and Juliet. I was surprised to realise it will be the fourteenth playreading I’ve run since taking up my Christ Church Fellowship in October 2018 – and the fourth I’ve run online. I’m sharing the list below in case it’s of interest, and also to note that our last in-pe ..read more
CLAMOROUS VOICE
3y ago
I should have posted this sooner, but I’m so pleased to share that my book, Searching for Juliet, will be published by Sceptre in April 2023. They have worldwide rights and there will be an announcement about the US publication very soon! Here’s the Bookseller blurb for those who don’t subscribe (I do now subscribe – you can probably guess when I narcissistically started! – and really recommend it. I’m gradually building a list of 2021 reads):
Sceptre has acquired a cultural, historical and literary exploration of the birth, death and legacy of Shakespeare’s Juliet Capulet.
Searching for Juli ..read more
CLAMOROUS VOICE
3y ago
I’m in the September issue of the Literary Review, with my review of Ferrante’s latest novel, (out now in translation in Europa Editions). I do get further than “dun like”, promise. I love the headline, too (not my choice) – “In All Honesty”. My other Literary Review pieces can be found here.
Hope you enjoy ..read more