Revels Office

Initially set up in 2020 as a quiet Padlet conversation between Anouska Lester and Sierra Carter, the Revels Office quickly grew and became a lifeline during the Covid-19 pandemic. Even when not in lockdown, there are few opportunities for PhD students and Early Career Researchers from different institutions and countries to regularly interact and support one another. The Revels Office aims to bring early modernists together and provide spaces (via Zoom and Padlet) to share ideas and resources, discuss writing wins and woes, and provide feedback on each other’s work.

New members are always welcome, and you can view our current members here.

The Revels Office website is supported by generous funding from the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies at the University of York.

The Revels Office will hold its first conference with the Society of Antiquaries of London on 13 June 2025. The conference showcases the research of early career scholars working on the intersections between text, materiality, and performance, both in and beyond the commercial theatres in Great Britain and Ireland in the long early modern period (1500-1800).

Our keynote speaker will be Professor Catherine Richardson FSA (University of East Anglia).

Registration is open and you can view the full programme here. Tickets for the conference are £10-15 (free to attend online) and can be booked via the Society of Antiquaries’ website. Booking closes on 8 June.

The conference organisers are Juliana Beykirch, Dr Bethan Davies, Mirjam Haas, Maria Maciejewska, and Dr Gina Walter.

This conference is generously supported by the Society of Antiquaries of London, Bibliographical Society, Society for Renaissance Studies, Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies (University of York), and British Shakespeare Association

For updates on Revels Office events please sign up to our mailing list.

Every month we meet as a group via Zoom to discuss a secondary or primary text which has been chosen by one of our members. Our next reading group is at 4pm-4.45pm (BST) on Monday 28 April, and we’ll be discussing ‘Auto-Theory and Form’, led by Liesl Jensen. You can read more about our reading group here.

You can see details about our past reading groups here. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to talk to invited guests about their work. We’ve talked to Dr Nicole Sheriko (Yale University) about careers and fellowships, Dr Andy Kesson (University of Roehampton) about A Bit Lit and Box Office Bears, Professor David McInnis (University of Melbourne) about the Lost Plays Database and his book Shakespeare and Lost Plays, and Dr Sophie Duncan (University of Oxford) about Shakespeare’s Props: Memory and Cognition.

All are welcome to join our reading group. Please email Juliana and Maria at revelsoffice@gmail.com if you’d like to attend or lead a session.

For updates and reminders of our activities, you can sign up to our mailing list:

Monthly Reading Group Mailing List (all welcome!)

We use a private Padlet forum to regularly check in about our current research. You can share reading recommendations, ask for feedback, or just talk about whatever you’re working on right now.

Currently, our Padlet page is only for early modern PhD Students and Early Career Researchers (very loosely defined as anyone who finished their PhD within the last 5 years or who does not have a permanent contract).

If you would like to access the forum, please email Juliana and Maria at revelsoffice@gmail.com.