In the fourth of our Q&A sessions this evening we were delighted to welcome open-air theatre expert Evelyn O’Malley in conversation with Shakespeare Link Associate Artist Jamie Wilkes.

Evelyn is a lecturer in drama at the University of Exeter and researches open-air Shakespeare, theatre and climate change. Since seeing Footsbarn's Midsummer Night's Dream in a tent in Dublin for her tenth birthday, she has been fascinated by the ecological potential of Shakespeare outside of theatres. She trained at ArtsEd and went on to perform for Chapterhouse and the British Shakespeare Company before completing her PhD at Exeter. Her research at Exeter concerns contemporary Shakespeare performed in the weather. She has also worked with climate scientists and meteorologists as part of a Climate Stories project. 

Jamie and Evelyn’s discussion drew upon Evelyn’s wide experience  as both a performer of Open Air Shakespeare and Academic researching the ecological perspective of outdoor Shakespeare and the weather.   She drew upon her extensive research starting with  the Pastoral Players of 1884, including Max Reinhardt’s 1933 production of  A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and finishing with the most contemporary issue surrounding audience, ecology and climate change:  the BP or not BP campaign lobbying the RSC to drop BP oil sponsorship.

Evelyn’s work has resulted in a book on Weathering Shakespeare, which will be out next year. 

This event is free to view again. Donations however are hugely welcome and will help support our future programme