Callan Davies
@callanjd.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.6K following 220 posts
early modern leisure, play/s, culture | books: "What is a Playhouse?"+"Strangeness" + new intro to Shakespeare’s Merry Wives | MCFC⚽️| FSA, FRHistS | he/him | Lecturer at Uni of Southampton
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callanjd.bsky.social
Some exciting book news to round out the year 🎉: signed a contract with Yale for a popular history/"trade book" on the Curtain playhouse (due out c. 2028). Provisionally titled "Curtain: The Story of a Shakespearean Playhouse" (provisional "blurb" attached)... A resolution of writing for 2025!
Curtain: The Story of a Shakespearean Playhouse

Before the Globe, there was the Curtain. 

Built in the mid-1570s, the Curtain playhouse was the longest-lasting Elizabethan London theatre space.  This book explores the playhouse’s Shakespearean connections and some of the famous plays that debuted at the venue, but it also asks what such a playhouse actually meant to its neighbours and visitors.  How did the Curtain shape the lives of those within its relatively wide-ranging compass, and how did they shape it?  

Curtain takes the reader on a chronological journey through the life and times of the playhouse and its environs.  Each chapter follows a local guide: a real person from the historical record.  Follow the footsteps of comedians, playwrights, and businesspeople navigating the period’s vibrant entertainment industry.  

This cultural history delves into the social, economic, and global concerns that made 16th- and 17th-century playhouses what they were—and reflects on what they “are” for us today.
"This letter sets forth the agreement between Callan Davies and Yale University Press London to publish in association with Yale University Press in New Haven the book tentatively titled Curtain: The Story of a Shakespearean Playhouse."
Reposted by Callan Davies
Reposted by Callan Davies
teonipassereau.bsky.social
I was invited to co-organise this upcoming conference being held later this month at the University of Exeter. With two days of exciting talks and panels, plus a walking historical tour of Exeter and a group dinner, I'd highly recommend coming along if you can!
Reposted by Callan Davies
henrymance.ft.com
I know this is uncomfortable to admit, but there is a small area in England's second city where people are just not integrated with the rest of society. Many of them hold views that arguably go against British values.

Yes, we need to talk about the Tory conference in Manchester.
callanjd.bsky.social
F.T. Prince lecture coming up at @unisouthampton.bsky.social English: book your spot now!
tobylitt.bsky.social
We'll soon be welcoming Dr Mary Jean Chan to University of Southampton to give our annual FT Prince Memorial Lecture.

In this 2025 F.T. Prince Memorial lecture, Dr Mary Jean Chan will explore the ways in which strict(er) poetic forms enable one's articulation of grief and loss.
In this 2025 F.T. Prince Memorial lecture, Dr Mary Jean Chan will explore the ways in which strict(er) poetic forms such as the sestina, the villanelle, the sonnet, the tanka and the specular poem enable one's articulation of grief and loss.
Reposted by Callan Davies
tobylitt.bsky.social
Sounds wonderful.

28 October at 6pm; free, but you have to book.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/f-t-prince...
Reposted by Callan Davies
tobylitt.bsky.social
We'll soon be welcoming Dr Mary Jean Chan to University of Southampton to give our annual FT Prince Memorial Lecture.

In this 2025 F.T. Prince Memorial lecture, Dr Mary Jean Chan will explore the ways in which strict(er) poetic forms enable one's articulation of grief and loss.
In this 2025 F.T. Prince Memorial lecture, Dr Mary Jean Chan will explore the ways in which strict(er) poetic forms such as the sestina, the villanelle, the sonnet, the tanka and the specular poem enable one's articulation of grief and loss.
callanjd.bsky.social
Earlyish finish on Friday? Sounds great. My 1 hour 15 minute mid-afternoon commute into London has so far taken four hours and seen me travel on South Western, Cross Country, Great Western, Lizzie Line, and Thameslink. 💀
callanjd.bsky.social
So much harder to hit all the notes and necessaries!
Reposted by Callan Davies
vch-home.bsky.social
#HistoryJob - just a reminder that our colleagues in VCH Herefordshire are looking for *two* contributing editors to bring their first #BigRedBook for over 100 years to fruition.

Details in the link, applications close on 10 October.
Contributing Editors at The Herefordshire Victoria County History Trust
Apply for the Contributing Editors role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.
www.jobs.ac.uk
callanjd.bsky.social
Neat mini-exhibition on Shakespeare at @thelondonarchives.bsky.social featuring a Stuart printing of the Agas map, the Blackfriars gatehouse deed, and Keats’s First Folio.
Photo of map and document on wall Book in a case with exhibition interpretation Map on wall with exhibition interpretation
callanjd.bsky.social
Beef shin ragu for a Friday
callanjd.bsky.social
New term, new notebook 💅
callanjd.bsky.social
Trip to our sister city of Winchester for some school outreach today (on the opening scene of Hamlet), looking fine in the September sunshine.
Reposted by Callan Davies
callanjd.bsky.social
Ooh, congratulations, look forward to reading!
Reposted by Callan Davies
benansell.bsky.social
An actual quote from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade

Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’

Look forward to Wes S saying 'too often people go to hospital to have operations' or Heidi Alexander saying 'too often people go to the station to catch a train'
callanjd.bsky.social
Have to say, it’s not mucking around ☄️
callanjd.bsky.social
Season’s first batch of homegrown, homemade hot sauce 🌶️
Bottles of red sauce with a cartoon fox label Bowl of chillies and tomatoes
callanjd.bsky.social
This is a useable workaround: toodle-oo ac dot edu!
drsaddison.bsky.social
Academia.edu wants permanent rights to your likeness, signature, voice, name, etc. to be used in any setting. My answer was "absolutely not." Log in, click on "privacy policy" when prompted to accept the new terms (don't accept!" then find "account settings" @ dropdown, scroll down to delete.
Reposted by Callan Davies
drsaddison.bsky.social
Academia.edu wants permanent rights to your likeness, signature, voice, name, etc. to be used in any setting. My answer was "absolutely not." Log in, click on "privacy policy" when prompted to accept the new terms (don't accept!" then find "account settings" @ dropdown, scroll down to delete.
callanjd.bsky.social
His mistress and friends reputedly enjoyed a skinful right about here, at a tavern that was then at “Duck lane end” of Smithfield. (With frontage to St Bartholomew the Great and its stunning half-timbered gatehouse, uncovered by zeppelin raids in WW1, dating from 1590s.)
callanjd.bsky.social
And here to their “dwelling house within the Hospitall of Little St Bartholomew’s”
callanjd.bsky.social
Through Hog Lane (now Worship St) turning eventually onto Chiswell St and via Barbican onto Long Lane to arrive at Smithfield shambles: