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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks so much! I've been working on it since 2015, so I'm excited that it's finally (nearly) out in the world!

Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Aug 3

Another great review! “Hamlet may have lost all his mirth, but the quality of tonight’s performance took The Pantaloons to another level altogether.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
@thepantaloons.bsky.social
northwestend.com/hamlet-sir-k...

Hamlet – Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden, Shakespeare North Playhouse - North West End UK

Director Steve Purcell is to be praised for his heavily abridged adaptation which, coming in at less than half the length of the full text, focuses on the family drama at the heart of the play, bringi...

northwestend.com

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Jul 28

A lovely write-up of @thepantaloons.bsky.social Hamlet from the St Albans Times - we even made the front page!
issuu.com/stalbanstime...
Full tour dates are here: thepantaloons.co.uk/hamlet/

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Jul 28

Very excited to be contributing to this!

Dr. Benjamin Broadribb @benbroadribb.bsky.social · Jul 16

Very happy to say I will be spending a lot more time with these books over the next year or so, as this week I've signed a contract with @manchesterup.bsky.social to edit the first ever academic collection of essays on the landmark BBC anthology series Inside No. 9 🥳 #InsideNo9

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Jul 22

You may well have done if you’ve seen The Pantaloons before! The one with the lute is Alex Hargreaves, the one with the guitar is Christopher Smart. Both multi-talented chaps!

Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Jul 19

Nearing the end of a busy and exciting week opening @thepantaloons.bsky.social Hamlet at St Albans Roman Theatre! Full tour dates are here: thepantaloons.co.uk/hamlet/

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Jul 14

It's opening night for Hamlet! This has been a very special one to work on. Opening in St Albans before a UK-wide tour: thepantaloons.co.uk/hamlet/

Reposted by Steve Purcell

The Pantaloons @thepantaloons.bsky.social · Jul 14

Hamlet opens tonight at St Albans Roman Theatre where it runs for a week before heading off on tour! Here's some rehearsal photos of our fantastic cast: new Pantaloons Laura Cooper-Jones and Tamsin Lynes with 'loon veterans Martin Gibbons and Richard Lessen.

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Jul 8

Free workshop on “Talking to the audience in Hamlet” with me and the cast of @thepantaloons.bsky.social Hamlet! Information and booking here: ovo.org.uk/shows/talkin...

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Jun 27

It was great fun workshopping scenes from Hamlet with @thepantaloons.bsky.social today at the @bsashakespeare.bsky.social conference on the beautiful University of York campus!

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Jun 27

Best of luck to the cast of @thepantaloons.bsky.social Robin Hood, opening this weekend! Full tour dates are here: thepantaloons.co.uk/robin-hood/

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · May 9

Best of luck to the cast of @thepantaloons.bsky.social Sense and Sensibility, which opens this evening! Tour details are here: thepantaloons.co.uk/sense/

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · May 1

At Jackson's Lane today doing auditions for @thepantaloons.bsky.social Hamlet!

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Apr 30

Spent a lovely afternoon at the leafy University of Buckingham, talking to English Literature postgraduates about the performance history of Troilus and Cressida (what else?). Here’s John Barton directing Patrick Stewart and Sebastian Shaw in the play in 1968.

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Apr 23

It does, however, appear to confirm that William Shakespeare was an intransigent skinflint.

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Apr 23

One of the things I love about the discovery reported in today’s Guardian is that it puts paid to the prejudice you see in a lot of biofiction that Anne Shakespeare/Hathaway would have been illiterate. Nope!
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Shakespeare did not leave his wife Anne in Stratford, letter fragment suggests

Professor says text shows Hathaway lived with playwright in London, upending the established idea of an unhappy marriage

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Steve Purcell

Adrian Streete @profastreete.bsky.social · Apr 3

I’m pleased to say that we’re advertising an open ended lectureship in Early Modern English Literature at Glasgow. Details here, and please share:

www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/lecturer...

Lecturer in Early Modern English Literature (R&T)

College of Arts & HumanitiesSchool of Critical Studies Lecturer in Early Modern English LiteratureVacancy Ref: 170953Salary, Grade 7 / 8, £40,497 - £45,413 / £49,559 - £57,422 per annum The...

www.jobs.gla.ac.uk

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Apr 3

Had a great afternoon at the Shakespeare Institute talking about homosexuality in postwar productions of Troilus and Cressida. Here are Charles Gray as Achilles, Jeremy Brett as Patroclus and Paul Rogers as Pandarus in Tyrone Guthrie’s 1956 production at the Old Vic.

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Apr 2

My book has a cover! A history of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida in performance, from John Dryden's Restoration adaptation to the rediscovery of the play in the twentieth century.
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526103574/

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Mar 29

Make me a willow cabin at your gate,
And call upon my soul within the house…

Making a willow cabin today at Peace Cottage Community Hub, Hoddesdon.

Reposted by Steve Purcell

James Wallace @jameswallace.bsky.social · Jan 21

Such a wonderful and brilliantly written tribute to Claire van Kampen from the Globe’s former artistic director Dominic Dromgoole

www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

Claire van Kampen: a world-class theatre composer and bright star of Shakespeare’s Globe

The pianist, director and playwright of Farinelli and the King, which starred her husband Mark Rylance, is remembered by the Globe’s former artistic director

www.theguardian.com

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Jan 18

This is such sad news. Claire van Kampen was a remarkable artist whose work had a huge impact on modern theatre. I was fortunate enough to meet her a few times, and she was a lovely person, too. Sending condolences to all those whose lives she touched.
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/j...

Director and composer Claire van Kampen dies aged 71

Wife of actor Mark Rylance had worked in various roles at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre and had been diagnosed with cancer

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Steve Purcell

Ben Blyth @benblyth.bsky.social · Jan 18

This year’s #BSA2025 in York is shaping up to be a fantastic conference for lovers of all things #shakespeare & #performance. Click to join the conversation here: www.britishshakespeare.ws/call-for-par... then we can all go hit up the snickelways in June!

Call for Participation, second round: - British Shakespeare Association

Practising Shakespeare: new collaborations, expanding horizons British Shakespeare Association Conference Wednesday 25 – Saturday 28 June 2025 School of Arts and Creative Technologies, University of Y...

www.britishshakespeare.ws

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Reposted by Steve Purcell

Dr Andrea Smith @audioandrea.bsky.social · Jan 17

Churchill's play Love and Information was broadcast on @BBCRadio3 last year and was brilliant. If you don't know what all the fuss is about, treat yourself to a great 80 minutes: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
And do sign the petition: www.change.org/p/save-audio...

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Steve Purcell @stevetpurcell.bsky.social · Dec 20

Congratulations! I think a lot of people (me included) will want to read this!

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