King’s College London and Shakespeare’s Globe are pleased to announce their fifth biennial graduate conference: ‘Networks.’ This year, we turn our attention to the intricate, invisible, but often tangible webs that bound the early modern world together. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were defined by a profound density of connection - a world of intense social binding, material circulation, and intellectual exchange. From the “knot intrinsicate” of Cleopatra’s demise to the conspiracy of rumours that entraps Othello, early modern drama is obsessed with the architecture of entanglement. Yet these networks extend far beyond the stage: they encompass the collaborative workshops of playwrights, the clandestine circulation of manuscript poetry, the global trade routes that brought Venice to London, and the ‘Republic of Letters’ that knitted together the diverse intellects of Europe.    

At the same time, our own world is increasingly shaped by new networks. Digital platforms, intercultural collaborations, and global pedagogies create new circuits through which Shakespeare and early modern texts move, transform, and acquire meaning within expanded fields of relation. 

29th May

Events will take place at King’s College London (Bush House SE 2.1) 

Plenary Lecture from Dr Hester Lees-Jeffries: ‘Life at all four corners: Cleopatra’s handkerchief’ 

30th May

Events will take place at Shakespeare’s Globe (Globe Education and Rehearsal Studios, Wanamaker Studio) 

Plenary Lecture from Professor Sonia Massai ‘Early English Print Networks and the Provenance of Q1 Hamlet’