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The History Of European Theatre
Nothing Goes to Plan in Love’s Labour’s Lost: A conversation with Eleanor Conlon
Episode 173:
For this guest episode it is a very welcome return for Eleanor Conlon, who you will remember discussed Titus Andronicus with me in Episode 22 of this season. Having picked over the brutal actions of that play with Eleanor I was pleased to hear that she was interested in a return visit and to discuss the very different piece that is Love’s Labour’s Lost. As you will her Eleanor has a great love of this play and brings all the enthusiasm about it to our conversation that you as might expect. If you have not already done so I would recommend listening to my previous episode on Love’s Labour’s Lost before starting on this one, which adds a lot to what I said in that episode.
Eleanor Conlon is an actor, director, and award-winning writer based in Sussex.
After completing her BA in English Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, Eleanor earned her MA in Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at Kings College and Shakespeare’s Globe. While at The Globe, Eleanor worked dramaturgically on productions by Dominic Dromgoole, Matthew Dunster, and Jeremy Herrin, and with Jenny Tiramani on the Original Practices Costume Archive.
As an academic, her research focused on Renaissance Magic, Gender and Culture in Early Modern London, though for more than a decade her career has been less theoretical and more practical. After achieving success with her theatre company ‘The Barefoot Players’ in the late 2000s and early 2010s, with which she produced plays including ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’, ‘Doctor Faustus’ and ‘The Alchemist’, the latter two of which she also directed, as well as productions of several of Shakespeare’s works, plays by Ibsen, Oscar Wilde, and others. She founded her current theatre company ‘Rust & Stardust’ where working with her puppet-maker partner Katie Sommers Eleanor has written over a dozen plays rooted in English folklore and toured these shows all over the UK.
In addition to all this, and as you are about to hear, in 2023 she launched the Three Ravens Podcast with her partner Martin Vaux – also a writer and actor – which explores history, legends, and diverse aspects of folk culture.
Link to Three Ravens Podcast website: www.threeravenspodcast.com
For the Three Ravens Folktales Book:
Link to Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Ravens-Folk-Tales-half-forgotten/dp/1803999683
Link To Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Ravens-Folk-Tales-half-forgotten-ebook/dp/B0CW1GB63M/ref=sr_1_1
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