Staff profile

I am on research leave for the duration of the academic year 25/26 as a Leverhulme Research Fellow. (Please note that while I will still be checking my inbox and replying to emails during this time, I will be doing so infrequently.)

 

I specialise in theatre and performance from the late seventeenth century until the mid-nineteenth century, with a focus on archival histories and how theatre – understood as a practice, industry and institution – engages with wider social, political, and cultural issues. I am especially interested in representations of race and gender, as well as Romantic-period print culture more broadly.

My first book, Staging the Peninsular War: English Theatres 1807-1815 (Ashgate/Routledge, 2015/2016) draws upon a range of visual, printed and manuscript sources in order to examine the larger political and ideological axes of Romantic-period performance. It explores how, during the seven vexed years that marked the Peninsular War, the English theatres helped ascribe new urgency to issues such as citizenship, patriotism, and the articulation of national identities. It also provides the first printed ‘Calendar of Plays for Covent Garden, Drury Lane and Bristol Theatre Royal, 1807–1815’.

'What do we gain from watching a familiar play for the nth time?' is the question that animates my second book, Stock Pieces: British Repertory Theatre, 1760–1830 (Liverpool University Press, 2024). To deliver varied programmes, Romantic-period theatre managers relied on a repertoire of ‘stock’ entertainments performed in alternation with the latest new plays. Repertory theatre was not new to the Romantic period, but it took on additional purchase at a time when the playhouse was not simply a site for entertainment but a government-controlled cultural institution and business, subject to sometimes extreme financial, political, and ideological pressures. Through a selection of lively case studies, Stock Pieces offers the first in-depth investigation of how ‘stock’ status was acquired, its box office significance, and more extensive influence beyond the playhouse, including in the service of the abolitionist cause. 

Articles of mine have focused on Peninsular War poetry and novels; Romantic-period wartime and post-war theatre; women’s writing; satirical prints; and Anglo-Caribbean exchanges (as listed below, under ‘Publications’).

I am a Board Member and the Book Review Editor for Studies in Romanticism – the flagship journal in the field. 

Before joining the English Studies Department at Durham in 2018, I studied at the Universities of Oxford (MA; DPhil) and York (MA). I then taught for various colleges at the University of Oxford, was a Junior Research Fellow at Worcester College (University of Oxford, 2012–2016) ,and a Departmental and College Lecturer in English at St Hugh’s College (University of Oxford, 2016–18).

Engagement and Impact:

In 2016, I was one of the principal curators for the Bodleian Library’s successful autumn exhibition, Staging History 1780–1840. This exhibition explored how and why in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ‘history’ became a dominant genre in Britain’s theatrical and musical repertoires. The exhibition generated a number of public outreach initiatives, including an introductory video (available via YouTube), media interviews and reviews, gallery tours, and a podcast series (available via iTunes). 

I have given public talks on my research and enjoy liaising with arts and theatre specialists to close the loop between work undertaken in and beyond academe. I also work closely with schools and sixth forms in the North East to help promote widening access and participation.

Teaching at Undergraduate Level:

At Durham, I convene 'Romantic Plays and Players' (a Level 2 Seminar Module) and 'Black Lives, pre-1900' (a Level 3 Special Topic Module). I also lecture for various other modules, and supervise dissertations (at undergraduate, MA, and PhD levels).

Postgraduate Supervision and Early Career Mentorship:

Durham offers fantastic resources for research into the literature of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, such as Palace Green Library, the Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies and the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (whose interdisciplinary studies reach into the late eighteenth century).

I warmly welcome inquiries from potential postgraduate research students working on any aspect of English literature from 1660 to 1840, and especially where your own interests touch upon Romantic-period drama, theatre and performance; writing of the Romantic period in relation to its historical contexts; slavery and abolition; private lives (diaries, letters); book history; and the intersection of literature and visual cultures. 

At Durham, we work as supervisory teams. I have had the pleasure to co-supervise the doctoral research of:

• Dr Keerthi Vasishta (Full-time PhD student, 2021–2024): ‘Conceiving Liberty: William Wordsworth's Poetry and Prose, 1789–1845.’
• Dr Sheng (Ariel) Yao (Full-time PhD student, Chinese Government Scholarship, 2019 – Examined 2024): ‘“A Motion and a Spirit”: William Wordsworth’s, Joanna Baillie’s and Robert Browning’s Dramatic Poetics of Feeling and Passion’.
• Dr Francesco Marchioni (Full-time PhD student, 2019– Examined January 2023)): ‘Promethean Forms of Grief in the Work of Byron, Shelley and Leopardi’.

I am currently co-supervisor to the following PhD students:

• Hao Yang Zhang (Full-time PhD student, January 2024–): '"This is no Age for Marriage": Marital Politics in English Dramatic Comedies, 1660–1737'.  
• Toby Lucas (Full-time PhD student, 2022 –): '"The life of Napoleon is the epic of our century’: Reconfigurations of Napoleon in Second-Generation Romantic Poetry.'
• Ayesha Susan Gaye (Full-time PhD student, April 2023 –): '"To be free is very sweet": A Critical Approach to Race Representation in British Literature 1830–1880' (20% supervisory role taken in October 2024, providing cover for a colleague on leave)  

To find out more about how applications for postgraduate research degrees (PhD, MLitt and MA by Research) are assessed and receive information about funding as well as a direct link to the university’s application portal, visit the English Department’s Postgraduate webpage and view the ‘How to Apply’ section: Research Degrees (MA by Research, MLitt, PhD) - Durham University

• English literature 1660–1840, with a special focus on:
• theatre and performance
• political histories
• representations of race
• the early Caribbean 
• slavery and abolition
• gender
• autobiographies
• Romantic-period print cultures

• 2025: Leverhulme Research Fellowship:
• 2024 - 2025: Short-Term Fellowship, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington D.C.:
• 2024 - 2025: Short-Term Fellowship, John Carter Brown Library, Brown University :
• 2024: Board Member and Book Review Editor for Studies in Romanticism:
• 2023: Recipient of Durham University’s Exceptional Contribution Award : Award ‘for making a sustained contribution over and above the normal expectations of your role’
• 2023 - 2025: Administrative Roles: Director of Undergraduate Studies Faculty Education Committee (Member) Department Education Committee (Chair) Department Undergraduate Student Staff Consultative Committee (Member) Department Management Group (Member) Department Progression Committee (Member)
• 2022: Recipient of Durham University’s Discretionary Award Scheme: Award ‘for making a contribution over and above the normal expectations of your role’
• 2021: Keynote Address: The London Stage and the Nineteenth-Century World III Conference, University of Oxford, April 2021.
• 2019: Keynote Address: Humour and Satire in British Romanticism Conference, Durham University, September 2019.
• 2017 - 2018: Frederick A. and Marion S. Pottle Short Term Fellowship, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library:
• 2016 - 2017: W. Jackson Bate/Douglas W. Bryant Fellow at Houghton Library, Harvard College Library:
• 2016 - 2017: Short-term Fellowship, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington D.C.:
• 2016: Co-Curator for the Bodleian Library exhibition ' Staging History, 1780–1840', University of Oxford.: Public engagements included: an interview for a local TV station, gallery tours and podcast recordings. The podcast is freely available online via iTunes: >
• 2012 - 2016: Junior (Postdoctoral) Research Fellowship, Worcester College, University of Oxford :

Authored book

• Stock Pieces: British Repertory Theatre, 1760–1830
  
  Valladares, S. (2024). Stock Pieces: British Repertory Theatre, 1760–1830. Liverpool University Press.
• Staging the Peninsular War: English Theatres 1807–1815
  
  Valladares, S. (2015). Staging the Peninsular War: English Theatres 1807–1815. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315610542

Book review

• Jonathan Mulrooney. Romanticism and Theatrical Experience: Kean, Hazlitt, and Keats in the Age of Theatrical News
  
  Valladares, S. (2019). Jonathan Mulrooney. Romanticism and Theatrical Experience: Kean, Hazlitt, and Keats in the Age of Theatrical News. Review of English Studies, 71(300), 587-589. https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgz138
• David Worrall, Celebrity, Performance, Reception: British Georgian Theatre as Social Assemblage
  
  Valladares, S. (2018). David Worrall, Celebrity, Performance, Reception: British Georgian Theatre as Social Assemblage. The Coleridge Bulletin, 44, 105-8.
• William D. Brewer, Staging Romantic Chameleons and Imposters
  
  Valladares, S. (2018). William D. Brewer, Staging Romantic Chameleons and Imposters. Romanticism, 24(3). https://doi.org/10.3366/rom.2018.0389
• Frederick Burwick, British Drama of the Industrial Revolution
  
  Valladares, S. (2016). Frederick Burwick, British Drama of the Industrial Revolution. Review of English Studies, 67(282). https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgw053
• Julia Swindells and David Francis Taylor (eds), The Oxford Handbook of The Georgian Theatre 1737-1832.
  
  Valladares, S. (2015). Julia Swindells and David Francis Taylor (eds), The Oxford Handbook of The Georgian Theatre 1737-1832. Review of English Studies, 66(274). https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgu083
• David Francis Taylor, Theatres of Opposition: Empire, Revolution & Richard Brinsley Sheridan
  
  Valladares, S. (2014). David Francis Taylor, Theatres of Opposition: Empire, Revolution & Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Theatre Notebook, 68.
• Fiona Ritchie and Peter Sabor (eds), Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century
  
  Valladares, S. (2014). Fiona Ritchie and Peter Sabor (eds), Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century. Theatre Notebook, 68, 62-63.
• L. Crisafulli and K. Elam (eds.), Women’s Romantic Theatre and Drama: History, Agency, and Performativity
  
  Valladares, S. (2011). L. Crisafulli and K. Elam (eds.), Women’s Romantic Theatre and Drama: History, Agency, and Performativity. British Association for Romantic Studies: Bulletin & Review, 39, 18-19.
• R. Cole Heinowitz, Spanish America and British Romanticism 1777–1826
  
  Valladares, S. (n.d.). R. Cole Heinowitz, Spanish America and British Romanticism 1777–1826. Symbiosis: A Journal of Anglo-American Literary Relations, August 2011 Online.

Chapter in book

• Spanish Politicking in British Periodical Reviews, 1808-1814
  
  Valladares, S. (2020). Spanish Politicking in British Periodical Reviews, 1808-1814. In Y. Rodríguez Pérez (Ed.), Literary hispanophobia and hispanophilia in Britain and the Low Countries (1550-1850). (pp. 213-234). Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.26530/oapen_1006718
• British Women Writers of Peninsular Fiction
  
  Valladares, S. (2018). British Women Writers of Peninsular Fiction. In I. Haywood & D. Saglia (Eds.), Spain and British Romanticism, 1800-1840 (pp. 195-213). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64456-1_11
• ‘The Changing Theatrical Economy: Charles Dibdin the Younger at Sadler’s Wells, 1814–19’
  
  Valladares, S. (2018). ‘The Changing Theatrical Economy: Charles Dibdin the Younger at Sadler’s Wells, 1814–19’. In O. Cox Jensen, D. Kennerley, & I. Newman (Eds.), Charles Dibdin and Late Georgian Culture (pp. 171-188). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198812425.003.0012
• ‘“All the world’s a stage & all the men are merely players”: Theatre-going in London during the Hundred Days’
  
  Valladares, S. (2018). ‘“All the world’s a stage & all the men are merely players”: Theatre-going in London during the Hundred Days’. In K. Astbury & M. Philp (Eds.), Napoleon’s 100 Days and the Struggle for Legitimacy (pp. 185-208). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70208-7_10
• ‘Empire, Revolution and Patriotism in Thomas Morton’s Columbus; Or, A World Discovered (1792)’
  
  Valladares, S. (2016). ‘Empire, Revolution and Patriotism in Thomas Morton’s Columbus; Or, A World Discovered (1792)’. In M. Burden, W. Heller, J. Hicks, & E. Lockhart (Eds.), Staging History, 1780–1840. Bodleian Library Publishing.
• ‘“He that can bring the dead to life again”: Resurrecting the Spanish setting of Coleridge’s Osorio (1797) and Remorse (1813)’
  
  Valladares, S. (2010). ‘“He that can bring the dead to life again”: Resurrecting the Spanish setting of Coleridge’s Osorio (1797) and Remorse (1813)’. In J. M. Almeida (Ed.), Romanticism and the Anglo-Hispanic Imaginary (pp. 133-156). Brill Rodopi.

Journal Article

• "Act[ing] Riotously": Theatre and Performance in Early Nineteenth-Century Jamaica
  
  Valladares, S. (2022). "Act[ing] Riotously": Theatre and Performance in Early Nineteenth-Century Jamaica. Review of English Studies, 73(309), 321-343. https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgab040
• Afro-Creole Revelry and Rebellion on the British Stage: Jonkanoo in Obi; or, Three-Fingered Jack (1800)
  
  Valladares, S. (2019). Afro-Creole Revelry and Rebellion on the British Stage: Jonkanoo in Obi; or, Three-Fingered Jack (1800). Review of English Studies, 70(294), 291-311. https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgy093
• ‘Teaching Guide to Anne Lister and the Ladies of Llangollen’
  
  Valladares, S. (2013). ‘Teaching Guide to Anne Lister and the Ladies of Llangollen’. Literature Compass, 10(11), 869-870. https://doi.org/10.1111/lic3.12110
• ‘“For the sake of illustrating principles”: Wordsworth, the Convention of Cintra, and Satirical Prints’
  
  Valladares, S. (2013). ‘“For the sake of illustrating principles”: Wordsworth, the Convention of Cintra, and Satirical Prints’. European Romantic Review, 24(5), 31-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509585.2013.828400
• ‘“An Introduction to the Literary Person[s]” of Anne Lister and the Ladies of Llangollen’
  
  Valladares, S. (2013). ‘“An Introduction to the Literary Person[s]” of Anne Lister and the Ladies of Llangollen’. Literature Compass, 10(4), 353-368. https://doi.org/10.1111/lic3.12054
• ‘Walter Scott’s Vision of Don Roderick (1811): “A Drum and Trumpet Performance”?’
  
  Valladares, S. (2012). ‘Walter Scott’s Vision of Don Roderick (1811): “A Drum and Trumpet Performance”?’. Cuadernos de Ilustración Y Romanticismo, 18.
• ‘Romantic Englishwomen and “the Theatre of Glory”: The Role of the Peninsular War in Forging British National Identity’
  
  Valladares, S. (n.d.). ‘Romantic Englishwomen and “the Theatre of Glory”: The Role of the Peninsular War in Forging British National Identity’. Moveable Type: Journal of the Graduate Society, Department of English, University College London, 4, 105-120.

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Resisting Slavery
  
  Valladares, S. (2018). Resisting Slavery [Blog].
• Staging History: A Curator’s Introduction
  
  Valladares, S., & Burden, M. (2017, January 5). Staging History: A Curator’s Introduction.
• Staging History, 1780 to 1840, Oxford University Podcasts (4 episodes)
  
  Valladares, S., Burden, M., & Kennerley, D. (2016). Staging History, 1780 to 1840, Oxford University Podcasts (4 episodes) [Podcast].
• 'Staging History in Regency-Era Britain’, That’s TV South Midlands
  
  Valladares, S. (guest). (2016). ’Staging History in Regency-Era Britain’, That’s TV South Midlands.
• ‘A Tyrant at Covent Garden: 6 April 1815’, 100 Days in 100 Objects online exhibition
  
  Valladares, S. (2015). ‘A Tyrant at Covent Garden: 6 April 1815’, 100 Days in 100 Objects online exhibition.
• ‘Waterloo’s bicentenary and the Napoleonic Wars in Portugal and Spain – a guest post from Susan Valladares’.
  
  Valladares, S. (2015). ‘Waterloo’s bicentenary and the Napoleonic Wars in Portugal and Spain – a guest post from Susan Valladares’ [Blog].
• ‘A Tyrant at Covent Garden: 6 April 1815.’
  
  Valladares, S. (2015). ‘A Tyrant at Covent Garden: 6 April 1815.’.
• ‘Five Questions: Susan Valladares on Staging the Peninsular War’
  
  Valladares, S. (2015). ‘Five Questions: Susan Valladares on Staging the Peninsular War’ [Blog].