27. January 2026 19:00
Prof. Tiffany Stern FBA, The Shakespeare Institute University of Birmingham
My talk will be on a clown known to Shakespeare, and a great influence on his works, Richard Tarlton (d.1588). It will be in two parts. The first half, ‚living Tarlton‘, will give a brief biography of Tarlton, and will focus on the way he wrote and sold printed songs called ‚ballads’ in the playhouse. The second half, ‚dead Tarlton‘, will be on the way Tarlton’s print brand thrived posthumously, so that texts by and about him became a staple of theatre sales. Exploring how a posthumous picture of Tarlton worked its way into the houses, taverns and lavatories of early modern England, it will argue that the early modern theatres‘ thriving print trade had clowning and specifically Tarlton, at its heart.
Tiffany Stern, FBA, is Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Literature at The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham. She has published fifteen books and editions on sixteenth to eighteenth century dramatic literature, book history, theatre history, editing and Shakespeare, including Rehearsal from Shakespeare to Sheridan (2000), Making Shakespeare (2004), (with Simon Palfrey) Shakespeare in Parts (2007), Documents of Early Modern Performance (2009), Rethinking Theatrical Documemts (2020) and Shakespeare, Malone and the Problems of Chronology (2023) and Ballad Business (2025). General editor of the Norton Anthology of English Literature (16th century, with Stephen Greenblatt) and Arden Shakespeare Fourth Series (with Peter Holland and Zachary Lesser), she was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2019.
After the talk you are invited to a drink
Register
Note: By registering and participating in this event, you consent to the recording of your appearance and / or your voice, to be published by the German-British Society in photos, videos and accompanying sound recordings via any media and for any purpose.
27. January 2026 19:00
Prof. Tiffany Stern FBA, The Shakespeare Institute University of Birmingham
Venue
Gerhardt-Hauptmann-Haus, Room 412 Ostpreussen
Bismarckstraße 90
40210 Düsseldorf
My talk will be on a clown known to Shakespeare, and a great influence on his works, Richard Tarlton (d.1588). It will be in two parts. The first half, ‚living Tarlton‘, will give a brief biography of Tarlton, and will focus on the way he wrote and sold printed songs called ‚ballads’ in the playhouse. The second half, ‚dead Tarlton‘, will be on the way Tarlton’s print brand thrived posthumously, so that texts by and about him became a staple of theatre sales. Exploring how a posthumous picture of Tarlton worked its way into the houses, taverns and lavatories of early modern England, it will argue that the early modern theatres‘ thriving print trade had clowning and specifically Tarlton, at its heart.
Tiffany Stern, FBA, is Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Literature at The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham. She has published fifteen books and editions on sixteenth to eighteenth century dramatic literature, book history, theatre history, editing and Shakespeare, including Rehearsal from Shakespeare to Sheridan (2000), Making Shakespeare (2004), (with Simon Palfrey) Shakespeare in Parts (2007), Documents of Early Modern Performance (2009), Rethinking Theatrical Documemts (2020) and Shakespeare, Malone and the Problems of Chronology (2023) and Ballad Business (2025). General editor of the Norton Anthology of English Literature (16th century, with Stephen Greenblatt) and Arden Shakespeare Fourth Series (with Peter Holland and Zachary Lesser), she was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2019.
After the talk you are invited to a drink
Register
Note: By registering and participating in this event, you consent to the recording of your appearance and / or your voice, to be published by the German-British Society in photos, videos and accompanying sound recordings via any media and for any purpose.