Thesis title:
Shakespeare's Extinction: Staging What Has Been Lost
I am researching ecodramaturgical readings of Shakespeare plays, viewing his work as a survival guide for the end times.
Research Area
- Drama and Theatre Studies
- Theatre and History
Publications
- Book: 100 Plays To Save The World co-written with Jeanie O'Hare (London: Nick Hern Books, 2021)
- Chapter: 'a dark unmeaning blank': Romantic ecologies at the end of the world, co-written with Kate Rigby for the forthcoming book Romanticism at the End of the World (ed. Claire Colebrook)
- Show Review: A Midsummer Yosemite's Dream, Shakespeare in Yosemite, Shakespeare Bulletin, Volume 42, Number 3, Fall 2024, pp. 418-423
- Book Review: Shakespeare on the Ecological Surface: by Liz Oakley-Brown, Oxford and New York, Routledge, 2024, Spotlight on Shakespeare, 249 pp., £25.99 (paperback), ISBN: 978-0-367-345860. Green Letters, 28(1–2), 151–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/14688417.2024.2394246
- Book Review: Staging The End of the World:Theatre in a Time of Climate Crisis: by Brian Kulick, London and New York, Methuen Drama, 2023, 264 pp. £19.99 (paperback), ISBN: 978-1350309913. Green Letters, 27(4), 491–493. https://doi.org/10.1080/14688417.2023.2276400
- Recording: The Rape of Lucrece by Shakespeare (Royal Shakespeare Company/Spotify, 2017)
- Selected Articles: Theatre to save the world: Elizabeth Freestone on plays to save the world - The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting (writeaplay.co.uk)
- Women in theatre: Women in theatre: how the '2:1 problem' breaks down | News | theguardian.com and Women in theatre: why do so few make it to the top? | Theatre | The Guardian
- Live screenings: What live theatre screenings mean for small companies | Theatre | The Guardian
Conferences
Paper: The Corncrake and The Bastard, Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies - Nature and Environment in Early Modern Worlds, University of Birmingham, June 2024
Co-organiser (with Amy Arden), Preserving The Cultural Skyscape conference, National Space Centre, Leicester, May 2024
Chair, Britgrad, Shakespeare Institute, July 2024
Public Engagement & Impact
- Panellist, Earth Day and Shakespeare, University of Merced, California
- Symposium, Casting Shakespeare, University of Southampton
- Interval Drinks podcast for the Royal Shakespeare Company, in conversation with Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society: Elizabeth Freestone and Liz Bentley | Interval Drinks (podbean.com)
- Seminar, Ecocritical Tempest, University of Lille
- Speaker, Shakespeare Institute, Directing The Tempest
- Speaker, Creative Carbon Scotland, The role of narrative in the climate crisis
- Keynote speaker, Westminster Forum, The impact of live screenings on live theatre
- Front Row, BBC Radio 4: Rural touring and the theatre ecology
- Speaker, Cheltenham Literary Festival, Playwriting form and structure
- Speaker, Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust, Interpreting Shakespeare
- I am a trustee on the board of Theatre By The Lake, where I chair the Artistic sub-committee.
Other Research Interests
- Ecology, rewilding and biodiversity
- Climate justice
Memberships
- ASLE-UKI (Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment)
- The Society of Authors
Teaching
- Teacher, European Theatre, University of Warwick
- Shakespeare lecturer, Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust
- Playwriting tutor, Cambridge University Mst Writing for Performance
- Practitioner, Open University Literature course
- I have taught undergraduates and post-graduates at most UK drama schools including LAMDA, Guildhall, Urdang, Bristol Old Vic, Central and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
Residencies
- Director on Attachment, National Theatre Studio
- Artist in Residence, National Theatre Studio
Productions
I am also a theatre director.
Recent productions include: The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Nora: A Doll’s House at the Young Vic in London and the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, for which I was nominated for a Broadway World Best Director award; Queen Margaret at the Royal Exchange, Manchester; Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, and The Rape of Lucrece for the RSC which opened at the Edinburgh International Festival before touring worldwide including Sydney Festival, Melbourne, Sao Paulo, Curitiba, London South Bank Centre, Cork Opera House and across Europe. Other productions include Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare's Globe and European tour; House and Garden at the Watermill; and The Duchess of Malfi, Volpone, A School for Scandal and Dr Faustus at Greenwich Theatre.
Leadership roles include: Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Pentabus Theatre Company, an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (2012-16); Associate Director for English Touring Theatre (2018-19) advising on policy and programming; Associate Artist for Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory (2019-21) advising on vision and programming.
I have developed and directed numerous new plays, given dramaturgical support on a range of projects, and read and advised on script development for many theatre companies.
Ecology
Ecology training: Level One Ecology and Habitat Management
Volunteer for British Trust for Ornithology, Breeding Bird Survey
Volunteer for Pensthorpe Trust, Corncrake Reintroduction Project
