project description

Diverse Alarums staged a newly commissioned production of a queer, trans and migrant-positive early modern play, John Lyly’s Galatea, and a cabaret inviting queer artists to respond to early modern history, and studied the impact of this creative work on our artists and audiences.

The project built on years of collaboration between the research team and the artist Emma Frankland, and brought together Marlborough Productions, Wildworks and Brighton Festival, exploring the potential for early modern drama to reach new performers and audiences.

The research team combined Erin Julian’s expertise in marginalised communities in early modern archives, Avey Nelson’s mixed-method social inquiry into contemporary queer communities, and Andy Kesson’s interest in early modern playhouse performance culture and contemporary co-creation between academics and performers. Our work for this project is now done, but we hope this website will enable users to access resources and ideas for their own research and creative work!

Galatea

John Lyly’s Galatea tells the story of two genderfluid young people falling in love. We staged this play for Brighton Festival in May 2023 with Marlborough Productions and Wildworks.

Diverse Alarums: Queer Histories in Cabaret!

Academic collaboration with performers often involves only one-way knowledge transfer. For this cabaret, we wanted to put our performers in the driving seat, the researchers responding to them and their interests. Our Cabaret Showcase was performed at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts on 12 February 2025.

Educational Toolkit

Our toolkit shares resources developed from what we’ve learned from our research, and avenues for further reading, for those who wish to try our collaborative methods in classrooms or arts creation spaces.