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In 1923, leading English theater historian E. K. Chambers claimed that England in the 16th and 17th centuries was a net exporter of dramatic culture; since then, while the activities of English actors on the Continent in the period have been well studied, little scholarship has considered the foreign performers who came to England in the period and what role they played in England’s cultural development. While it is true that the number of foreign performers in Shakespeare's England never accounted for more than a fraction of the country's total number of cultural producers, there was still a meaningful diversity of national and ethnic identities among those producers. Contact with the theater, music, dance, and other forms of creative expression of international touring performers, settled immigrants, and cultural diplomats was a significant part of the cultural experience of early England.

In this Berglund Seminar "Strange Company: Foreign Performers in Shakespeare's England," VCU Assistant Professor of English Dr. Pangallo will explore some of the documentary evidence that establishes the extent of non-native performers in England--from France, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire--and consider what these records can tell us about the complexly transnational nature of the English cultural Renaissance.

This event will be held in multipurpose room 1303 of the Honors College. It is worth two (2) Engagement points.