Dr Rebecca Bailey
Humanities and Social Science
Faculty of Arts Professional and Social Studies
Email: R.A.Bailey@ljmu.ac.uk
Telephone: 0151 904 1475
My teaching and research interests lie in the early modern period of English literature; in particular, the politics of religion with a special interest in recusancy, maritime and travel literature, cultural geography, the theatre of Caroline England (1625-1642) and textual editing. My monograph 'Staging the Old Faith: Queen Henrietta Maria and the Theatre of Caroline England, 1625-1642' (Manchester University Press, 2009, 2nd edition, 2018) explores Caroline theatre as a space which energetically engages with the explosive religious and political concerns of that cultural moment.
I teach across the English Literature programme at LJMU, with a special focus on early modern literature, for example 4105ENGL 'World, Time and Text', 5102ENGL 'Body, Mind and Soul: Seventeenth-Century Literature and Culture'; 6113ENGL 'Shakespeare'. I enjoy supervising undergraduate dissertations and also offer a module on our foundation programme 3110FNDENG 'Critical Reading and Adaptation'. I supervise students at both Masters and PhD level and welcome enquiries from postgraduates in my areas of research expertise.
Currently, I am working on a modern edition of James Shirley’s 'The Young Admiral' for the AHRC funded 'The Complete Works of James Shirley' (general editors, Eugene Giddens, Teresa Grant and Barbara Ravelhofer, Oxford University Press, 2026). Additionally, I am exploring the largely unknown works of Sir Thomas Salusbury, a poet, dramatist, and masque writer from Lleweni in Denbighshire, North Wales. I have published journal articles on Salusbury in 'Shakespeare Bulletin' (2020), 'Early Modern Literary Studies' (2022) and 'English Literary Renaissance' (2024).
I have contributed critical essays on the Caroline playwright, James Shirley for 'James Shirley and Early Modern Theatre' edited by Barbara Ravelhofer (Routledge, 2016) and 'The Encyclopedia of English Renaissance Literature' (general editors Garret A. Sullivan and Alan Stewart, Blackwell Publishing, 2012). Additionally, I have published articles on the poet and dramatist William Habington, ‘“Staging a Queene Opprest”: William Habington’s Exploration of the Politics of Queenship on the Caroline Stage’, Theatre Journal, 65, 2, (May 2013).
Before taking up a Lectureship in English Literature at Liverpool John Mooores University (2015), I lectured at the University of Gloucestershire, Bath Spa University and Goldsmiths College, University of London. Additionally, I have worked at the BBC as a Broadcast Media Researcher. I studied my BA (Hons) in English Literature at St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford and continued my studies at London University, undertaking an MA in Renaissance Literature at Royal Holloway College and a PhD at Birkbeck College.
Degrees
2003, Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom, PhD
1996, Royal Holloway University of London, United Kingdom, MA: Milton and his Age (Distinction)
1995, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, BA: Hons English Literature
Certifications
2016, Liverpool John Moores University, Mental Health First Aid
Academic appointments
Senior Lecturer in English Literature, English Department, Liverpool John Moores University, 2015 - present
Senior Lecturer in English Literature, University of Gloucestershire, 2008 - 2015
Visiting Lecturer in English Literature, English Department, Bath Spa University, 2007 - 2008
Postgraduate training
PGCHE, United Kingdom, University of Gloucestershire, 2009 - 2010
Highlighted publications
Bailey RA. 2023. “Noe dish whose tast, or dressing, is unknown / Unto oʳ natives” (ll. 54-55): an examination of local and global material cultures in the food rituals of Thomas Salusbury’s 1634 “Chirk Castle Entertainment” English Literary Renaissance, 54 :52-75 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Bailey RA. 2021. "Your name shall liue / In the new yeare: as in the age of gold" Sir Thomas Salusbury’s "Twelfth Night Masque, Performed at Knowsley Hall in 1641" and its Contexts Shakespeare Bulletin: a journal of performance, criticism, and scholarship, 38 :465-487 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Bailey RA. 2020. ‘Thy sceptre to a trident change / And straight, unruly seas thou canst command’: Contemporary representations of King Charles I and the Ship Money Fleets within the cultural imagination of Caroline England. Davey J, Blakemore R. The Maritime World of Early Modern Britain :193-228 Amsterdam University Press. Amsterdam 9789463721301 Publisher Url Public Url
Bailey RA. 2018. Staging the old faith Queen Henrietta Maria and the theatre of Caroline England, 1625-42 Manchester Univ Pr
Bailey RA. 2016. 'A "Conflict More Fierce Than Many Thousand Battles": Staging the Politics of Treason and Allegiance in James Shirley's Maritime Plays, "The Young Admiral" and "The Court Secret". Ravelhofer B. James Shirley and Early Modern Theatre: New Critical Perspectives :72-85 Routledge. Abingdon 9781472480361 DOI Publisher Url
Journal article
Bailey RA. 2023. “Noe dish whose tast, or dressing, is unknown / Unto oʳ natives” (ll. 54-55): an examination of local and global material cultures in the food rituals of Thomas Salusbury’s 1634 “Chirk Castle Entertainment” English Literary Renaissance, 54 :52-75 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Bailey REBECCA. 2022. 'Sir Thomas Salusbury 2nd’s (1612-1643) manuscripts and fragments' Early Modern Literary Studies: a journal of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English literature, Publisher Url Public Url
Bailey RA. 2021. "Your name shall liue / In the new yeare: as in the age of gold" Sir Thomas Salusbury’s "Twelfth Night Masque, Performed at Knowsley Hall in 1641" and its Contexts Shakespeare Bulletin: a journal of performance, criticism, and scholarship, 38 :465-487 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Bailey RA. 2013. 'Staging "a Queene opprest": William Habington's Exploration of the Politics of Queenship on the Caroline Stage'. Theatre Journal, 65 :197-214 DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Bailey RA. 2013. 'William Habington (1605-1654): New Biographical Information From a Previously Unremarked Upon Document'. Notes and Queries: for readers and writers, collectors and librarians, 258 DOI Publisher Url
Bailey RA. 2012. James Shirley Sullivan GA, Stewart A.
Report
Willie R, Bailey R, Braun H. 2023. ‘Difficult Pasts, Difficult Presents: SRS Biennial Conference Report’, Bulletin of the Society for Renaissance Studies
Chapters
Bailey RA. 2020. ‘Thy sceptre to a trident change / And straight, unruly seas thou canst command’: Contemporary representations of King Charles I and the Ship Money Fleets within the cultural imagination of Caroline England. Davey J, Blakemore R. The Maritime World of Early Modern Britain :193-228 Amsterdam University Press. Amsterdam 9789463721301 Publisher Url Public Url
Bailey RA. 2016. 'A "Conflict More Fierce Than Many Thousand Battles": Staging the Politics of Treason and Allegiance in James Shirley's Maritime Plays, "The Young Admiral" and "The Court Secret". Ravelhofer B. James Shirley and Early Modern Theatre: New Critical Perspectives :72-85 Routledge. Abingdon 9781472480361 DOI Publisher Url
Books (authored)
Bailey RA. 2018. Staging the old faith Queen Henrietta Maria and the theatre of Caroline England, 1625-42 Manchester Univ Pr
Graham E, Loyd S, Bowsher J, Shannon W, Lamb E, MacLean S-B, Bailey RA. The Earls of Derby and the Early-Modern Performance Culture of North-West England Graham E. 38 Johns Hopkins University Press DOI Publisher Url Public Url
Book review
Bailey RA. 2014. Eva Griffiths, 'A Jacobean Company and its Playhouse: The Queen’s Servants at the Red Bull Theatre (c. 1605- 1619)', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. The Seventeenth Century, 29
Highlighted activities
Conference organisation:
The First Playhouse in Drury Lane: A Symposium on the Cockpit Phoenix, Organiser, https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-first-playhouse-in-drury-lane-a-symposium-on-the-cockpit-phoenix-tickets-34273459841. 2017
Professional activities
Conference presentation:
“Noe dish whose tast, or dressing, is unknown / Unto oʳ natives” (ll. 54-55): local and global material cultures in the food rituals of Thomas Salusbury’s 1634 “Chirk Castle Entertainment”., Local and Global in Early Modern England, Galway, Ireland, Oral presentation. 2023
'Th'art given a name / To the English Phoenix': James Shirley and the Cockpit-Phoenix Stage'., The first playhouse on Drury Lane: A symposium at the Cockpit-Phoenix, London Metropolitan Archives, Co-organised this conference as well.. 2017
Conference organisation:
British Shakespeare Association: Relocating Shakespeare, LJMU institutional support, https://www.britishshakespeare.ws/bsa-2023-conference-thank-you/. 2023
Society for Renaissance Studies Biennial Conference: Difficult Pasts, SRS Conference Organising Committee, https://www.rensoc.org.uk/event/srs-10th-biennial-conference/. 2022
The First Playhouse in Drury Lane: A Symposium on the Cockpit Phoenix, Organiser, https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-first-playhouse-in-drury-lane-a-symposium-on-the-cockpit-phoenix-tickets-34273459841. 2017
Research Grants Awarded:
QR Funding LJMU, ‘“Revellers of fate” (150): Thomas Salusbury’s “An Antimasque of Gypsies” performed at Chirk Castle on 30 December, 1641’, Grant value (£): 1046.00, Duration of research project: 6 months. 2023
QR funding LJMU, Two Entertainments by Sir Thomas Salusbury (1612-1643) put on at Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, in 1634 and 1641, Grant value (£): 360.50, Duration of research project: 3 months. 2022
Liverpool John Moores University, Editing James Shirley's 'The Young Admiral', Grant value (£): 2,000.00, Duration of research project: Six months. 2017
Liverpool John Moores University, Two Undergraduate Student Internships for the Cockpit-Phoenix Theatre Symposium: gaining experience of event organisation, working at the London Metropolitan Archives and performing with a group of RSC actors, Grant value (£): 1000.00, Duration of research project: Three months. 2017
Liverpool John Moores University, Collaborative Research Fellowship Scheme 2017-2018 to work with Prof Julie Sanders on cultural geography and the works of Sir Thomas Salusbury, Grant value (£): 1300.00, Duration of research project: 1 year. 2017
Society for Renaissance Studies, 'A Symposium on the first playhouse in Drury Lane': to fund 6 early career academics to attend the conference., Eva Griffith, Grant value (£): £484.00, Duration of research project: 3 months. 2017
University of Gloucestershire, Collating the texts of James Shirley's 'The Young Admiral' (1633) held in American Research Libraries: Huntington Library, California; Sutro Library, San Franciso; Beinecke Library, Yale; Harry Ransom Centre, Austin, Texas, Grant value (£): 8,000, Duration of research project: 3 months. 2012
AHRC, PhD: 'Queen Henrietta Maria, the old faith and the Theatte of Caroline England: 1625-1642', Grant value (£): 36,000, Duration of research project: 4 years. 1999
Other invited event:
'The First Playhouse in Drury Lane: a Symposium on the Cockpit-Phoenix', London Metropolitan Archives, I am co-organising this event at the London Metropolitan archives: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-first-playhouse-in-drury-lane-a-symposium-on-the-cockpit-phoenix-tickets-34273459841 This symposium will mark the 400th anniversary year of a famous riot at this, the first playhouse in Drury Lane. The history of the ‘West End’ is variously told but rarely begins with consideration of the Cockpit, an indoor theatre built for Queen Anna’s men by their actor-manager Christopher Beeston in 1616. Despite obvious initial troubles, with Beeston renaming it ‘the Phoenix’ after the Shrovetide attack of 1617, this venue successfully produced drama from old repertoires while welcoming the new too – with Thomas Heywood as representative on the one hand and James Shirley on the other. A performance element will be included for the day. Confirmed speakers include Professor Elspeth Graham, a director of the Shakespeare North Trust and Patrick Spottiswoode, Director of Globe Education.. 2017
Ship and Nation in Early Modern Britain, London Renaissance Seminar, '"Thy sceptre to a trident change/ And straight unruly seas thou canst command": Contemporary representations of Charles I and the Ship Money Fleet within the cultural imagination of Caroline England'. 2016
Shakespeare, the Earls of Derby and the North West, Knowsley Hall, '"Your name shall live / In the new yeare: as in the age of gold": The staging of Sir Thomas Salusbury's Twelfth Night Masque, performed for the Stanley Household at Knowsley Hall in 1640/1, and its contexts'. 2016
The Emergence of a Maritime Nation: Britain in the Tudor and Stuart Age, 1485-1714, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Conference Paper: ‘Thy sceptre to a trident change/And straight, unruly seas thou canst command’: Contemporary Representations of King Charles I and the Ship Money Fleet from within the Cultural Imagination of Caroline England.. 2015
What is Early Modern Catholicism?, University of Durham, ‘“The Holy Man is only Happy”: William Habington’s vision of English Catholicism in Caroline England’.. 2013
Religious Lives and Catholic Culture in the Early Modern World., St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, Participant. 2012
Renaissance Women’s Performance and the Dramatic Canon, ,, Queen’s House, Greenwich, Participant. 2010
International Conference on Early Modern Religion, Institute of English Studies, Senate House, London, ‘Staging a Counter-Reformation Amazon: Queen Henrietta Maria and the final Caroline Court Masque, Salmacida Spolia’.. 2009
South West Early Modernist Seminar, University of Bath Spa, ‘Salmacida Spolia: Unpacking a Queenly Counter-Reformation “Chiefe Heroine”’.. 2009
International Symposium on Caroline Drama, Royal Holloway College, University of London, William Davenant’s 'Love and Honour' (1634): A tempered Catholicism on the Caroline stage’.. 2007
Patronage Networks in Early Modern England., University of Keele, ‘Where should a Poet now a Patron find?': James Shirley’s patronage networks, 1625-66.. 2005
International Conference on Early Modern Catholicism, Newberry Library, Chicago,, ‘The shaping of an oppositional religion on the Caroline Stage, 1625-1642'.. 2002
Fellowships:
A collaboration with Professor Julie Sanders (University of Newcastle), LJMU Collaborative Research Fellowship Scheme, Liverpool John Moores University, The aim is to work on literary geography in North West England. 2017
External PGR examinations performed:
University of Gloucestershire, PhD, The Whole Play of Parts: A Study of Cued Parts in English Renaissance Drama, 1590-1620. 2012
Membership of professional bodies:
Centre for Early Modern Exchanges, Based at University College, London, https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/tag/centre-for-early-modern-exchanges/.
London Renaissance Society, Based at Birkbeck College, University of London, http://www.bbk.ac.uk/english/our-research/research_seminars/lrs.
Shakespeare North Community Engagement Group, This is a group associated with Shakespeare North which engages with the local community in Prescot, Knowsley, where the Shakespeare North Theatre will be built., http://www.shakespearenorth.org/.
Society for Renaissance Studies, This is the main academic organisation in Britain for people interested in all aspects of the Renaissance, http://www.rensoc.org.uk/.