David's research interests are in theatre and the history and practice of life writing. Publications include monographs for Oxford University Press, Methuen, Palgrave, and Cambridge University Press. He has also worked on major editions of classic texts, most recently of Congreve's The Way of the World (Methuen, 2020) and Colley Cibber's Apology (Cambridge University Press, 2022).
His latest book is a history of the Royal Shakespeare Company's engagement with Restoration Drama (Palgrave, 2024). He has also written textbooks, novels, and numerous articles for learned journals and essay collections, most recently for The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Music (2022), The Oxford Handbook of Restoration Literature (2024), and The Palgrave Handbook of Theatre Censorship (2024). David is a National Teaching Fellow and Fellow of the English Association.
David taught at the Universities of Bristol and Oxford before a five-year stint working in Japan, where he worked for the Universities of Kyoto and Osaka as well as lecturing for the British Council. He returned to the UK to teach at the University of Worcester, also lecturing part-time at the University of Warwick, before being appointed Head of English at 探花直播.
His subsequent period as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of Arts, Design and Media featured many highlights: the building of the new Royal 探花直播 Conservatoire, the expansion of the Queen's Award-winning 探花直播 School of Jewellery, and the development of a research culture that saw four units of assessment achieve an average rating of 'internationally excellent' in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.
Today he remains a part-time Professor of English at BCU, a role he combines with that of University Orator.
- Teaching MA Creative Non-Fiction, MA Texts in Transition and Research Methods, BA Moral Philosophy, BA Collaborative Practice.
- Working on various projects in Restoration/Eighteenth-Century Theatre and Prose.
- Essays forthcoming in The Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Urban Literatures and The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare in Music.
- Early Modern and Eighteenth-Century Theatre
- History and Practice of Life Writing
- Theatre management and governance
- BA (Hons) 1st class, University of Bristol.
- DPhil, Faculty of English Language and Literature, University of Oxford.
- Fellow of the English Association
- Member of the Association of National Teaching Fellows
- MA Texts in Transition
- MA Research Methods
- BA Moral Philosophy
- Supervision and Lectures on various literary subjects
- Restoration actors and acting
- Theatrical biography
- Text editing
- I welcome proposals for projects on seventeenth-century drama or the history of life writing
Monographs and editions (earliest first)
- The Ladies: Female Patronage of Restoration Drama, 1660-1700. Oxford English Monographs (Oxford University Press, 1989)
- Ed., (with S.H. Monk) Daniel Defoe, Colonel Jack. Oxford World鈥檚 Classics (Oxford University Press, 1989)
- Ed. (with L. Landa) Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year. Oxford World鈥檚 Classics (Oxford University Press, 1990)
- Ed. Lord Chesterfield, Letters. Oxford World鈥檚 Classics (Oxford University Press, 1992)
- Thomas Betterton: The Greatest Actor of the Restoration Stage (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
- Updated version of the 1990 edition of A Journal of the Plague Year (Oxford University Press, 2010)
- Ed., Pinacotheca Bettertonaeana: The Library of a Seventeenth-Century Actor. (Society for Theatre Research, 2013)
- Restoration Plays and Players (Cambridge University Press, 2014)
- George Farquhar: A Migrant Life Reversed (Methuen, July 2018)
- Ed., William Congreve, The Way of the World. New Mermaids series (Methuen, 2020)
- Ed., Colley Cibber, An Apology for the Life of Mr Colley Cibber (Cambridge University Press, 2022)
- Staging Restoration Comedy: The Royal Shakespeare Company, 1967-2019 (Palgrave, 2024)
- Restoration Acting and Other Business: The Lives of Henry Harris (under contract to Cambridge University Press)
Textbooks
- The Student鈥檚 Guide to Writing Essays (Taylor & Francis, 1997)
- Careers Using English, with Margaret Clewett (Taylor & Francis, 1998)
- Games for English Literature, with Izabela Hopkins (Libri, 2016)
Refereed journal articles
- 鈥極ld Hamlet and the Archbishop: a new allusion in Hamlet?鈥� Notes and Queries NS 43 no.2 (June 1996)
- 鈥楾he Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie: An Afternoon at the Bunraku Theatre鈥�, Studies in Theatre Production vol.15 no.1 (March 1997)
- 鈥楾owards a Study of Theatre Journalism鈥�, Studies in Theatre Production vol.15 no.4 (December 1997)
- 鈥楽hakespeare鈥檚 Fellows: Names and Collocations鈥�, Cahiers Elisabethains vol.56 no.1 (January 1999)
- 鈥楧onne, Geography, and the Hymn to God my God in My Sicknesse鈥�, Notes and Queries no.46 (June 1999)
- 鈥楳aking the Words Count: Towards an Analytical Database of Theatre Reviews鈥�, New Theatre Quarterly XV no.4 (November 1999)
- 鈥楻avishing Strides: signs of the peripatetic on the early modern stage鈥�, New Theatre Quarterly vol XVII no.1 (February 2001)
- 鈥�Henry VIII and The True Chronicle History of King Leir鈥�, Notes and Queries vol.48 no.3 (September 2001)
- 鈥楾wo Shakespearian Allusions and the Date of Marvell鈥檚 A Nymph Complaining for the Death of her Faun鈥�, Notes and Queries NS 49, no.3 (September 2002)
- 鈥楽hakespeare, Theater Criticism and the Acting Tradition鈥�, Shakespeare Quarterly vol 53 no.3 (Fall 2002)
- 鈥楢s Rude as You Like 鈥� Honest: Theatre Criticism and the Law鈥�, New Theatre Quarterly vol XIX part 3 (September 2003)
- 鈥楽ir Fopling in the Mall: Parks in The Man of Mode鈥�, Notes and Queries NS 50 no. 3 (September 2003)
- 鈥楥aesar鈥檚 Gift; playing the park in the late seventeenth century鈥�, ELH vol 71 no.2 (Summer 2004).
- 鈥楽leeping Beauties: Shakespeare, Sleep and the Stage鈥�, The Cambridge Quarterly 35 no. 3 (September 2006)
- 鈥楾homas Betterton, Private Tutor鈥�; Notes and Queries NS 54, no.1 (March 2007)
- 鈥楾homas Betterton, bookseller鈥檚 apprentice鈥�; The Review of English Studies vol 58 no.236 (November 2007)
- 鈥楾he 1695 Actors鈥� Rebellion: new light on old patentees鈥�; Notes and Queries (December 2007)
- 鈥樷�滱lmost impossible in Praise鈥�: Dedicatory Criticism in English Dramatic Texts, 1660-1710鈥�; commissioned essay for special issue (no.15) of 1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era (October 2008)
- 鈥樷�滻 think no ill one:鈥� A recently discovered letter from Thomas Betterton sheds new light on the Chandos Portrait,鈥� The Times Literary Supplement, 14 August 2009
- 鈥楽ocial Status and the actor: the case of Thomas Betterton,鈥� Studies in Theatre and Performance vol. 30 no. 2 (Summer 2010), 173-85
- 鈥楻anked Among the Best: Cultural Agency in Restoration Translations of French Drama, 1660-1714,鈥� Modern Language Review vol.108 no.3 (July 2013)
- 鈥楥hocolate Covered Broccoli? Games and the Literature Student鈥� (co-authored with Izabela Hopkins), Changing English vol 22 no 2 (May 2015) DOI: 10.1080/1358684X.2015.1022508
- 鈥楽hakespeare and the Jewellers鈥�, The Cambridge Quarterly, 45 (2) June 2016, 157-74
- 鈥楩irst Night in Bristol: Reflections on a 250th 础苍苍颈惫别谤蝉补谤测鈥�, New Theatre Quarterly, vol 32 no.3 (August 2016)
- 鈥楢nnotating Place in Defoe, Modern Language Review, 114 no.3 July 2019
- 鈥楤eethoven and Shakespeare: Ghosts and Heroes鈥�, The Cambridge Quarterly vol.48 no.2, June 2019, pp.95-112
- 鈥楾he Path to Woolf Works and the Language of Design: an Interview with Ravi Deepres鈥�, forthcoming in New Theatre Quarterly, August 2019
- 鈥楥olley Cibber and Winchester College鈥� (with Suzanne Foster), Notes and Queries, September 2020
- 鈥楬arris vs Harris: A Restoration Actor at the Court of Arches鈥� (with Richard Palmer), Huntington Library Quarterly (forthcoming 2024)
Invited chapters in scholarly books
- 鈥楾homas Killigrew, Theatre Manager,鈥� in Philip Major, ed., Thomas Killigrew: Revisionary Essays (Ashgate, 2013), pp.63-90
- 鈥榃riting the Ethical Life: Theatrical Biography and the Case of Thomas Betterton,鈥� in Theatre History and Historiography: Ethics, Evidence and Truth, ed. Claire Cochrane and Jo Robinson (Palgrave, 2016), pp.33-47
- 鈥楽hakespeare and Terrorism鈥�, in Jonathan Harris, ed., Terrorism and Art (Routledge, 2020), pp.173-82
- 鈥楲iving with Ghosts: Shakespeare, Beethoven and Wagner鈥�, in Christopher Wilson and Mervyn Cooke, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare in Music (Oxford University Press, 2022), pp.575-606
- 鈥楻estoration Comedy and London鈥�, in Jeremy Tambling, ed., The Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Urban Literature (online, Palgrave, 2021)
- 鈥楧aniel Defoe and London鈥�, in Jeremy Tambling, ed., The Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Urban Literature (online, Palgrave, 2021)
- 鈥楾heatre Censorship in Restoration London: the Case of Charles Killigrew鈥�, in The Palgrave Handbook of Theatre Censorship, ed. Anne Etienne and Graham Saunders (Palgrave, forthcoming 2024)
- 鈥楾rue Comedy? Etherege, Shadwell and Wycherley鈥�, in The Oxford Handbook of Restoration Literature, ed. Matthew Augustine and Steven N. Zwicker (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2024)
Publications: Scholarly reviews
- Substantial body of reviews, 1989 to present, for Shakespeare Quarterly, Renaissance Quarterly, Notes and Queries, Studies in Theatre Production, Studies in English Literature, Theatre Notebook, Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research, and The Scriblerian.
Invited entries in reference works
- 鈥楾homas Betterton,鈥� 鈥楯ohn Crowne,鈥� and 鈥楥ongreve鈥檚 The Way of the World鈥� for The Literary Encyclopaedia (online publication)
- 鈥�Hamlet on the English Stage, 1603-1709,鈥� for Peter W. Marx, ed., Hamletbuch (Metzler Verlag, 2014)
- 鈥楾heatre Criticism, 1660-1800,鈥� and 鈥楯eremy Collier鈥� in Gary Day and Jack Lynch, eds., The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Eighteenth-Century Literature (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015).
Programme essays
- Numerous programme essays on diverse subjects for the Royal Opera House, Bristol Old Vic, 探花直播 Rep, 探花直播 Royal Ballet, Mid Wales Opera, Nottingham Playhouse.
Fiction
- The Life of Harris the Actor (探花直播 and Shanghai: Gold Word, 2015)
- Plague Year 聽(探花直播 and Shanghai: Gold Word, 2020)
- Numerous short stories here and there.
Other publications
- Hippodrome 120, with a Foreword by Sir Matthew Bourne (探花直播 Hippodrome, 2019)
Appearances on BBC Radio 3 (on fairy tales and opera) and Radio 4 (Restoration Theatre). Programme essays for variety of theatres.
David is one of the University鈥檚 dedicated team of trained media champions, and can comment on a range of subjects including:
- Theatre
- The Arts
- Literature
- Opera
To arrange a media interview, please contact 探花直播 Press Office on 0121 331 6738, 07967 271532,
email press@bcu.ac.uk or via Twitter
- Past trusteeships at the 探花直播 Hippodrome, 探花直播 Rep, Mid Wales Opera, National Academy of Writing.
