Postgraduate profile
Research project:
My research will focus on comic appearences of women as agents of spiritual instruction in late Medieval and Early Modern drama and art.It will chiefly examine the female figures featured in the margins of illuminated religious texts and comic female characters in the mystery cycles.
I hope to explore the ways in which the frequently alarming interplay between word and image enabled by these figures provided comic diversion whilst consolidating spiritual concepts and challenging spatial boundaries.
Drawing on recent theatre criticism and work on medieval space I will examine how these figures bring the domestic sphere into the public and spiritual realms, encouraging their audiences to reconsider spatial borders.Yet despite their apparently crucial role in spiritual instruction, comic women remained figuratively and literally marginalised.
Other Interests:
I have given papers at and organised a number of conferences, and am currently involved in the March 2010 MANCASS conference.I completed my MA here in Manchester, looking at comic portrayals of medieval male chastity.I studied for my BA at the University of Cambridge, and was later employed there as a manager of the ADC Theatre.I love theatre and have stage managed and directed several productions.A keen writer, I have had two poems published and four of my plays performed.I also enjoy folk music and dance.
I would be happy for anyone to contact me to discuss any of the above.
My email address is daisy.black@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk