Julie Raby, Head of Department: Humanities
What are your research interests?
Contemporary Shakespeare performance, Contemporary Theatre, and Blended Learning strategies.
What was your last publication about?
A review of the RSC’s Henry IV plays.
What are you currently working on?
I’m writing about the RSC from 2008 to 2014. I am looking at the RSC in a contemporary theatre context. It is very exciting because it means that I can go and see lots of performances.
Which modules are you teaching on this year? (UG & MA level)
Shakespeare: Perspectives (a lecture this year), Media Geographies, MA – British Literature, Scriptwriting, and the postgraduate qualification PCAP. I did a lecture on Reading Texts 1.
Is there a topic or text you especially enjoy teaching?
I love teaching. I love teaching Shakespeare. I love to teach Shakespeare so that it is relevant to today. I enjoy bringing actors into the classroom to talk about their work, and work with students on the text.
I am very interested in looking at the relationship between technology enhanced learning, the classroom and field trips. I particularly enjoy taking students on trips to the theatre.
I like reading texts from all periods and in the past I have taught on Romanticism, Gothic and Horror, and several Media modules.
My favourite novel is Mrs Dalloway.
What are your wider interests beyond teaching and research?
Going to the theatre and Art Galleries. I enjoy writing my blog, Between the Acts. I spend most of my holidays either in a theatre or in a library writing about Shakespeare. It’s Sunday and I’m writing this in the British Library before going to the National Theatre to see As You Like It.
I also try to swim half a mile on weekdays and I’ve swum a mile across Lake Windermere and Salford Quays.
I love the countryside and like walking my dog, Shankly, with my husband when I get chance. We also have two ferrets called Beatrice and Benedick.