Robert Ormsby

Position

Associate Professor

Education

  • PhD (University of Toronto)
  • MA (University of Birmingham, UK)
  • BA (University of Toronto)

Contact Information

  • Office: AA 3011
  • Telephone: (709) 864-8275
  • Email: rormsby@mun.ca

Research Interests

Shakespeare, Shakespeare in Performance, Theatre History

Selected Publications

Books and Edited Collections

  • The Shakespearean World. Co-edited with Jill Levenson, Routledge, 2017.
  • Coriolanus. Manchester UP, 2014.
  • Performance-oriented edition of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Sourcebooks, 2006. 

Articles and Book Chapters

  • “Florence Glossop-Harris (1883-1931) at the Casino Theatre: Touring the London Stage to St. John’s” (co-authored with Michelle King). Newfoundland Quarterly, vol. 110, no. 1, 2017, pp. 36-43.
  • “Global Cultural Tourism at Canada’s Stratford Festival: The Adventures of Pericles.” Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Performance, edited by James C. Bulman, Oxford UP, 2017, pp. 568-583.
  • “Intercultural Performance and The Stratford Festival as Global Tourist Place: Leon Rubin’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night.” Shakespeare and Canada: “Remembrance of Ourselves, ” edited by Irena R. Makaryk and Kathryn Prince, U of Ottawa P, 2017, pp. 27-48.
  • “Introduction” (with Jill Levenson). The Shakespearean World, Routledge, 2017, pp. 1-18.
  • “Shakespearean Tourism: From National Heritage to Global Culture.” The Shakespearean World, Routledge, 2017, pp. 431-442.
  • “Locating Makbet / Locating the Spectator.” Shakespeare Beyond English: A Global Experiment, edited by Susan Bennett and Christie Carson, Cambridge UP, 2013, pp. 150-153.
  • “Valuing Shakespearean Theatre Reviews.” Cahiers Élisabéthains, vol. 82, 2012, pp. 31-36.
  • “‘Bold, but Seemingly Marketable’: The 2007 Stratford Ontario Merchant of Venice.” Shakespeare/Adaptation/Modern Drama: Essays in Honour of Jill L. Levenson, edited by Randall Martin and Katherine Schneil, U of Toronto P, 2011, pp. 125-142.
  • “Québécois Shakespeare Goes Global: Robert Lepage’s Coriolan.” Shakespeare Survey, vol. 64, 2011, pp. 317-327.
  • “ richardthesecond: Adapting Shakespeare to the Local in a Culture of Global Celebrity.” Modern Drama, vol. 52, 2009, pp. 19-37.
  • “ Coriolanus, Antitheatricalism and Audience Response.” Shakespeare Bulletin, vol. 26, 2008, pp. 43-62 (reprinted in Shakespearean Criticism, vol. 132, 2010, pp. 60-70).

Recent Conference Presentations and Lectures

  • “Shakespeare in Newfoundland and Labrador: Surveying the Field.” September-October 2017, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. 
  • “Shakespeare and the Newfoundland Archive.” September 2017. With Michelle King, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. 
  • "Touring Shakespeare: Global Performance on Canadian Stages." Shakespeare Association of America, April, 2017, Atlanta, USA.
  • “Intercultural Performance and The Stratford Festival as Global Tourist Place: Leon Rubin’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night.” Shakespeare + Canada Conference, April 2016, Ottawa, Canada. 
  • “Leon Rubin and Pericles at the Stratford Festival.” International Shakespeare Conference, August 2014, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. 
  • “‘Global’ Shakespeare and Canada: Some Possible Directions.” Shakespeare Association of America, March 2013, Toronto, Canada. 
  • “Coriolanus as Failed Action Hero.” American Society for Theatre Research American Society for Theatre Research, November 2012, Nashville, USA. 

Current Research Projects

  • Global Shakespeare, Intercultural Performance and Festival Tourism (multi-year project funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant)
  • “Brave New Worlds: Shakespeare in Newfoundland and Labrador” (community outreach project funded by Memorial University’s Office of Public Engagement)

Other Professional Activities

  • Co-organizer of co-organized the Shakespeare in Performance Research group at the American Society for Theatre Research, 2008-2016. 
  • Conference organizer and exhibition curator for a public engagement project titled Brave New Worlds: Shakespeare in Newfoundland and Labrador, 2017. 

Regularly Taught Courses

Undergraduate

  • Shakespeare’s Tragedies (ENGL 3200) 
  • Shakespeare’s Comedies (ENGL 3201) 
  • Shakespeare’s English History Plays (ENGL 4210) 
  • Shakespeare’s Greek and Roman Plays (ENGL 4211) 

Graduate

  • Literature of the Global Renaissance (ENGL 7044) 
  • Pale Fire: Renaissance England Reflects the Classical Past (ENGL 7043) 
  • Early Modern Terror and Horror: Revenge Tragedies (ENGL 7043) 

Honours And Graduate Supervision

Shakespeare, Early Modern Drama, Shakespeare in Performance and on Film