Digital Event Type: Zoom Lecture

The Puppet Made Me Do It. The Uncanny and the Grotesque in Puppetry – Dr Emily LeQuesne

The Puppet Made Me Do It. The Uncanny and the Grotesque in Puppetry

Puppets are inherently uncanny, but why? This talk will explore links between puppets and the visceral, the uncanny, and the grotesque. Perhaps an uncanny response is on a sliding scale, specific to each spectator. From moments that make one’s hair stand on end and heart palpate in terror to the conscious recognition of the uncanny little doll brought to life on stage. Some people find any type of puppet manipulated into life to be uncanny while others need the puppet to be disturbingly human looking in features, movement, colour, texture, shape, and size before they will admit to a sense of the grotesque or unnerving. Over many centuries the puppet’s journey from spiritual, magical and/or religious object of anima to becoming the ‘low’ cousin of so-called proper theatre, the target of ridicule and unfairly diminished to the realm of kids’ stuff, has taken those of us in Western secular society further away than ever from the uncanny experience that is the possibility of a psychic and magical encounter with puppets. From the “ensouling” (Nielson. 2001,33), of statues in a sacred grotto to the grotesquery of the uncanny brought to life through puppetry, and onto political protest through animation of effigy and statue.

Bio

Dr. Emily LeQuesne is a dramaturg, theatre maker, writer, and lecturer. She received her doctorate from Bath Spa University, focussing on puppetry and dramaturgy. She has presented her research on dramaturgy, the uncanny, and puppet theatre, sometimes individually and sometimes all together in the UK, USA, and Austria. She teaches her dramaturgy system The Mosaic Scale online. For over 20 years she has written, directed and dramaturged projects in cabaret, theatre, puppetry, and applied theatre. She is co-founder of Croon productions puppet company. Emily has worked extensively as a performance lecturer in FE & HE and for the educational provision of theatres. She currently teaches playwriting at City of Bath college.

Her book: 1000 Ways to Ask Why. An Introduction to Dramaturgical Thinking is forthcoming from Routledge.

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Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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Mary Shelley’s Frontispiece and The Frankenstein Monster’s Penis – Professor Marie Mulvey-Roberts

Mary Shelley’s Frontispiece and The Frankenstein Monster’s Penis

From the bawdy humour of Mel Brook’s film Young Frankenstein (1975) to Alice Cooper’s suggestive lyrics in “Feed my Frankenstein” (1992), there has been perennial curiosity over the genitalia of Mary Shelley’s monster. This talk will uncover a hidden sexual level of meaning in the world’s most famous frontispiece, which appears in the 1831 edition of Frankenstein, depicting the moment of creation. The artist is Theodor von Holst, whose reputation was sullied when it was revealed that he had produced erotic drawings for the Prince Regent. What art historian Max Browne has described as Holst’s “bizarre and eccentric sense of humour” will become apparent in the frontispiece once the obscene iconography hidden within it has been decoded. This image has been reproduced in thousands of copies of Frankenstein around the world and yet its lewd joke has passed by under the noses of its readers unnoticed for around two centuries.

Bio

Professor Marie Mulvey-Roberts is the author of Dangerous Bodies (Manchester University Press, 2016), winner of the Alan Lloyd Smith Memorial Prize, and has authored and edited over thirty books including Global Frankenstein (2018). She is Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Women’s Writing on historical women writers before the twentieth century and is a Series Editor for Bloomsbury Studies in Global Women’s Writing. Her most recent book is a scholarly edition of Caroline Norton’s “Love ‘in the World” (Routledge, 2023). She has published widely on Mary Shelley and also the author Angela Carter, the subject of three books, the latest being Angela Carter’s Pyrotechnics (Bloomsbury, 2022). She is interested in the history of art and co-curated the exhibition, Strange Worlds: The Vision of Angela Carter at the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol. Currently she is writing about the late artist Paula Rego.

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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Slaughter, Fire and Gibbet: Boudica – Archaeology, History and Legacy – Dr Duncan Mackay

Slaughter, Fire and Gibbet: Boudica – Archaeology, History and Legacy

This talk explores the story of Boudica, leader of a bloody rebellion against Roman rule in AD 60, interrogating the Roman historical sources, the archaeology of her war, and her continued importance as a symbol of rebellion and defiance.Boudica’s war against Roman subjugation in AD 60 has come down to us in three surviving Roman texts, by two different authors. These provide a broad campaign narrative of the war, and everything that we know of Boudica as a person. The archaeological record often supports this history, enabling more intimate stories to be teased out of the destruction layers. Combining these threads of evidence has allowed for a detailed reconstruction of the war, particularly in the towns destroyed, but how far can that reconstruction be superimposed on the wider, modern landscape? Boudica did not survive her war, but her identity as a rebel, warrior woman lives on, variously appearing as an icon of the women’s suffrage movement, a heroine of British imperialism and nationalism, and as symbol of rebellion against unjust authority.

Bio

Duncan Mackay is an archaeologist and writer with a lifelong interest in Boudica. He worked as a field archaeologist for many years, mostly with the University of Cambridge Archaeological Unit. He is the author of Echolands – A Journey in Search of Boudica, published by Hodder and Stoughton 2023.

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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Jack the Ripper and other Monsters: how did the Whitechapel Murder case impact the Lives of ordinary Victorians? – Dr Drew Gray

Jack the Ripper and other Monsters: how did the Whitechapel Murder case impact the Lives of ordinary Victorians?

How did contemporaries view the Whitechapel murders and the rapid rise to infamy of the mysterious ‘Jack the Ripper’? How did the presence of a supposedly ‘superhuman’ killer impact Londoners who found themselves sharing a city with a murderer the police were powerless to catch? The idea that one might be murdered by a stranger, seemingly for no reason at all, must have terrified contemporaries. Speculating on what sort of person might do this must also have played a part in how people tried to come to terms with what was happening. Given the lack of comparators, this must have been particularly difficult and perhaps inevitably led to a merging of fact with fiction. This talk will explore the reactions of Londoners and others to the Whitechapel murders and reflect on the extent to which the character of ‘Jack the Ripper’ merged with previous terrors, like ‘Spring Heeled Jack’, to haunt the dreams of late nineteenth-century Londoners.

Bio

Dr Drew Gray is the Head of Culture at the University of Northampton, where he also teaches the history of crime and supervises PhD candidates. Drew has written several books and articles, including London’s Shadows: The Dark Side of the Victorian City (Bloomsbury, 2010) which places the Ripper murders in their social context, and Murder Maps: Crime Scenes Revisited (Thames & Hudson, 2020). His latest book, Nether World: Crime and the Police Courts in Victorian London was published by Reaktion in 2024.

Image title

‘London’ by peterock72

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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Ancient Monsters in Modern Art – Professor Debbie Felton

Ancient Monsters in Modern Art

Monsters have been one of the most popular and enduring aspects of classical mythology for thousands of years. This talk discusses how modern art has adapted monsters from ancient Greek myth. From the Pre-Raphaelites to Pablo Picasso to Romare Bearden, modern artists (mid-19th c. to late 20th) have used classical monsters to reflect changing societal interests and concerns, such as the tension between the Industrial Revolution and appreciation for the natural world; the development of psychoanalysis and attention to the unconscious; and the effects of colonization and racism.

Bio

Debbie Felton is Professor of Classics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her specialty is folklore in classical literature. She is the author of Haunted Greece and Rome: Ghost Stories from Classical Antiquity (1999), Monsters and Monarchs: Serial Killers in Classical Myth and History (2021), and many articles about the supernatural in the ancient world. She is also the editor of A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in Antiquity (2021), The Oxford Handbook of Monsters in Classical Myth (2024), and A Cultural History of Monsters in Antiquity (forthcoming, 2025).

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John Singer Sargent, ‘Hercules’ (1921). Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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Unraveling the Magical Year of Thelema – Maevius Lynn

Unraveling the Magical Year of Thelema

“Despite Aleister Crowley’s popularity, few have an understanding of the Thelemic Holy Days of the year spelled out in the central, sacred holy text the Book of the Law. Many people are familiar with the Wiccan wheel of the year, but have not heard of the yearly cycle of holy days in Thelema. This is unfortunate, because the holy days throughout the Thelemic year are rich with symbolism, meaning, and a joyous embrace of the natural cycles that are a part of us. You do not have to be Thelemite to find meaning and value in Thelemic traditions, rituals, and practices. From Equinoxes and Solstices to celebrations of birth and death, this talk explores Thelema throughout the year and offers a unique door into the magick, history, and living tradition of Thelema. Participants will learn practical tools and information to make yearly observances and Thelemic magick a meaningful part of their journey.

Bio

Maevius Lynn is a ceremonial magician and occultist whose particular focus of her occult path is Thelema. She is an artist, writer, and YouTuber who has a special interest in making the occult accessible and inclusive. She currently resides in the Southern United States where she is active in her local Pagan community. As part of that community, she writes and performs ritual as well as gives educational talks. Some of her educational content can be found on her YouTube channel as well as published magazine articles. She is currently an active member of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) where she serves as a local body officer. Her dedication to educating others and sharing her love of the occult extends to online spaces where she collaborates with other authors and creators on podcasts, videos, and other various projects.

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Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer, curator and critic, ethnographer and folklorist speaking and writing about esoteric history, art, culture, women and Cornwall. She is the author of Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (Strange Attractor 2020) and is currently working on several Colquhoun related manuscripts. She is also the editor of Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses (Palgrave 2022). She has contributed gallery texts and essays for a number of institutions including Tate, Camden Arts Centre, Art UK, Arusha Galleries, Heavenly Records and she is a curator and host for the Last Tuesday Society lecture series.

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The Festival of Britain ‘A Tonic for the Nation’ – Dr Sophie Hollinshead

The Festival of Britain ‘A Tonic for the Nation’

The Festival of Britain in 1951 provided a much-needed dose of colour, excitement and fun in post-war Britain. At the end of World War Two an exhibition was proposed that would commemorate the Great Exhibition of 1851 and provide a ‘tonic to the Nation’ and a welcome break from austerity, it was an opportunity to re-define ‘Britishness’ and engender a sense of national identity, and most importantly re-asserting Britain’s role as a manufacturing nation after the war.

Bio

Dr. Sophie Hollinshead worked at the University of Nottingham for over twenty-five years as a lecturer and programme manager in interdisciplinary humanities. She currently works at Newstead Abbey the ancestral home of the poet Lord Byron, and at Nottingham Castle. Her interests are in landscape, culture and above all place, and her PhD explored the transformatory potential of landscape on the individual. The impact, influences, traditions, and spirit(s) of place are what inspire her.

Curated & Hosted by

Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer, curator and critic, ethnographer and folklorist speaking and writing about esoteric history, art, culture, women and Cornwall. She is the author of Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (Strange Attractor 2020) and is currently working on several Colquhoun related manuscripts. She is also the editor of Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses (Palgrave 2022). She has contributed gallery texts and essays for a number of institutions including Tate, Camden Arts Centre, Art UK, Arusha Galleries, Heavenly Records and she is a curator and host for the Last Tuesday Society lecture series.

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The Magic of The Fens – Dr Sophie Hollinshead

The Magic of The Fens

The Fens are a strange, bleak and dangerous landscape, for many years remote and difficult to access. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the landscape is inhabited by a range of supernatural entities ranging from witches who cast their spells with the fireside poker, the Ignis Fatuus who lures unsuspecting travellers to a watery death, to the Tiddy Mun still nursing his anger against the Dutch engineers who drained the Fens in the 17th Century. Hear stories from a landscape existing as liminal space between land and sea.

Bio

Dr. Sophie Hollinshead worked at the University of Nottingham for over twenty-five years as a lecturer and programme manager in interdisciplinary humanities. She currently works at Newstead Abbey the ancestral home of the poet Lord Byron, and at Nottingham Castle. Her interests are in landscape, culture and above all place, and her PhD explored the transformatory potential of landscape on the individual. The impact, influences, traditions, and spirit(s) of place are what inspire her.

Curated & Hosted by

Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer, curator and critic, ethnographer and folklorist speaking and writing about esoteric history, art, culture, women and Cornwall. She is the author of Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (Strange Attractor 2020) and is currently working on several Colquhoun related manuscripts. She is also the editor of Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses (Palgrave 2022). She has contributed gallery texts and essays for a number of institutions including Tate, Camden Arts Centre, Art UK, Arusha Galleries, Heavenly Records and she is a curator and host for the Last Tuesday Society lecture series.

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The Mystery of Sophia Hyatt, The White Lady of Newstead Abbey – Dr Sophie Hollinshead

The Mystery of Sophia Hyatt, The White Lady of Newstead Abbey

IIn 1818 a mysterious middle-aged woman, dressed mainly in white began to wander the grounds of Newstead Abbey, recently sold out of the Byron family by the poet George Gordon Byron. This was Sophia Hyatt, a deaf, nonverbal and visually impaired woman who was obsessed by the poetry of the Abbey’s previous owner. Her love for the Abbey and it’s environs was all encompassing and her relationship with its owners the Wildman’s troubled. She died in tragic circumstances, since when her ghost has been seen wandering the Abbey gardens. In 1834 Washington Irving published an account of her life, and in doing so created a legend. However, his story is far from complete and until now the true life and death story of Sophia Hyatt has lain undiscovered.

Bio

Dr. Sophie Hollinshead worked at the University of Nottingham for over twenty-five years as a lecturer and programme manager in interdisciplinary humanities. She currently works at Newstead Abbey the ancestral home of the poet Lord Byron, and at Nottingham Castle. Her interests are in landscape, culture and above all place, and her PhD explored the transformatory potential of landscape on the individual. The impact, influences, traditions, and spirit(s) of place are what inspire her.

Curated & Hosted by

Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer, curator and critic, ethnographer and folklorist speaking and writing about esoteric history, art, culture, women and Cornwall. She is the author of Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (Strange Attractor 2020) and is currently working on several Colquhoun related manuscripts. She is also the editor of Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses (Palgrave 2022). She has contributed gallery texts and essays for a number of institutions including Tate, Camden Arts Centre, Art UK, Arusha Galleries, Heavenly Records and she is a curator and host for the Last Tuesday Society lecture series.

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Poltergeist over Lincolnshire – Dr Sophie Hollinshead

Poltergeist over Lincolnshire

In the nineteenth century rural Lincolnshire saw a surprising outbreak of poltergeist activity. Although some of these phenomena proved to be the work of tricksters or bored teenagers, others remain genuinely mysterious. In small villages a number of seemingly paranormal occurrences convinced local people that supernatural and even diabolical entities were at work, what else could explain the resurrection of a hare, or the destruction of a string of sausages by invisible hands?

Bio

Dr. Sophie Hollinshead worked at the University of Nottingham for over twenty-five years as a lecturer and programme manager in interdisciplinary humanities. She currently works at Newstead Abbey the ancestral home of the poet Lord Byron, and at Nottingham Castle. Her interests are in landscape, culture and above all place, and her PhD explored the transformatory potential of landscape on the individual. The impact, influences, traditions, and spirit(s) of place are what inspire her.

Curated & Hosted by

Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer, curator and critic, ethnographer and folklorist speaking and writing about esoteric history, art, culture, women and Cornwall. She is the author of Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (Strange Attractor 2020) and is currently working on several Colquhoun related manuscripts. She is also the editor of Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses (Palgrave 2022). She has contributed gallery texts and essays for a number of institutions including Tate, Camden Arts Centre, Art UK, Arusha Galleries, Heavenly Records and she is a curator and host for the Last Tuesday Society lecture series.

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day