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Overview
Affiliations
AffiliationTelephone
Associate Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History+44 (0) 191 33 41679

Biography

I studied Classics at Oxford and then completed postgraduate work at Nottingham, emerging from the latter with a Ph.D. and then taking up a post at Durham.

Research

Research interests: Greek comedy, tragedy and paratragedy (5th – 3rd centuries BCE); 20th and 21st c. popular culture and ancient Greek literature, especially children's media and animation; the popularisation of Greek drama in the ancient world; classical reception of Greek drama in 4th c. BCE philosophy;

Current research

1. I love to explore the form and use of paratragedy in fragments of Old Comedy and considers how this can be viewed as a mode of reception and popularisation of Greek drama in its earliest performance contexts. I am currently working on a monograph on the Fragments of Old Comedy. See my publications below "Chapter in Book" on: "Aristophanes' Fragmentary Contemporaries" and my work on: Paratragedy and Strattis. This builds on my thesis, which focused on one poet: "Strattis, Tragedy, and Comedy", available at: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10887/

2. I was delighted to be an organiser on the 'Plato on Comedy Project in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham. We are putting the finishing touches to an edited volume on Plato and Comedy with CUP. My co-organisers are Dr. Anthony Hooper (University of Wollongong, Australia), Prof. Andrea Capra (Durham Univeristy & Università degli Studi di Milano), Dr. George Gazis (Durham University), Ms Marta Antola (Durham University) and Ms Maddalena Ruini (Durham University). The project takes a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to the study of Plato's relationship with comedy, drawing on the expertise both of philosophers and classicists to explore the complexities of Plato's views on, treatment of and interactions with comedy. We held research seminars in 2018-19, an international workshop in March 2019, and a conference in July 2019. We hope to continue these conversations in future meetings. 

School Talks

I am more than happy to give talks in schools on topics related to Greek literature. Topics include: all things Aristophanes!, Greek drama, Greek Comedy, Greek Tragedy, Greek literature in contemporary pop. culture. Just get in touch, and feel free to suggest other topics.

Research interests

  • Greek comedy, comic fragments, mime, paratragedy and tragedy (5th – 3rd centuries BCE), Plato's relationship with drama, and Greek myth in 20th and 21st c. popular culture, children's media and animation.
  • I love to explore the relationship between comic and tragic and everything in between. Previous research has focused on the form and use of paratragedy in fragments of Old Comedy, considering how this can be viewed as a mode of reception and popularisation of Greek drama in its earliest performance contexts. I am currently working on a commentary for the KomFrag Project on Aristophanes' Daitales and other fragmentary comedies. See my publications below "Chapter in Book" on: "Aristophanes' Fragmentary Contemporaries" and my work on: Paratragedy and Strattis. This builds on my thesis, which focused on one poet: "Strattis, Tragedy, and Comedy", available at: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10887/
  • Following the 'Plato on Comedy' Project in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham, along with my co-organisers Dr. Anthony Hooper (University of Wollongong, Australia), Prof. Andrea Capra (Durham Univeristy & Università degli Studi di Milano), we are putting the finishing touches to an edited volume on Plato and Comedy with CUP.  The project took a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to the study of Plato's relationship with comedy, drawing on the expertise both of philosophers and classicists to explore the complexities of Plato's views on, treatment of and interactions with comedy.
  • I appeared on BBC Radio 4 In Our Time (April 2024) to talk about Aristophanes' Lysistrata alongside my colleagues Prof. Paul Cartledge and Prof. James Robson. It was a lot of fun to explore this play together. You can still hear the recording here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001y2z4

Publications

Book review

Chapter in book

Journal Article