Presented by Dr Tracy Cattell 

Primary evidence from the earliest theatre-based companies in Britain indicates that ever since there have been professional theatres, there has been professional stage management. This lecture will explore the development of professional stage management in this country by considering primary sources that demonstrate its progression since the late sixteenth century, drawing on the earliest surviving prompt copies to reveal how the first theatre-based companies were supported in their performances by an infrastructure that is recognisable today as stage management.

Dr Tracy Cattell is a professional Deputy Stage Manager whose experience ranges from subsidised repertory and theatre-in-education to opera and daily repertoire, in which genre she continues to practise on a freelance basis. She undertook her doctorate at the University of Warwick and has a particular research interest in the development of cued performance. She lectures on the practical staging of Shakespeare, contemporary and historical stage management practice, and the interpretation of promptbook annotations, and enjoys sharing her research and professional heritage with professionals in training. She is a member of the Theatre History & Historiography Working Group of the Theatre and Performance Research Association, and the Society for Theatre Research’s New Researchers’ Network.