Hester L-J
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starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Hester L-J
@starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Shakespeare, slowly #SlowShakespeare (currently: #MoonMad); editing (2GV for Arden, ongoing), introducing (R&J, Cambridge, 2023), writing (Textile Shakespeare, Oxford, 2025) & Very Short Intro to the Histories (currently). Teaching in Cambridge (Catz) 🇳🇿
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Today is the OFFICIAL publication day for TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE! Please indulge me: I want to say a little (perhaps rather a lot) about it and share my acknowledgements - and a discount code! Appropriately,🧵1/10
Hermia: It's not my fault if Demetrius is an idiot! Helena🙄 #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hermia (Yuki Ellias), Lysander (Chandan Roy Sanyal) & Helena (Shanaya Rafaat, R) dir. Tim Supple @the-rsc.bsky.social/Dash Arts 2006. The characters spoke 6 different languages
January 23, 2026 at 9:28 AM
Helena to Hermia: you are enchanting and I am SO not🥹
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Helena (Lucy Briggs-Owen) in the 2011 @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream, dir. Nancy Meckler des. Katrina Lindsay.
January 22, 2026 at 11:10 AM
Helena: why do birds suddenly appear, stars fall down from the sky, etc? #MoonMad
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
This scene from the 1981 BBC Shakespeare, a beautiful C17 design, dir. Elijah Moshinsky. Hermia (Pippa Guard, L), Lysander (Robert Lindsay) & Helena (Cherish Mellor, bespectacled)
January 21, 2026 at 9:14 AM
Hermia: YES! I will elope with you, Lysander, I swear by absolutely everything! #MoonMad
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hermia (Isis Hainsworth) @bridgetheatre.bsky.social 2019, happily agreeing to elope. Also Milton liked this bit the sentimental old thing! (1623 F @freelibrary.bsky.social )
January 20, 2026 at 9:35 AM
Lysander has a plan: ELOPEMENT! #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hermia (Sinead Keenan) and Lysander (Trystan Gravelle) in the 2005 @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream, dir. Gregory Doran
January 19, 2026 at 9:38 AM
Hermia: is this just the way it is, then? #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Lysander (Ryan Sutton) & Hermia (Dawn Sievewright) in the 2024 @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream, dir. Eleanor Rhode. Tempting perhaps to race through this, but much potential for complexity in Hermia.
January 18, 2026 at 11:16 AM
Lysander: so quick bright things come to confusion⚡ #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Lysander can be an idiot but this SPEECH❤️ Milton liked it, naturally @freelibrary.bsky.social; Hermia (Anna Friel) & Lysander (Dominic West) in the 1999 film dir. Michael Hoffman
January 17, 2026 at 11:59 AM
Lysander: THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE NEVER DID RUN SMOOTH! It's TRUE! #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hermia (Francesca Mills, fabulously ferocious) and Lysander (Sam Crerar) in the 2023 Globe Dream, dir. Elle While.
January 16, 2026 at 9:24 AM
Theseus, very much in charge... #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hippolyta (Eleanor Matsuura) & Theseus (John Hannah) in the BBC version adapted by Russell T. Davies in 2016 (Theseus as dictator, Hippolyta as POW; not doubling Theseus/Oberon and Hippolyta/Titania)
January 15, 2026 at 11:11 AM
Theseus: time out! but Hermia, time to wake up... #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Theseus (Bally Gill) and Hippolyta (Sirine Saba) in the 2024 @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream, dir. Eleanor Rhode
January 14, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Lysander: but what about Demetrius and HELENA? #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Disdainful Demetrius & doting Helena in a still from the opening of the BBC Animated Tales Dream; adapted by Leon Garfield, the storytelling stands up well www.dailymotion.com/video/x7umt8z
January 13, 2026 at 9:21 AM
Lysander: I am as good as Demetrius! #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Frank Benson as a pleading Lysander in his production at the Lyceum, London, in February 1900. From shakespeare.emory.edu
January 12, 2026 at 10:33 AM
Demetrius: she's mine! Lysander: she's mine! Egeus: she's MINE actually #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Lysander (R, actual young Dominic West) and Demetrius (L, Christian Bale) in the 1999 film of Dream, dir. Michael Hoffmann
January 11, 2026 at 10:38 AM
Theseus: the clock is ticking... #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hippolyta (Hedydd Dylan, furious) and Theseus (Michael Marcus, totally unhinged) in the current Dream by Headlong at the Globe
January 10, 2026 at 12:28 PM
Theseus: celibacy is v hard; Hermia: still not marrying Demetrius #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
@bridgetheatre.bsky.social Nicholas Hytner imagined Athens as a psalm-singing theocracy, with Hippolyta (Gwendoline Christie 2019, Susannah Fielding 2025) in a glass box
January 9, 2026 at 10:47 AM
Theseus: DEATH or CONVENT! #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Milton liked this bit (in his copy of F1623 @freelibrary.bsky.social) @bridgetheatre.bsky.social 2019 Hermia (Isis Hainsworth) was already nun-like (Gwendoline Christie as Hippolyta, Oliver Chris as Theseus)
January 8, 2026 at 9:23 AM
Hermia: what's the worst that could happen if I don't marry Demetrius?? #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
The opening scene of the 1909 Vitagraph silent film of Dream; Rose Tapley as Hermia (kneeling) (this is one of my MOST favourite things & will continue to feature)
January 7, 2026 at 9:24 AM
Theseus: what matters is your father's choice, Hermia #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hermia (Sinead Keenan) is defiant facing Theseus (Miles Richardson); Lysander (Trystan Gravelle, L) & Egeus (Tom Hodgkins, R) watch @the-rsc.bsky.social 2005 dir. Gregory Doran
January 6, 2026 at 9:41 AM
Marriage or DEATH, Hermia! #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hermia (Yuki Ellias, R) Egeus (J Jayakumar, L) and Theseus (PR Jijoy) in the 2006 @the-rsc.bsky.social production dir. Tim Supple: a stunningly beautiful production, in English & 6 other Indian languages
January 5, 2026 at 10:08 AM
Egeus: you've stolen my daughter! #MoonMad
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Brook's Dream @the-rsc.bsky.social 1970; the white box of Sally Jacobs's set. Hermia (Mary Rutherford) kneels, with Egeus (Philip Locke), Demetrius (Ben Kingsley, blue) & Lysander (Christopher Gable, orange) 📸Reg Wilson
January 4, 2026 at 11:00 AM
The world is mad but theatre is good & Headlong's Midsummer Night's Dream at the Wanamaker is ice-cool & interesting & clever (esp about the darkness of ballet, oh the shiver of white tights) & while I may not entirely endorse the last 5 minutes (if you know you know) it's well worth seeing 1/2
January 3, 2026 at 7:25 PM
A love triangle: enter Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Hippolyta (Gwendoline Christie) looks on with concern, as Egeus and Hermia plead before Theseus, in the @bridgetheatre.bsky.social Dream (the 2019 production), dir. Nick Hytner.
January 3, 2026 at 10:30 AM
Theseus: Athens WILL rejoice! make it so! #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Theseus (Nicholas Jones) and Hippolyta (Josette Simon) in the 1999 @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream, dir. Michael Boyd des. Tom Piper (this might be the end of the play, not the first scene??)
January 2, 2026 at 11:14 AM
Theseus: we're getting married! soon but not soon enough! Hippolyta: *thrilled* #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
The (London transfer) poster for the great 1970 @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream, dir. Peter Brook. It changed theatre; my parents saw it & we had the poster...
January 1, 2026 at 11:42 AM
Well I still haven't finished the thing I wanted to get sent off before Christmas, and I'll never even attempt inbox zero, but I have just, fleetingly, achieved ironing basket zero, so, ring out the old, I guess...
December 31, 2025 at 8:30 PM