Harry R. McCarthy (offline)
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harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Harry R. McCarthy (offline)
@harrymccarthy.bsky.social
1.6K followers 560 following 360 posts
Assistant Professor of English at USC. Early modern childhood, race, gender, education, and performance. Book on boy actors with @cambridgeup.bsky.social. Next book sometime, somewhere. https://dornsife.usc.edu/profile/harry-mccarthy/
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harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Six years as Dr Harry. This guy wouldn’t have believed what’s happening now. Photo by @pascaleexeter.bsky.social minutes after @lucycmunro.bsky.social & Jane Milling gave me my laurels.
September 17, 2025 at 4:01 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Nigella’s gooseberry and elderflower crumble (abbreviated here)
July 8, 2025 at 9:24 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety

(32 today 🎈)
Harry is sitting at a restaurant table on a terrace, wearing a white silk shirt and black sunglasses, and sipping from a martini glass
June 17, 2025 at 8:34 AM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Seems a good time to remind that I'm talking about the question of boy actors, 'transvestism', and early modern trans studies in Bristol two weeks from now: www.tickettailor.com/events/unive...
'Cattle of this Colour': Boy Actors and Early Modern Trans Studies Boy actors and the so-called 'transvestite stage' have an uneasy relationship with early modern trans studies. In a field dominated by explorations of gendered clothing and tantalising moments of 'reveal,' the insights of trans studies, and trans people, are all too readily elided. This paper will consider whether there is a place for boy actors in early modern trans studies by offering a reading of characters like Rosalind in As You Like It which extends beyond the easy slippage from one set of clothes to another and centralises the intersecting production of gendered and racial categories to which trans studies writ large has always been trying to direct our attention. In the process, it will offer a consideration of what the mutually constitutive fields of premodern trans and critical race studies have to offer to theatre history. Harry R. McCarthy is the author of Boy Actors in Early Modern England (Cambridge, 2022) and Performing Early Modern Drama Beyond Shakespeare (Cambridge, 2020). He recently published a new critical introduction to Titus Andronicus for the Oxford World's Classics Series (2025). Currently a Lecturer in English at the University of Exeter, in August he will take up the post of Assistant Professor of Early Modern Literature at the University of Southern California.
May 29, 2025 at 8:00 AM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
And that’s the door closed on my last seminar at Exeter - heading to the train to Cornwall with joy in my heart and a student-gifted bottle of Sémillon in my bag.
Harry is wearing a black and white patterned shirt with open collar, and black sunglasses.
March 28, 2025 at 2:11 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Happy #WorldBookDay from this pile screaming at me to finish my review
A pile of five books - from top to bottom: Simone Chess, Male-to-Female Crossdressing in Early Modern English Literature Gillan Knoll and Joseph Gamble (eds), The Kinky Renaissance Colby Gordon, Glorious Bodies Jennifer Drouin (ed.), Shakespeare/Sex Will Tosh, Straight Acting
March 6, 2025 at 4:00 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
I was reminded of this photo today, from a decade and a half ago. I love this young man so much and I hope I always will.
February 21, 2025 at 10:37 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
My Friday > Your Friday
Image shows the cover of The Kinky Renaissance, edited by Gillian Knoll and Joseph Gamble. The cover depicts a black and white photo of a woman's face, with painted red lips and a black leather Elizabethan-style ruff around her neck.
February 21, 2025 at 11:18 AM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Appropriately given what’s happened this week, a friend sent me this. I have so many questions.
Image shows the frontage of a bar called ‘don’t tell Titus…’ - a poster in the window reads ‘The New and Original don’t tell Titus… Opening soon!’
February 20, 2025 at 3:12 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
January sunset over Los Angeles, where in August I’ll be taking up my post as Assistant Professor of Early Modern Literature at the University of Southern California. Words truly can’t describe.
Image shows the view of LA from Griffith Park - there is an expanse of scrubland and trees in the foreground, and in the distance the sun sets on the horizon.
February 16, 2025 at 6:40 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
It’s the UK publication day for the New Oxford Shakespeare Titus Andronicus, featuring my critical introduction on theatrical innovation, rape, race, politics, and how the play has always forced audiences to confront their relationship with Shakespeare. global.oup.com/academic/pro...
February 13, 2025 at 6:11 AM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pictures, where are you mentally?
February 4, 2025 at 12:46 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Looking forward to my visit to the Oxford Early Modern Literature Seminar tomorrow, where I’ll be taking ‘Cattle of this Colour: Boy Actors and the Engendering of Race’ for a spin. 5.15pm, TS Eliot Lecture Theatre, Merton. See you there!
Poster for the Oxford Early Modern Literature Seminar events for this term. Details are in the post.
January 20, 2025 at 8:39 AM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pics, what’s your energy going into 2025?
John Duncan’s painting ‘Angus Og, God of Love and Courtesy, Putting a Spell of Summer Calm on the Sea,’ depicting a youthful, semi-naked winged god with long red hair standing on a sea rock, singing.
December 29, 2024 at 5:21 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Two weeks of holiday stretch before me. It’s her time. @nigella.bsky.social
Image shows a copy of Nigella Christmas, with Nigella in a red cardigan holding a platter of roast potatoes on the cover. There is a piece of paper with ‘Christmas’ written at the top and a gold fountain pen resting on the book.
December 23, 2024 at 8:28 AM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
#NotreDame’s reopening is beyond anything I could ever have dreamt of
A photograph of the vaulted ceiling, pillars, stained glass windows and altar inside Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris.
December 17, 2024 at 3:35 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Holiday mode: activated
Black and white photograph of Harry wearing a black and white check shirt with revere collar, sitting at a restaurant table with his hands raised. A pigeon claw is hanging out of the corner of his mouth.
December 16, 2024 at 10:53 AM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Prepping a seminar on early modern Christmas (with thanks to @niallallsopp.bsky.social for resources) and losing it at what a drama queen Margaret Cavendish was about being cold.
Text reads: MADAM, We have here at this time Cold with all its Potent Strength, as an Army of Flakes of Snow, with Ammunition of Hail for Bullets, and Wind for Powder […] Shooting forth the Peircing Darts, which fly so Thick and Fast, and are so Sharp, as they Enter into every Pore of the Flesh; although Mankind bring what Strength they can get against Cold, as an Army of Furs, where every Hair stands out like a Squadron of Pikes, to Resist Cold’s Assault; and Ammunition of Coals serves for Bullets, and Ashes for Powder, with great Loggs for Cannons, where the Bellows are Fire-locks, make them fly up in a Flame; also great Pieces of Beef for Men of War, with Cabbage for Sails, Sawsages for Tacklings, Carrots for Guns, and Marrow-bones for Masts, Ballasted with Pepper, and Pitch’d or Tarr’d with Mustard, the Steers-men Cooks, besides many Pinnaces of Pork, Mutton, and Veal, all which Swim in a Large Sea of Wine, Beer, and Ale; yet for all this we are Beaten into the Chimney-corner, and there we sit Shaking and Trembling like a Company of Cowards, that dare not stir from their Shelter […] The text is accompanied by an etching of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, standing on a pedestal in classically-inspired dress and flanked by two Grecian statues.
December 9, 2024 at 10:48 AM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Must acquire immediately for the kitschen tree chez nous
December 8, 2024 at 8:53 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
When students ask you to explain why everyone in Richard III hates one another, you hit the whiteboard hard.
A whiteboard showing a complex diagram of the connections (marriages and murders) between the central characters in Richard III
December 5, 2024 at 10:55 AM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
The commentary around contemporary art drives me mad. Hard to imagine a painting being reduced to its constituent parts. ‘Van Gogh brings it home with oil paints, a canvas, and brush strokes’? I think not.
A screenshot of a BBC News notification reading ‘A Ford Escort, worship bells and Irn-Bru: Artist Jasleen Kaur wins Turner Prize for work celebrating Scottish Sikh community.’
December 3, 2024 at 8:32 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Teaching Richard III this week, and once again enjoying Abildgaard's terrible painting of twinky Richard startled from bed
The dramatically lit oil painting depicts Richard, dressed in a tight-fitting blue and red singlet with a red cross painted on the front, jumping out of bed with his right foot on the ground and his left leg still partially under the covers. Richard holds a spear in his right hand and is looking to his left, with his left arm outstretched behind him. The left side of his singlet has been pulled down, revealing his muscular chest and arm.
December 3, 2024 at 9:13 AM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Monday is gloomy, but not in here.
A tall, wide Christmas tree in front of a large bay window hung with Venetian blinds. The tree is decorated with warm white lights red and gold ornaments, and is topped with a gold star. A grey armchair sits to the right of the tree - in the foreground there is a trunk coffee table with a pile of books on top. A martini sits on top of the books. A tall Christmas tree decorated with warm white lights and ornaments resembling various foods (an aubergine, a waffle, a hamburger etc). To the right of the tree is a fireplace with fairy lights laid in the hearth and along the mantelpiece. A fireplace with a fire burning in the black log burner. The hearth is filled with tea lights and Christmas ornaments, and the mantelpiece is covered with photo frames, fairy lights, and garlands made of pine branches. A stocking hangs from the left corner of the mantelpiece and there is a small carriage clock in the centre.
December 2, 2024 at 5:25 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
we used to be a proper country
A magazine ad reading: Delicate yet full-flavoured, Waitrose No. 1 Tearless Onions (£1.60/3) are specially grown to ensure you don’t start crying as soon as you chop them. Developed over 30 years using traditional farming methods, they’re sweet and crunchy, without the sting.
December 2, 2024 at 5:20 PM
harrymccarthy.bsky.social
Show me a picture on your phone that has your energy that isn’t a selfie.
Image shows the actor Layton Williams I the role of Emcee in Cabaret. Layton, a young Black man, wears black eyeshadow and black lipstick, and a black lace shirt with puffed sleeves and frilled cuffs, accentuated with large pearls arranged in the pattern of a ribcage. He has long black claws and holds his hands up to the sky with his head thrown back, eyes closed, and mouth wide open.
November 28, 2024 at 3:09 PM