Will Tosh
@willtosh.bsky.social
⭕️Director of Education at Shakespeare’s Globe
📖Author of STRAIGHT ACTING, and rep’d by Eleanor Birne at RCW
👨🏼❤️👨🏻 Hitched to @pierstorday.bsky.social
🔗 https://linktr.ee/willtosh3
🔗 https://lnk.to/StraightActing-HB
📖Author of STRAIGHT ACTING, and rep’d by Eleanor Birne at RCW
👨🏼❤️👨🏻 Hitched to @pierstorday.bsky.social
🔗 https://linktr.ee/willtosh3
🔗 https://lnk.to/StraightActing-HB
Reposted by Will Tosh
Out now! Literary Review's September 2025 issue, featuring
@willtosh.bsky.social on Christopher Marlowe
@claireharman.bsky.social on Muriel Spark
Seamus Perry on Tennyson
Lucy Hughes-Hallett on the stiff upper lip
Patrick Wilcken on Easter Island
and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk
@willtosh.bsky.social on Christopher Marlowe
@claireharman.bsky.social on Muriel Spark
Seamus Perry on Tennyson
Lucy Hughes-Hallett on the stiff upper lip
Patrick Wilcken on Easter Island
and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk
Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books
In the Current Issue: Will Tosh on Christopher Marlowe * John Banville on Christopher Clarke * Claire Harman on Muriel Spark * Seamus Perry on Tennyson * Lucy Hughes-Hallett on the stiff upper lip * L...
literaryreview.co.uk
September 1, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Out now! Literary Review's September 2025 issue, featuring
@willtosh.bsky.social on Christopher Marlowe
@claireharman.bsky.social on Muriel Spark
Seamus Perry on Tennyson
Lucy Hughes-Hallett on the stiff upper lip
Patrick Wilcken on Easter Island
and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk
@willtosh.bsky.social on Christopher Marlowe
@claireharman.bsky.social on Muriel Spark
Seamus Perry on Tennyson
Lucy Hughes-Hallett on the stiff upper lip
Patrick Wilcken on Easter Island
and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk
This will be FAB 🧚🏻♂️
SO EXCITED to be taking over @nationaltrust.org.uk's Fenton House in London with a celebration of queer folklore, Shakespeare and fairy tales with our 'Away With The Faeries' event on Friday 8th August.
See you there (if you dare)? Grab a ticket below:
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/london...
See you there (if you dare)? Grab a ticket below:
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/london...
July 26, 2025 at 9:43 AM
This will be FAB 🧚🏻♂️
Reposted by Will Tosh
From apprentice to master playwright: Shakespeare learns his craft.
✍️ Will Tosh
✍️ Will Tosh
From apprentice to master playwright: Shakespeare learns his craft
Pub quiz masters with a taste for William Shakespeare are spoiled for choice when it comes to red letter years. The playwright’s birth and death, the building and burning down of the Globe, and the...
buff.ly
July 11, 2025 at 4:03 PM
From apprentice to master playwright: Shakespeare learns his craft.
✍️ Will Tosh
✍️ Will Tosh
Reposted by Will Tosh
In an excerpt from "Straight Acting," @willtosh.bsky.social tells the story of Richard Barnfield's meteoric rise in literary London in the 1590s and how his groundbreaking poetry influenced Shakespeare's sonnets. Read the full excerpt: www.folger.edu/blogs/shakes...
Shakespeare's queer inspiration | Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Jo...
www.folger.edu
June 12, 2025 at 1:52 PM
In an excerpt from "Straight Acting," @willtosh.bsky.social tells the story of Richard Barnfield's meteoric rise in literary London in the 1590s and how his groundbreaking poetry influenced Shakespeare's sonnets. Read the full excerpt: www.folger.edu/blogs/shakes...
Absolutely chuffed and very grateful that STRAIGHT ACTING has been shortlisted for the Theatre Book Prize 2024 - it’s made my week!
www.str.org.uk/grants-prize...
www.str.org.uk/grants-prize...
May 22, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Absolutely chuffed and very grateful that STRAIGHT ACTING has been shortlisted for the Theatre Book Prize 2024 - it’s made my week!
www.str.org.uk/grants-prize...
www.str.org.uk/grants-prize...
Grazie mille to Fabio and Sonia Massai and all at Sapienza Università di Roma for having me!
Such a pleasure and honour to hear @willtosh.bsky.social's wonderful talk about Barnfield, especially as he opened his seminar with the cover of the anthology I'm co-editing with Camilla Caporicci and Cristiano Ragni for @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social
May 11, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Grazie mille to Fabio and Sonia Massai and all at Sapienza Università di Roma for having me!
I can’t promise this will be brilliant but I can certainly promise to have a brilliant time delivering it IN ROME. 🥳 indeed!
🥳Join us on Thursday for @willtosh.bsky.social's amazingly promising talk about Richard Barnfield, Shakespeare and scholarly unscrupulousness. Here's the link: meet.google.com/dut-eajr-qja
May 6, 2025 at 4:01 PM
I can’t promise this will be brilliant but I can certainly promise to have a brilliant time delivering it IN ROME. 🥳 indeed!
Absolutely delighted that #StraightActing is out in paperback (that’s like quarto, for all you early modern drama fans) today!
WAIT... WAS SHAKESPEARE GAY?
The answer is both simpler and more complex than you might think...
#StraightActing by @willtosh.bsky.social is a captivating & surprising exploration of queer culture in Shakespeare's England.
www.waterstones.com/book/straigh...
The answer is both simpler and more complex than you might think...
#StraightActing by @willtosh.bsky.social is a captivating & surprising exploration of queer culture in Shakespeare's England.
www.waterstones.com/book/straigh...
April 10, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Absolutely delighted that #StraightActing is out in paperback (that’s like quarto, for all you early modern drama fans) today!
Reposted by Will Tosh
SOME NEWS: It's been a honour and a joy to have devised this celebration of the glorious life, work and wit of P.G. Wodehous, hosted by Sir Stephen Fry, with guest stars including Alexander Armstrong and Stephen Mangan.
Tuesday 20th May, Wilton's Music Hall, in aid of the National Literacy Trust.
Tuesday 20th May, Wilton's Music Hall, in aid of the National Literacy Trust.
We're honoured to be presenting Plum: Homage to Happiness, at Wilton's Music Hall on 20th May.
Join Sir Stephen Fry, as he hosts a celebration of all things P.G. Wodehouse. This sparkling soirée promises to be a night to remember! 🍸
Tickets here: wiltons.org.uk/whats-on/plu...
Join Sir Stephen Fry, as he hosts a celebration of all things P.G. Wodehouse. This sparkling soirée promises to be a night to remember! 🍸
Tickets here: wiltons.org.uk/whats-on/plu...
March 31, 2025 at 11:23 AM
SOME NEWS: It's been a honour and a joy to have devised this celebration of the glorious life, work and wit of P.G. Wodehous, hosted by Sir Stephen Fry, with guest stars including Alexander Armstrong and Stephen Mangan.
Tuesday 20th May, Wilton's Music Hall, in aid of the National Literacy Trust.
Tuesday 20th May, Wilton's Music Hall, in aid of the National Literacy Trust.
Reposted by Will Tosh
Everybody knows #Shakespeare.
Beneath the surface, much of Shakespeare’s work surrounds ideas of gender and queerness.
Welcome, @willtosh.bsky.social as we discuss his book 'The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare' @sceptrebooks.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/0aYb... #shelfie
Beneath the surface, much of Shakespeare’s work surrounds ideas of gender and queerness.
Welcome, @willtosh.bsky.social as we discuss his book 'The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare' @sceptrebooks.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/0aYb... #shelfie
Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare with Will Tosh
If It Ain't Baroque... · Episode
open.spotify.com
March 21, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Everybody knows #Shakespeare.
Beneath the surface, much of Shakespeare’s work surrounds ideas of gender and queerness.
Welcome, @willtosh.bsky.social as we discuss his book 'The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare' @sceptrebooks.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/0aYb... #shelfie
Beneath the surface, much of Shakespeare’s work surrounds ideas of gender and queerness.
Welcome, @willtosh.bsky.social as we discuss his book 'The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare' @sceptrebooks.bsky.social
open.spotify.com/episode/0aYb... #shelfie
Very glad to have had the chance to review Simon Goldhill’s queer history of King’s for @thetls.bsky.social
t.co/CCdCXZNPtU
t.co/CCdCXZNPtU
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/politics-society/social-cultural-studies/queer-cambridge-simon-goldhill-book-review-will-tosh?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1742401293
t.co
March 20, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Very glad to have had the chance to review Simon Goldhill’s queer history of King’s for @thetls.bsky.social
t.co/CCdCXZNPtU
t.co/CCdCXZNPtU
Enjoyed chatting to @mrnicklevine.bsky.social for this fun piece on Edward II
www.bbc.co.uk/culture/arti...
www.bbc.co.uk/culture/arti...
Edward II: Did a gay love affair spark a 14th-Century royal crisis?
A new revival of Christopher Marlowe's pioneering play about the 14th-Century King of England puts the spotlight back on his relationship with his male "favourite" Piers Gaveston.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 28, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Enjoyed chatting to @mrnicklevine.bsky.social for this fun piece on Edward II
www.bbc.co.uk/culture/arti...
www.bbc.co.uk/culture/arti...
What fun to go to the movies with Jason and get AWFULLY nitpicky about Shakespeare in Love - a film which I still adore, despite everything.
Was William Shakespeare gay? @willtosh.bsky.social drops in to say that question is only a drop in the bucket to understand the playwright and his world.
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE drops NOW on HATM Podcast
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE drops NOW on HATM Podcast
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
Episode 119: Shakespeare in Love and the Queer World of William Shakespeare with Dr. Will Tosh
Podcast Episode · Historians At The Movies · 02/26/2025 · 1h 4m
podcasts.apple.com
February 28, 2025 at 10:52 AM
What fun to go to the movies with Jason and get AWFULLY nitpicky about Shakespeare in Love - a film which I still adore, despite everything.
Hurry hurry! It’s a month or so till STRAIGHT ACTING: THE MANY QUEER LIVES OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE comes out in paperback, but order it from @waterstones.bsky.social today or tomorrow and get 25% off! #WPreorders #StraightActing
www.waterstones.com/book/straigh...
www.waterstones.com/book/straigh...
Straight Acting by Will Tosh | Waterstones
Buy Straight Acting by Will Tosh from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.
www.waterstones.com
February 23, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Hurry hurry! It’s a month or so till STRAIGHT ACTING: THE MANY QUEER LIVES OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE comes out in paperback, but order it from @waterstones.bsky.social today or tomorrow and get 25% off! #WPreorders #StraightActing
www.waterstones.com/book/straigh...
www.waterstones.com/book/straigh...
This is the most dazzlingly written piece of criticism, and I’m not just saying that because Cheney very shrewdly reads Straight Acting alongside Marjorie Garber’s Shakespeare in Bloomsbury: read to the end for a powerful articulation of the consolations of literature in terrible times.
Some thoughts on "Shakespeare in Bloomsbury" by Marjorie Garber and "Straight Acting" by Will Tosh, as well as thoughts on the consolations of reading Shakespeare in these dismal days...
matthewcheney.net/blog/strange...
matthewcheney.net/blog/strange...
Strange Eventful Histories: <i>Shakespeare in Bloomsbury</i> and <i>Straight Acting</i>
Before we are aware of it, we all of us find we are talking about Shakespeare. —Lytton Strachey, “Words and Poetry” Yet Shakespeare is a very queer case. —Virginia Woolf, “Personalities” 1. Reading Ma...
matthewcheney.net
February 20, 2025 at 10:55 AM
This is the most dazzlingly written piece of criticism, and I’m not just saying that because Cheney very shrewdly reads Straight Acting alongside Marjorie Garber’s Shakespeare in Bloomsbury: read to the end for a powerful articulation of the consolations of literature in terrible times.
Wonderful - the whole film is available to watch via a link in the article.
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
‘He was unforgettable’: the mesmerising star of cult documentary Andy the Furniture Maker
He used to fish for oysters but he fled to the hedonism of London, where he was taken under the wing of Derek Jarman. But Andy Marshall was also a creator of dazzling furniture – and the star of a pio...
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Wonderful - the whole film is available to watch via a link in the article.
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
Reposted by Will Tosh
Are we at a turning point in world history? | David Motadel
Are we at a turning point in world history? | David Motadel
Political leaders increasingly caution that we are facing a historical ‘inflection point’. Are we?
In 1919, at the height of a global crisis that resulted from the turmoil of the Russian Revolution, the devastation of the first world war, and the…
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Are we at a turning point in world history? | David Motadel
We don’t talk enough about how utterly repellent the food looks on #TheTraitors
January 16, 2025 at 9:45 PM
We don’t talk enough about how utterly repellent the food looks on #TheTraitors
Reposted by Will Tosh
Will on Will…a wonderfully researched and nuanced take on the “was he or wasn’t he” question
Friends…he was.
@willtosh.bsky.social did all the incredibly researched and passionate legwork, inadvertently definitively answering the question and, more importantly, casting WS accurately in his time
Friends…he was.
@willtosh.bsky.social did all the incredibly researched and passionate legwork, inadvertently definitively answering the question and, more importantly, casting WS accurately in his time
December 20, 2024 at 12:45 AM
Will on Will…a wonderfully researched and nuanced take on the “was he or wasn’t he” question
Friends…he was.
@willtosh.bsky.social did all the incredibly researched and passionate legwork, inadvertently definitively answering the question and, more importantly, casting WS accurately in his time
Friends…he was.
@willtosh.bsky.social did all the incredibly researched and passionate legwork, inadvertently definitively answering the question and, more importantly, casting WS accurately in his time
Reposted by Will Tosh
A widely used #Christmas time special of the European past was to buy and wear a paper crown.
A paper crown, #skystorians? Yes, a printed paper crown. And the tiny street seller highlighted in this #earlymodern painting is selling them.
Let's have a festive 🧵
A paper crown, #skystorians? Yes, a printed paper crown. And the tiny street seller highlighted in this #earlymodern painting is selling them.
Let's have a festive 🧵
December 18, 2024 at 2:45 PM
A widely used #Christmas time special of the European past was to buy and wear a paper crown.
A paper crown, #skystorians? Yes, a printed paper crown. And the tiny street seller highlighted in this #earlymodern painting is selling them.
Let's have a festive 🧵
A paper crown, #skystorians? Yes, a printed paper crown. And the tiny street seller highlighted in this #earlymodern painting is selling them.
Let's have a festive 🧵
Reposted by Will Tosh
December 8, 2024 at 4:14 AM
Grateful to have the opportunity to review Simon Russell Beale’s intelligent and rather moving memoir-meets-character-study A PIECE OF WORK. I’m sure SRB isn’t: he comes across as deeply thoughtful and wise.
www.spectator.co.uk/article/fort...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/fort...
Fortitude, emotional intelligence and wit – the defining qualities of Simon Russell Beale
The path to National Treasureland is no paved highway. Simon Russell Beale, the finest classical actor of his generation, was nearly lost to academia (he swerved a PhD in Victorian literature), and fa...
www.spectator.co.uk
December 4, 2024 at 11:10 AM
Grateful to have the opportunity to review Simon Russell Beale’s intelligent and rather moving memoir-meets-character-study A PIECE OF WORK. I’m sure SRB isn’t: he comes across as deeply thoughtful and wise.
www.spectator.co.uk/article/fort...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/fort...
Get 2025 off to a grand start!
We're delighted to announce that @willtosh.bsky.social will be launching our brand new Saturday Seminars series in January! Join Will and Twelfth Night director Tom Littler as they delve deeper into Shakespeare's masterpiece of mistaken identity.
🎟️ Sat 11 Jan • 11am • Tickets £15
🎟️ Sat 11 Jan • 11am • Tickets £15
Saturday Seminars - Orange Tree Theatre
Dive deeper into the world behind each of our productions with our Saturday Seminars series with academics and experts.
orangetreetheatre.co.uk
December 3, 2024 at 5:45 PM
Get 2025 off to a grand start!
Reposted by Will Tosh
Now seems like a good time to remind people that your followers are not actually ‘followers’, they don’t give that many shits about you. You’re just a person with an account on social media, not fucking Jesus.
December 1, 2024 at 7:56 PM
Now seems like a good time to remind people that your followers are not actually ‘followers’, they don’t give that many shits about you. You’re just a person with an account on social media, not fucking Jesus.