Case study: "My childhood dream of becoming an author of popular biographies and historical books"

Researcher profile

Dr Chris Laoutaris is a Shakespeare scholar, biographer, historian, poet and is currently Associate Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at The Shakespeare Institute, part of the University of Birmingham but located in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

Chris graduated from University College London winning the Morley Medal in English and subsequently studied there for MA and PhD (the latter the basis for his first published book).

From Fellowship to prize winning biography

In 2007 I obtained a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship to explore the life and influence of Lady Elizabeth Russell, whose activism changed the course of Shakespeare’s career.

Mounting a campaign against the Blackfriars Theatre, a new playhouse that Shakespeare and his fellow players were about to open in 1596, she led a petition to prevent it from opening. She managed to convince Shakespeare’s own printer, Richard Field, and his patron, Sir George Carey, to back her anti-theatrical crusade. But her triumph had one important consequence, forcing the dramatist and other key personnel of the Chamberlain’s Men playing company to open the Globe Theatre, in the process ensuring Shakespeare’s future success and tying his legacy to that iconic playhouse.

Lady Russell was a formidable figure. She and her sisters were reputed to have been among the most educated women in Europe, and Russell was a noted translator, poet and designer of grand funerary monuments. During a long and controversial career, she also started and engaged in acts of law-breaking and espionage for the Elizabethan secret services.

Based on my research during the Fellowship, I published 'Shakespeare and the Countess: The Battle that Gave Birth to the Globe' with Penguin Random House (and Pegasus Books in the USA).

The book was shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize for Biography, a book of the year for the Observer and Telegraph, one of the New York Post’s 'Must-Read Books' and featured by other national daily newspapers, BBC1’s The One Show and radio and TV programmes internationally.

The profile I gained helped me to write prominent media stories for these and other platforms and led theatre companies and film and documentary makers to seek me out as a consultant.

Springboard to a permanent research position

I believe the Postdoctoral Fellowship also helped me secure a permanent position at the University of Birmingham’s Shakespeare Institute, where I was awarded a Birmingham Fellowship to research a new project on the creation of the 1623 First Folio, the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays.

The British Academy's Postdoctoral Fellowship was instrumental in my securing a second Postdoctoral Fellowship, which allowed me to work on my second commercial book project, and led directly to my current permanent academic post.

I an now an Associate Professor, with interests spanning history, biography, material culture, and creative practice.

"The British Academy's Postdoctoral Fellowship was instrumental in my securing a second Postdoctoral Fellowship, which allowed me to work on my second commercial book project, and led directly to my current permanent academic post."

A subsequent book, based on his Birmingham Fellowship project, was 'Shakespeare’s Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the First Folio', chosen as a book of the year for BBC History Magazine and BBC Radio 4 Front Row and others, and featured in high-profile newspapers internationally.

"The British Academy’s support – and the unique way in which it bridges academic, public and commercial institutions through the projects it funds – was instrumental in being able to fulfil my childhood dream of becoming an author of popular biographies and historical books."

As Associate Professor, I teach Shakespeare and early modern drama, although my specialisms are broader and interdisciplinary, blending Shakespeare with medical histories, archaeology, art history, race and post-colonial studies, gender studies, and the histories of magic and superstition.

I created a module exploring Shakespeare’s representation of the human body from a range of disciplinary angles and approaches, and co-created another examining Shakespeare across global cultures and national contexts.

It is my work with students that I considers foremost, and part of the legacy of the Fellowship:

"My most important achievement is helping countless students through their studies. Many students taking my MA modules have gone on to pursue PhDs in the same fields.

I am also thrilled and honoured to have supervised numerous students through their PhDs, almost all of whom have published their first monographs, some already in permanent employment as academics."

Public engagement and artistic pursuits

Throughout my career, I've focuses on public projects supporting individuals from marginalised communities, connecting creative fields with critical disability studies and encouraging poets and creatives from diverse backgrounds to engage with Shakespeare and women's histories.

As a poet, I published 'Bleed and See' (Broken Sleep Books), which was shortlisted for the Eric Gregory Poetry Awards and recounts my experience as a long-term carer for a family member with a terminal neurological condition.

I also co-edited 'Anne-thology: Poems Re-Presenting Anne Shakespeare' (Broken Sleep Books), a Poetry Book of the Year for both the Telegraph and Guardian. The project brought poets from diverse social and ethnic backgrounds and members of differently abled and neurodiverse communities into contact with Shakespeare’s life and works, and is currently being expanded into a larger creative project.

My practice has been informed in crucial ways by the ethos of the British Academy and the opportunities it provided to learn about the mechanisms of Public Policy and the ways in which research can bring about wider social and political changes.

This drive to diversify creative and Shakespeare/theatre studies and industries led me to co-create the Shakespeare Beyond Borders Alliance (SBBA) and EQUALity Shakespeare (EQUALS) initiatives, which both work to bring diverse communities together to discuss Shakespeare and theatre, and collaborate across disciplinary, social and ethnic divides.

The Postdoctoral Fellowship has played a central role in the development of his outreach and creative work.

This is why the British Academy is so important. It doesn't simply enable individuals to progress in their own careers; it empowers them to help others in their own education, training and career paths.

For every individual the British Academy supports, it lights a torch which is passed on to others.

I'm now working on my seventh and eighth contracted books, and developing a project focusing on Shakespeare, creativity and caring practice.

The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship was a sliding-doors moment in my life. It changed my career trajectory, helped me secure a permanent academic post, and enabled my interdisciplinary research.

"No words can ever express my gratitude to the British Academy.

The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship was a sliding-doors moment in my life. It changed my career trajectory, helped me secure a permanent academic post, and enabled my interdisciplinary research."

Programme: Postdoctoral Fellowship 2007

Project title: The Queen's Soldier: The Life and Works of Elizabeth Russell

Award dates: 2007 – 2010