Step into the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as we illuminate an untold aspect of Shakespeare’s world in an enlightening panel discussion, Shakespeare’s Many Queer Lives, with Globe Head of Research Will Tosh.

What does Twelfth Night’s Antonio mean to Sebastian? Why does Emilia in The Two Noble Kinsmen scorn love between ‘sex dividual’? And what are we to make of the throuple that closes The Merchant of Venice?

From the queer cultures of early modern England to contemporary re-imaginings of his work, this in-conversation event shines a light on the many ways in which Shakespeare’s plays allow us a better understanding of the queerness of his lifetime and myriad lenses through which we can explore our own identities today.

Will is joined by fellow author Allen Bratton and Professor Emma Smith (Hertford College, Oxford).

This event is in celebration of Will’s new book Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare, published by Sceptre in June 2024, and Allen’s new novel Henry Henry out now from Vintage.