Kitty is a DPhil student at Merton College working on the interrelationships between women’s activities, objects, and the question of agency in the material culture of regional theatre. Kitty works cross-period engaging with theatre from the nineteenth century right up to productions being performed today. Her engagement with material culture studies and feminist theory promotes an interdisciplinary approach to her research. The project builds upon her thesis on suffrage drama completed for the MSt in Women’s Studies, also undertaken at the University of Oxford.
Kitty's DPhil is facilitated by an AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) designed to foster the exchange of knowledge between academia and regional theatres. Consequently, she is working closely with The Theatre Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire and the Royal & Derngate in Northampton for the duration of the project. Her research is built upon eight years’ experience working in costume and wig departments both in regional and London theatres.