2023 BritGrad Committee

Jane Addington-May (she/her)

​Jane is a current Shakespeare and Creativity MA student, with a background in classical dance performance and comparative literature. She is currently researching the gendered discourse of child murder in Early Modern drama, and maintains a passion for dance theatre and its place in Shakespeare performance. This is Jane’s first year on the committee, and is thrilled to be working with such a wonderful team in welcoming our global community to the 25th annual conference.

Holly Ellis (she/her)

Holly is in her final year her MA in Shakespeare Studies, her research interests tend to focus upon feminist approaches to Shakespeare, the sexual politics at work within the plays and how they can be viewed and understood in relation to the sexual politics of our contemporary. She is currently researching the issue of consent within Shakespeare’s problem plays. She feels very lucky to be a part of the committee organising the 25th anniversary of the annual British Graduate Shakespeare Conference, especially as it falls on the year of 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio. She really enjoyed chairing a panel at last year’s BritGrad and is looking forward to hearing everyone’s papers at the conference and working with a great team of people on the committee.

Saraya Haddad (she/her)

Saraya is a second year M4C funded PhD student at the Shakespeare Institute. Her PhD is titled Queer Creatures: Intersections between Queer Bodies and Early Modern Magic in the Works of Shakespeare and Beyond. It explores how the queer body intersects with magic in Renaissance plays and culture. Aside from this, her interests include: theatre, poetry, watching all the Real Housewives episodes, and being a crazy cat lady. She is thrilled to be returning to the Britgrad committee for a second time, and is thoroughly looking forward to hearing this year’s papers.

Tony Ferguson (he/him)

Tony is pleased to act as Britgrad Treasurer for a third consecutive year. He feels honoured to have been invited to continue this role in such a significant year and is looking forward to making the 25th year of Britgrad a memorable occasion for all involved.

Now an alumnus of the Shakespeare Institute Tony is concentrating upon his employed role as a Chartered Accountant, but in his free time he continues with some informal research into fiscal transactions within the Shakespearean canon. Tony is eager to speak to Britgrad scholars and researchers about all aspects of their study, but is particularly keen to discuss Shakespearean dowries and disobedient daughters.

Micaela Kluver (she/her)

Micaela is thrilled to be a part of the 25th annual BritGrad committee! Micaela is a 3rd year PhD student at the Shakespeare Institute, whose practice-led research focuses on teaching adaptation and devising methods to adolescent girls in response to Shakespeare’s portrayals of girlhood. This will be her fourth time serving on the BritGrad committee, having previously acted as Chair (2023), Publicity (2022), and IT Coordinator (2019). She looks forward to welcoming you all to Stratford-upon-Avon (both virtually and in-person) and to celebrating our quadricentennial year!

Isaac Chong (he/him)

Isaac is currently a third-year PhD student studying Macbeth and witchcraft in intercultural adaptations. He has, previously, worked on video editing work as well as spoken at BritGrad twice before. He is now excitedly returning to help the conference’s 25th year with maintaining its IT accessibilities.