Unit 1 Postgraduate Study: What Are We Doing Here, and How Do We Do It?
Growing up in South Korea, I first encountered Shakespeare not in English but through Korean theatre and musical adaptations. I did not meaningfully experience his work in English until I visited the UK in 2011. When I shared my ambition to study Shakespeare in the UK, a few people responded with scepticism and wondered why anyone would study him today, suggesting that his language was outdated or even 'dead.' At the time, I found it difficult to explain why I still felt drawn to his work despite hearing these comments.
Collini's argument that the value of academic enquiry cannot be determined by immediate usefulness helped me clarify this.1 His idea that scholarship is an open-ended pursuit, supported by universities acting as partly protected spaces, offered a framework that made sense to me. Reading his article allowed me to respond internally to the doubt I had encountered in Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the UK, and helped me articulate why studying Shakespeare still feels meaningful in my own life.
My interest in Shakespeare has never been centred on the English language. Rather, I am fascinated by how his plays travel, transform, and are reimagined across cultures. Growing up watching Korean adaptations naturally made me wonder what happens when Shakespeare's work encounters different languages and cultural environments beyond English. Additionally, after living in Saudi Arabia for two years, I became especially curious about how Shakespeare might take root in a place where his work is still emerging. This raises questions about how his plays may be reshaped, translated, or reinterpreted in cultural landscapes sometimes described as 'Shakespeare deserts.'
This direction aligns closely with my identity as an actor and director. Understanding how text, culture, and performance interact will strengthen my ability to analyse character, story, and staging choices, while also supporting my long-term development as a theatre-maker who works across different countries and languages. Studying Shakespeare inevitably involves engaging with theatre history, British history, and feminist perspectives, and I believe these studies will enrich my creative practice rather than intimidate me.
Reflecting on all these ideas helped me understand why postgraduate study feels meaningful at this stage in my journey. It also offers a space where I can question, explore, and grow without needing to justify everything in terms of immediate practicality.
Unit 2 Textual Studies and Editing
During this unit, I realised that my learning unexpectedly connected with work I was doing outside the module. At the same time, I attended the final session of my Introduction to Directing course at Hampstead Theatre, where Kwame Owusu, the Revival Director of Titus Andronicus at the RSC, described approaching Shakespeare's text as if reading a musical score.2 Because I studied Music at Master's level, this analogy resonated and encouraged me to approach Shakespeare's textual cues with greater sensitivity.
During this week's task, when we compared early and modern versions of Shakespeare's texts, I began to recognise consistent patterns. The modern 'U' often appears as 'V' in early editions, and the character 'ʃ' represents the modern 's', such as in 'kiʃt' meaning 'kissed'. Once I understood these conventions, early texts felt far less intimidating. More importantly, I began to recognise how significantly modern editorial choices shape a reader's experience. Layout, punctuation, and the decision to use full character names can all influence how accessible a text becomes.
I was especially struck by the precision required in the emendation process. It demands wide historical knowledge as well as the ability to move between close attention to detail and a broader structural understanding. This made me reflect on how Korean Shakespeare productions choose their English source texts when creating translations or adaptations. In South Korea, authors' rights are not as strictly protected as in the UK, which makes it easier for directors or external authorities to alter dialogue or stage directions. While this flexibility can support creativity, it can also obscure authorial intention. Studying emendation helped me see these cultural differences more clearly.
I run a small theatre production, Nangman Theatre, where I often work as director, producer, performer and dramaturg, adapting novels and poems into music-reading theatre. These projects required flexible editing, and I frequently prioritised the client's needs and my own directorial ideas, deciding which parts of the text could be transformed into lyrics and freely reshaping or cutting lines. In doing so, I sometimes overlooked the author's original intention. This unit reminded me to reflect more critically on my textual decisions and to approach adaptation with greater responsibility.
Unit 3 Investigating Shakespeare's Historical Context
Exploring Early English Books Online (EEBO) was particularly valuable for me. I expect to rely heavily on this tool when preparing assessments and eventually my dissertation. It felt extraordinary to view actual early texts and encounter a broad range of materials that bring the early modern world closer. Because I have a personal interest in the relationship between music and drama, I was immediately drawn to the first item that appeared when I typed 'Hamlet' into EEBO: a song set by John Eccles and sung by Mr. Knapp in The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.3 I wanted to listen to it and even felt an urge to sit at a piano with the score, imagining how it might have sounded on an early modern stage. This brief moment allowed me to feel as though I were stepping into the world of Shakespeare's original audiences.
Reading William Kemp's Nine Days Wonder was another memorable experience.4 His voice felt lively and humorous, and his journey came across as unexpectedly charming. Through his writing, I glimpsed the working life of an early modern comedy actor. Kemp's text made the period feel vivid and human rather than distant.
This week also introduced me to Natasha Korda's chapter 'Much Ado About Ruffs: Laundry Time in Feminist Counter-Archives'.5 Her discussion of laundresses, ruffs maintenance, and the invisible labour supporting theatrical production offered a powerful reminder of how easily certain kinds of work disappear from history. This perspective connected closely to our broader discussions about visibility, marginal groups, and the challenges of reconstructing performance histories.
While I was reading this article, it reminded me of my own experience last summer at the National Theatre. After seeing Inter Alia, a wardrobe team member I knew gave me a backstage tour and explained how demanding the work becomes during Ballet Shoes season, with fast changes and heavy laundry cycles. Reading Korda's article made me recognise that this unseen labour is also part of theatre history. Reflecting on this helped me realise that I, too, participate in theatre history in my own small way. Theatre does not belong only to directors or principal actors but to everyone who contributes to making it happen.
Unit 4 Writing About Performance
This week, I found the resources we explored particularly valuable. Digital Theatre Plus, in particular, offered excellent video quality and access to numerous filmed past productions.6 Recently I have been especially interested in Hamlet's 'To be or not to be' soliloquy, and I became curious about how different editions emend this speech depending on their chosen copy text. One feature I especially appreciated in Digital Theatre Plus was the timeline organised by scene. With a single click, I could go directly to the 'To be or not to be' moment in each production, which made visual comparison incredibly convenient. Being able to watch the same scene across different stagings allowed me to notice interpretive differences far more clearly than I could through reading alone.
Our discussion of semiotics was also illuminating. I realised that I had been unconsciously mixing up the distinctions between icon, index, and symbol. Reviewing the definitions clarified them for me: an icon creates meaning through resemblance, an index through physical or causal connection, and a symbol through cultural convention. Having a clearer understanding has already changed the way I think about performance analysis.7 I now feel encouraged to apply this framework when watching performances, examining staging choices, and even when viewing visual art.
I also felt slightly regretful because if I had learned this earlier, I could have applied it to the performance review I recently wrote for the National Theatre of Korea magazine about Inter Alia. Still, I know there will be more opportunities to write reviews in the future, and I now feel better prepared to approach them in a more analytical and precise way. I plan to apply this approach when I see the upcoming RSC production of Twelfth Night.
On a slightly different note, I also realised how much my reading confidence has developed over the term. In Week 1, I often found academic texts difficult to follow, but by Week 9 I had become noticeably more comfortable navigating them. This change eased my initial anxiety and strengthened my confidence about continuing my postgraduate study.