This two-day, in-person conference will explore developing traditions of silence in dramatic texts from antiquity to the Renaissance. Papers are sought from scholars across a range of fields, including classical reception, comparative literature, and medieval and/or early modern English literature. Topics may include:

• - mute characters and/or characters who never appear on stage;

• - characters who gain or lose the power of speech (welcoming
  perspectives e.g. from disability studies);

• - dramatic silence as represented on page and/or stage (e.g. book
  history approaches and/or performance studies);

• - the history and/or function of animals on stage;

• - the relationship of dramatic silence to music and/or
  inarticulacy;

• - representations of dramatic silence in contemporary discursive
  texts;

• - dumb shows;

• - silence in neo-Latin drama.
  
  Speakers will include Elisabeth Dutton (Fribourg), Barbara Ravelhofer (Durham), and Julie Stone Peters (Columbia).
  
  Please submit a 250-word abstract for a 20-minute paper to John Colley (stagingsilence@gmail.com) by noon on Thursday 9 January 2025. Preference will be given to papers with an interdisciplinary and/or comparative focus. It’s anticipated that early career speakers will be able to apply for travel bursaries.