I am a part-time PhD student at the University of Warwick. My research interests include women’s performance in early-modern Scotland, and the festival relationship between Italy and England in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

Academic Profile

PhD in the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, University of Warwick (2012-Present, Part-time)

The Cultural World of The Haringtons of Exton, 1570-1627 (working title)

Supervisors: Dr Margaret Shewring (School of Theatre Studies) and Dr Jonathan Davies (Department of History)

MA in the Culture of the European Renaissance, University of Warwick

Dissertation: A Culture of Performance: Mary, Queen of Scots and her court entertainments from 1561 to 1566

Supervisor: Dr Margaret Shewring

Class: Distinction

Publications

‘Case Study: Mary, Queen of Scots’ Aquatic Entertainments for the Wedding of John Fleming, fifth Lord Fleming to Elizabeth Ross, May 1562’ ed. Margaret Shewring in Waterborne Pageants and Festivities in the Renaissance (Aldershot and Burlington VT: Ashgate, due early 2013).

Contribution to ‘Wedding and Christenings’ chapter ed. Margaret M. McGowan, Ronnie Mulryne and Margaret Shewring, in the upcoming Research Companion to Early Modern European Festivals (Ashgate).

Scholarships and Grants

Grant from the Early Modern Forum, University of Warwick to attend the Palatium and Society for European Festivals Research Conference on ‘Making Space for Festival, 1400-1700. Interactions of Architecture and Performance in Late Medieval and Early Modern Festivals’ from 21 to 24 March 2013 and produce a conference website.

Grant from the Academica Belgica to attend the Summer school ‘Roma in Festa. Staging and Experiencing Festival Culture in Early Modern Rome’ in Rome from 9 to 5 July 2012

Grant from the Society for Renaissance Studies to participate in the Queen’s House Conference on ‘Renaissance Women’s Performance and the Dramatic Canon’ from 14 to 15 July 2010

Grant from the School of Theatre Studies, University of Warwick to present a poster on ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ court entertainments’ at and attend the ‘Waterborne Pageants and Festivities in the Renaissance’ Conference in Venice from 18 to 20 March 2010

Undergraduate Research Scholarship (URSS) to Archive Footsbarn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream from May 2008 to July 2008 at Capital Centre, University of Warwick

Academic Responsibilities and other activities

Member of the Society for European Festivals Research from 2009 to Present

Member of the Steering Group for the University of Warwick’s Renaissance Festivals Website from 2008 to Present

Pesala Bandara

P dot Bandara at warwick dot ac dot uk