Dr. Benjamin Broadribb

@benbroadribb.bsky.social

990 Followers 1245 Following

Performance Reviews Editor for Shakespeare Bulletin | Shakespeare on screen(s) | Shakespop | metamodernism | performance | adaptation | cinema | theatre | he/him/his

Part of the first page of "The BBC's Television Adaptations of Henry VI and Britain's National Identity Crises" by Benjamin Broadribb, published in Shakespeare Survey 78.
Back To The Future Part III movie poster
Shakespeare Association of America Conference, Denver CO 1-4 April 2026 Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet at Thirty Organisers: Gemma Kate Allred, Benjamin Broadribb, Edel Semple This seminar explores the legacy of Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) across Shakespearean culture and global popular culture. We invite papers considering Romeo + Juliet’s legacy across cultures and media, exploring how Luhrmann’s film has influenced the performance and adaptation of Shakespeare; where, how, and why echoes and aftershocks of Romeo + Juliet can be found in cultural objects from the past three decades; and the evolution of the film’s reception and status over time. This seminar will be convened in two parts: an in-person session held in Denver, and a virtual session held online. seminar will be convened in two parts: This seminar will be convened in two parts: an in-person session held in Denver, and a virtual session held online.
Montage of images: cover of Hannah Capin's novel Foul Is Fair; cover of Chloe Gong's novel Immortal Longings; poster for Tim Blake Nelson's 2001 film O; poster for Claire McCarthy's 2018 film Ophelia; promo image for David West Read's 2019 musical & Juliet; cover art for the original Broadway cast recording of musical Something Rotten!; promo image for James Ijames's 2021 play Fat Ham; screenshot from Marvel's What If... The Avengers Assembled in 1602; poster for Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's 2018 play Emilia; poster for HBO Max series Station Eleven (2021-22); an internet meme featuring a quote from Macbeth and the Droeshout portrait of Shakespeare, and a quote from the AMC series Breaking Bad (2008-14) and a picture of Anna Gunn as Skyler White; a screenshot of a Red Bull TV advert featuring Shakespeare writing a play while drinking Red Bull; a screenshot of Romeo & Juliet: The Musical as featured in the Netflix series Sex Education (2019-23).
World Shakespeare Congress, Verona 20-26 July 2026 Shakespeare’s Tragedies and their Twenty-First-Century Reverberations Organisers: Gemma Kate Allred, Benjamin Broadribb, Edel Semple This seminar explores reverberations of Shakespeare’s tragedies across a range of twenty-first-century media. Venturing beyond the safely-charted territory of traditional stage and screen performances, the seminar considers how Shakespeare’s tragic protagonists, narratives, themes, and tropes haunt, echo in, or inspire contemporary cultural objects. Papers may address tragic echoes and textual hauntings in drama, film, TV, prose, advertising, and other media. Key questions include: why do twenty-first-century artists look to Shakespeare’s tragedies; how can these echoes and hauntings illuminate Shakespeare’s tragedies; and how might reverberations galvanise shifts away from imbalanced power structures, and towards greater empathy and equality for historically marginalised communities? 
Video text: "POV: You're watching 1996's Romeo and Juliet when Mercutio comes on-screen to 'Young Hearts Run Free'". Below this, footage of Luhrmann's R+J featuring Mercutio at the Capulet ball. Superimposed is footage of Maya Rudolph with an awestruck expression.
Meme text: "Hey I just met you and this is crazy / but marry me in three days and commit mutual suicide". Behind this, a screenshot of Luhrmann's R+J featuring Juliet and Romeo.
Post text: "im too much of a baby for tinder i wanna meet people the old fashioned way where we're both on either side of a fish tank and notice each other thru the water..." Below this, a screenshot from Luhrmann's R+J featuring Romeo and Juliet seeing each other through a fish tank.
Post text: "POV: you are a high school freshman in English class and your life is about to be changed forever". Below this, a production photo from Luhrmann's R+J featuring Romeo, Mercutio and the Montague boys.
A production photo from Sam Gold's production of Romeo + Juliet.
The poster for Raymond O. Caldwell's production of Romeo and Juliet.
A photo of the screening of R+J at the Sycamore Grove proscenium arch during Secret Cinema's production of R+J.
A production photo featuring the company of Daniel Kramer's Romeo and Juliet.
Screenshot from Gnomeo & Juliet.
A screenshot from Almereyda's Hamlet.
Headline reads "Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet is as Irreplaceable as Ever" above an image of Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio as Juliet and Romeo from Luhrmann's film.
"I've seen Shakespeare done in drag. I've seen Richard III as a Nazi. I've seen The Tempest as science fiction and as a Greek travelogue. I've seen Prince Hal and Falstaff as homosexuals in Portland. I've seen King Lear as a samurai drama and Macbeth as a mafia story, and two different Romeo and Juliets about ethnic difficulties in Manhattan (West Side Story and China Girl), but I have never seen anything remotely approaching the mess that the new punk version of Romeo & Juliet makes of Shakespeare's tragedy."
The back cover of the CD release of R+J's soundtrack.
Screenshot of our seminar abstract. Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet at Thirty This seminar explores the legacy of Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996) across Shakespearean culture and global popular culture. We invite papers considering Romeo + Juliet's legacy across cultures and media, exploring how Luhrmann's film has influenced the performance and adaptation of Shakespeare; where, how, and why echoes and aftershocks of Romeo + Juliet can be found in cultural objects from the past three decades; and the evolution of the film's reception and status over time.
The theatrical release poster for Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996)
03. Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet at Thirty (Session B, Virtual Session) Gemma Kate Allred (Université de Neuchâtel) Benjamin Broadribb (London, UK) Edel Semple (University College Cork) This seminar explores the legacy of Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) across Shakespearean culture and global popular culture. We invite papers considering Romeo + Juliet’s legacy across cultures and media, exploring how Luhrmann’s film has influenced the performance and adaptation of Shakespeare; where, how, and why echoes and aftershocks of Romeo + Juliet can be found in cultural objects from the past three decades; and the evolution of the film’s reception and status over time. Preference for Session B will be given to international members facing travel restrictions.
03. Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet at Thirty (Session A) Gemma Kate Allred (Université de Neuchâtel) Benjamin Broadribb (London, UK) Edel Semple (University College Cork) This seminar explores the legacy of Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) across Shakespearean culture and global popular culture. We invite papers considering Romeo + Juliet’s legacy across cultures and media, exploring how Luhrmann’s film has influenced the performance and adaptation of Shakespeare; where, how, and why echoes and aftershocks of Romeo + Juliet can be found in cultural objects from the past three decades; and the evolution of the film’s reception and status over time.
S27. Shakespeare’s Tragedies and their Twenty-First-Century Reverberations Organisers: Gemma Kate Allred, Benjamin Broadribb, Edel Semple Description: This seminar explores reverberations of Shakespeare’s tragedies across a range of twenty-first-century media. Venturing beyond the safely-charted territory of traditional stage and screen performances, the seminar considers how Shakespeare’s tragic protagonists, narratives, themes, and tropes haunt, echo in, or inspire contemporary cultural objects. Papers may address tragic echoes and textual hauntings in drama, film, TV, prose, advertising, and other media. Key questions include: why do twenty-first-century artists look to Shakespeare’s tragedies; how can these echoes and hauntings illuminate Shakespeare’s tragedies; and how might reverberations galvanise shifts away from imbalanced power structures, and towards greater empathy and equality for historically marginalised communities? 
The front cover of Authenticity and Adaptation, edited by Christina Wilkins. The cover is red and black, and features a photo of a white porcelain face/mask on the left and a skull on top of a pile of books with white roses in front of them on the right.
Author: Benjamin Broadribb '“The Future Is Gonna Be Better Than Today”: The Metamodern Theatre of Verbatim Musical Public Domain' Abstract: Metamodernism has increasingly been put forward as the predominant cultural logic of the opening decades of the twenty-first century, shifting away from or beyond the postmodern sensibility of the late twentieth century. This article puts forward the verbatim musical Public Domain, written and performed by Francesca Forristal and Jordan Paul Clarke, as a key example of metamodern theatre. Through close analysis of Public Domain’s livestreamed run from Southwark Playhouse in January 2021, performed under lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, this article demonstrates how Forristal and Clarke, together with director Adam Lenson, achieve metamodernism’s oscillating aesthetic and emphasis on felt experience. I explore how Public Domain utilises the verbatim musical form, their chosen subject matter of social media and online culture, and pandemic performance modes and aesthetics to evince a metamodern sensibility. Specifically, I consider the “depthiness” of Forristal and Clarke’s music, lyrics, and performances, and how this was brought out further through Lenson’s directorial decisions for Public Domain’s livestreamed run. In doing so, I propose that Public Domain is exemplary in demonstrating the metamodern shift in theatrical aesthetics and online culture as well as providing an important cultural artefact of pandemic performance. Keywords: metamodernism; depthiness; verbatim theatre; musical theatre; digital theatre; COVID-19; pandemic performance; Francesca Forristal; Jordan Paul Clarke; Adam Lenson; Public Domain
Two copies (one on top of the other) of Lockdown Shakespeare: New Evolutions in Performance and Adaptation, edited by Gemma Kate Allred, Benjamin Broadribb and Erin Sullivan.
A yellow slide with a woman's face in the centre and two men's faces to the side. The text reads: 'Meta(Early)modern: Creation Theatre's lockdown digital productions of The Duchess of Malfi and The Witch of Edmonton. Benjamin Broadribb, Bluesky: @benbroadribb.bsky.social, Metamodern Theatre Symposium, University of East London, Tuesday 19 November 2024'.
A poster for University of East London Metamodern Theatre Symposium featuring a person wearing a VR headset and holding a bunch of flowers, and a picture of the front cover of Tom Drayton's book 'Metamodernism in Contemporary British Theatre'.
A screenshot from series one, episode one, of Inside No. 9, 'Sardines', depicting Anne Reid, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Timothy West, and Marc Wootton hiding in a wardrobe.
First page of Call for Abstracts for "Inside No. 9: Affect, Form, Genre" An edited collection, ed. Benjamin Broadribb.
Screenshot of a tweet from Dr. Benjamin Broadribb from 16 June 2022: 'Lockdown Shakepeare: New Evolutions in Performance and Adaptation is published by @Ardenpublisher today! 🥳 I'm immensely proud of this volume, which it's been a real pleasure and privilege to bring to fruition with my brilliant co-editors @gemmaallred and @_erinsullivan_ /1' The front cover and title page of the book appear below the text.