Harry R. McCarthy (offline)

@harrymccarthy.bsky.social

1647 Followers 556 Following

Assistant Professor of English at USC. Early modern childhood, race, gender, education, and performance. Book on boy actors with @cambridgeup.bsky.social. Next book sometime, somewhere. https://dornsife.usc.edu/profile/harry-mccarthy/

Harry is sitting at a restaurant table on a terrace, wearing a white silk shirt and black sunglasses, and sipping from a martini glass
'Cattle of this Colour': Boy Actors and Early Modern Trans Studies Boy actors and the so-called 'transvestite stage' have an uneasy relationship with early modern trans studies. In a field dominated by explorations of gendered clothing and tantalising moments of 'reveal,' the insights of trans studies, and trans people, are all too readily elided. This paper will consider whether there is a place for boy actors in early modern trans studies by offering a reading of characters like Rosalind in As You Like It which extends beyond the easy slippage from one set of clothes to another and centralises the intersecting production of gendered and racial categories to which trans studies writ large has always been trying to direct our attention. In the process, it will offer a consideration of what the mutually constitutive fields of premodern trans and critical race studies have to offer to theatre history. Harry R. McCarthy is the author of Boy Actors in Early Modern England (Cambridge, 2022) and Performing Early Modern Drama Beyond Shakespeare (Cambridge, 2020). He recently published a new critical introduction to Titus Andronicus for the Oxford World's Classics Series (2025). Currently a Lecturer in English at the University of Exeter, in August he will take up the post of Assistant Professor of Early Modern Literature at the University of Southern California.
Harry is wearing a black and white patterned shirt with open collar, and black sunglasses.
A pile of five books - from top to bottom: Simone Chess, Male-to-Female Crossdressing in Early Modern English Literature Gillan Knoll and Joseph Gamble (eds), The Kinky Renaissance Colby Gordon, Glorious Bodies Jennifer Drouin (ed.), Shakespeare/Sex Will Tosh, Straight Acting
Image shows the cover of The Kinky Renaissance, edited by Gillian Knoll and Joseph Gamble. The cover depicts a black and white photo of a woman's face, with painted red lips and a black leather Elizabethan-style ruff around her neck.
Image shows the frontage of a bar called ‘don’t tell Titus…’ - a poster in the window reads ‘The New and Original don’t tell Titus… Opening soon!’
Image shows the view of LA from Griffith Park - there is an expanse of scrubland and trees in the foreground, and in the distance the sun sets on the horizon.
Poster for the Oxford Early Modern Literature Seminar events for this term. Details are in the post.
John Duncan’s painting ‘Angus Og, God of Love and Courtesy, Putting a Spell of Summer Calm on the Sea,’ depicting a youthful, semi-naked winged god with long red hair standing on a sea rock, singing.
Image shows a copy of Nigella Christmas, with Nigella in a red cardigan holding a platter of roast potatoes on the cover. There is a piece of paper with ‘Christmas’ written at the top and a gold fountain pen resting on the book.
A photograph of the vaulted ceiling, pillars, stained glass windows and altar inside Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris.
Black and white photograph of Harry wearing a black and white check shirt with revere collar, sitting at a restaurant table with his hands raised. A pigeon claw is hanging out of the corner of his mouth.
Text reads: MADAM, We have here at this time Cold with all its Potent Strength, as an Army of Flakes of Snow, with Ammunition of Hail for Bullets, and Wind for Powder […] Shooting forth the Peircing Darts, which fly so Thick and Fast, and are so Sharp, as they Enter into every Pore of the Flesh; although Mankind bring what Strength they can get against Cold, as an Army of Furs, where every Hair stands out like a Squadron of Pikes, to Resist Cold’s Assault; and Ammunition of Coals serves for Bullets, and Ashes for Powder, with great Loggs for Cannons, where the Bellows are Fire-locks, make them fly up in a Flame; also great Pieces of Beef for Men of War, with Cabbage for Sails, Sawsages for Tacklings, Carrots for Guns, and Marrow-bones for Masts, Ballasted with Pepper, and Pitch’d or Tarr’d with Mustard, the Steers-men Cooks, besides many Pinnaces of Pork, Mutton, and Veal, all which Swim in a Large Sea of Wine, Beer, and Ale; yet for all this we are Beaten into the Chimney-corner, and there we sit Shaking and Trembling like a Company of Cowards, that dare not stir from their Shelter […] The text is accompanied by an etching of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, standing on a pedestal in classically-inspired dress and flanked by two Grecian statues.
A whiteboard showing a complex diagram of the connections (marriages and murders) between the central characters in Richard III
A screenshot of a BBC News notification reading ‘A Ford Escort, worship bells and Irn-Bru: Artist Jasleen Kaur wins Turner Prize for work celebrating Scottish Sikh community.’
The dramatically lit oil painting depicts Richard, dressed in a tight-fitting blue and red singlet with a red cross painted on the front, jumping out of bed with his right foot on the ground and his left leg still partially under the covers. Richard holds a spear in his right hand and is looking to his left, with his left arm outstretched behind him. The left side of his singlet has been pulled down, revealing his muscular chest and arm.
A tall, wide Christmas tree in front of a large bay window hung with Venetian blinds. The tree is decorated with warm white lights red and gold ornaments, and is topped with a gold star. A grey armchair sits to the right of the tree - in the foreground there is a trunk coffee table with a pile of books on top. A martini sits on top of the books.
A magazine ad reading: Delicate yet full-flavoured, Waitrose No. 1 Tearless Onions (£1.60/3) are specially grown to ensure you don’t start crying as soon as you chop them. Developed over 30 years using traditional farming methods, they’re sweet and crunchy, without the sting.
Image shows the actor Layton Williams I the role of Emcee in Cabaret. Layton, a young Black man, wears black eyeshadow and black lipstick, and a black lace shirt with puffed sleeves and frilled cuffs, accentuated with large pearls arranged in the pattern of a ribcage. He has long black claws and holds his hands up to the sky with his head thrown back, eyes closed, and mouth wide open.
Screenshot of email reads: Dear Harry and Emma, I hope you are both well and having a good week? Just to let you know, production of Titus Andronicus is now complete and the book is with our Manufacturing team. The release date is scheduled for 13th February 2025.
Cover of Beloved by Toni Morrison
A roasted shoulder of lamb on a white oval platter with black and platinum rim. Two silver forks rest the edge of the plate.
Title page of En finir avec Eddy Belleguele by Édouard Louis
Cover of Mr Loverman by Bernadine Evaristo
A whiteboard depicting a mind map with ‘What is Nashe’s PROBLEM?’ at the centre.
Cover of The Prophets, by Robert Jones, Jr
Cover of Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light
The cover of the Oxford World's Classics edition of Titus Andronicus, depicting two white men suspended from the ceiling and bleeding from their throats, a veiled white woman in classical Roman dress with no hands standing between them, and a large pie in the foreground.
The cover of Okechukwu Nzelu's Here Again Now
A floral-patterned plate with a gold rim, with ‘WHAT A FUCKED UP TIME TO BE ALIVE’ written in the centre
A chocolate fondant with a quenelle of vanilla ice cream in a white china bowl
The cover of The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Image shows three duck legs in a roasting tin, with salt, garlic, and thyme scattered over the top
The cover of Boy Actors in Early Modern England