I am a theatre historian whose work focuses on popular stage performance and celebrity performers in the long nineteenth century. I have published on the theatre industry and charity, skirt and serpentine dance, celebrity performers including Jane Avril, Yvette Guilbert and Lillie Langtry and the role of theatre history in theatre redevelopment, particularly in relation to the Bristol Old Vic. My work has appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals including Theatre Research International and New Theatre Quarterly and has been funded by the AHRC, the British Academy and the Society for Theatre Research. My work includes two monographs Female Performance Practice on the Fin-de-Siecle Stage (Manchester University Press, 2007) and London's West End Actresses and the Origins of Celebrity Charity, 1880-1920 (Studies in Theatre History and Culture, University of Iowa Press, 2016).

Currently I am working on a research project that focuses on theatre and performance in three British Industrial Villages: Port Sunlight, Bournville and New Earswick. I am also writing about the experience of teaching with archives of theatre history in partnership with a theatrical organisation, in this case the Bristol Old Vic.