91ÖÆƬ³§

The mysteries of the Shakespeares’ Marriage

Professor Nicoleta Cinpoes (University of Worcester), Rev Dr Paul Edmondson (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) and Professor Gary Watt (University of Warwick)

In collaboration with 91ÖÆƬ³§Archive and Archaeology Service

Following the sell-out success of our previous event earlier this year, the panel will reunite and be joined by law expert Prof Gary Watt (University of Warwick). 

This is a rare opportunity to view the Shakespeare marriage documentation, held in The Hive, followed by an exploration of the mysteries of the documents, marriage in the period and the plays with internationally renowned Shakespeare experts, in light of recent scholarship and the two documents discovered in 2025 questioning the traditional narratives of the Shakespeares’ marriage.

• Why were the Shakespeares married in Worcester?
• Where did the marriage take place?
• How unusual the marriage was and what it meant to the Shakespeares?
• What are the cultural depictions and afterlives of this marriage, in Shakespeare’s work and biography?

The panel discussion will run 6:30pm-8pm.  General admission tickets provide entry to the talk only. The original archival material is only accessible via timed archival tours. 

Tours of the strong room are limited and timed tickets must be booked with your event admission. Tickets include an archive tour and admission to the panel discussion. 

Archive Tours are at 5:00pm-5:30pm and 5:45pm-6:15pm bookable below. Please note that if you book an Archive Tour your ticket includes a main event ticket so please don't book on for the panel talk separately.

Tour at 5pm and talk at 6:30pm:

Tour at 5:45pm and talk at 6:30pm:

Just the talk: 

Please note that the panel discussion event is free but Archive Tours are chargeable and cost £5 per person. 

The panel discussion will be recorded and streamed to international partner organisation. 

Speaker Biographies

Rev. Dr Paul Edmondson is Local Studies Specialist at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, an Honorary Fellow of The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, a Visiting Professor in Human Rights, Birmingham City University. and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford.

His publications include work on Shakespeare's plays and poems, biography, and cultural reception, for example:  Finding Shakespeare’s New Place: an archaeological biography (with Kevin Colls and William Mitchell); A Year of Shakespeare: Re-living the World Shakespeare Festival (with Paul Prescott and Erin Sullivan); and, in collaboration with Stanley Wells, The Shakespeare Circle: An Alternative Biography; and All the Sonnets of Shakespeare.

He is a Trustee of the British Shakespeare Association, The Rose Theatre, and The Friends of Shakespeare’s Church.

He is a priest in the Church of England, and has lived and worked in Stratford-upon-Avon since 1995.

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Prof Nicoleta Cinpoes is Professor of Shakespeare Studies and International Experience Lead for the Institute of Arts and Humanities at the University of Worcester, UK, and Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Craiova, Romania. 

Her recent work has focused on European Shakespeare Festivals, especially on their role of empowering communities, facilitating mobility and engendering exchange. She co-edited the volume Shakespeare on the European Festival Stages (Bloomsbury, 2022) with Florence March and Paul Prescott. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine she has conducted, with Dr Imke Lichterfeld, Shakespeare Shelter, a series of events and related initiative to support Ukrainian colleagues. In 2024 she has conducted seminal work in the launch of the Ivano Frankivsk International Shakespeare Festival, Ukraine (June) and co-organised the Chisinau International Shakespeare Festival, Moldova (October), both of which are doing crucial work in guarding heritage and preserving national identity in the face of continuing Russia aggression.

She completed three mandates on the Board of ESRA: the European Shakespeare Research Association in 2025, is a founding member of CEESRA: the Central and Eastern European Shakespeare Research Association. Since 2010, she has been organising and curating the Shakespeare in Performance Seminar series at the Craiova International Shakespeare Festival, Romania, and since 2023 has been the International Adviser for the York International Shakespeare Festival. 

She is a research activist, theatre historian and dramaturge, and, on occasion, a translator from/into Romanian.

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Gary Watt is a Professor in the School of Law, The University of Warwick. He was a founding co-editor of the journal Law and Humanities and is General Editor of Bloomsbury’s A Cultural History of Law. As a National Teaching Fellow and national ‘Law Teacher of the Year’ (2009), he for many years delivered rhetoric workshops for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His writing on Shakespeare includes Shakespeare’s Acts of Will (Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2016) and Shakespeare and the Law (Oxford Shakespeare Topics, OUP, October 2024). 

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Tom Mandall is Academic Liaison Librarian for the Institute of Arts and Humanities, University of Worcester. Tom has previously worked in a range of student experience, engagement and welfare roles across HE before joining Library Services in 2023. 

Tom has degrees in English Literature and recently completed his PGCertLTHE at University of Worcester. Since 2021, he has collaborated with Museums 91ÖÆƬ³§on research projects including performance artists Ginny Lemon and Vesta Tilley, artist and activists Laurence and Clemence Housman and the region’s extensive and surprising queer histories.