Dr Harry Derbyshire BSc, MA, PhD, SFHEA

Associate Professor English Literature and Drama

Dr Harry Derbyshire studied at the University of Warwick and then King's College, London where his doctoral thesis examined the reception of Harold Pinter's later work. He has taught at the University of Greenwich since 2003, and has been Programme Leader for BA English Literature since 2007. He is Academic Portfolio Lead for English Literature, and in 2022 was recognised as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy via the University’s GOLD scheme. He has published several scholarly pieces on Harold Pinter, as well as articles on the culture of new writing in the 2000s, verbatim theatre and human rights, representation and artistic directorship in the London theatre, and the work of playwrights Edward Bond, Caryl Churchill, James Graham, debbie tucker green, Arnold Wesker and Roy Williams. He has also worked over a long period with the University’s Honorary Research Fellow Pam Schweitzer MBE and colleagues in Drama to maximise the benefit of her Reminiscence Theatre Archive to students at Greenwich and the local community.

Drama English

English language and literature

Responsibilities within the university
  • Academic Portfolio Lead, English Literature
  • Programme Leader, BA English Literature and BA English Literature with Creative Writing
  • Admissions Tutor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Module Leader, Literary Forms of Representation
  • Module leader, Poetry and Drama in Context
  • Module tutor, Unreal City: London and Modernity

Awards

Nominated (2023) for the Student Success Award (This Is Our Time Staff Awards)
Nominated (2022) for the Unsung Hero of the Year Award (This Is Our Time Staff Awards)
Nominated (2021) for the Greenwich Excellence Award (This Is Our Time Staff Awards)
Nominated (2021) for Lecturer of the Year (Student Led Teaching Awards)
Nominated (2019) for Extra Mile Award, Inspirational Teaching Award and Outstanding Personal Tutor Award (Student Led Teaching Awards)
Nominated (2017) for the Extra Mile Award (Student Led Teaching Awards)

Recognition

    Since 2008, Dr Derbyshire has been the Director of the European Reminiscence Network. In 2022 he was recognised as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy via the University’s GOLD scheme.

    Dr Derbyshire is regularly consulted on prospective new publications in the field of theatre and has been invited to contribute introductions to two plays re-published as part of the Methuen Modern Classics series, most recently James Graham's Ink (2020).

Research / Scholarly interests

Dr Derbyshire's research focus has been on British playwriting in the modern and contemporary period, with an emphasis on the politics of reception and representation. He has published on the playwrights Edward Bond, Caryl Churchill, James Graham, Harold Pinter, Arnold Wesker and Roy Williams. In collaboration with law scholar Loveday Hodson from the University of Leicester, Harry has written about verbatim theatre and the work of debbie tucker green in relation to human rights.

He has spoken at numerous conferences, including the 2019 Comparative Drama conference in Orlando, Florida where he presented a paper on artistic directorship and the politics of representation in London theatres which has since been expanded to form a contribution to a 2022 special issue of Comparative Drama dedicated to ‘London’s Theatre’, which he co-edited with Dr Nicholas Holden and Professor Mark O’Thomas.

Since 2005 Dr Derbyshire has worked closely with colleagues in the Drama programme team to develop a relationship with pioneer of Reminiscence Theatre Pam Schweitzer MBE; this resulted in the University’s acquisition of her extensive archive in 2013. Work to disseminate both Schweitzer’s innovative methods and our new ways of developing and interrogating them has been ongoing, via a series of international symposia and conferences and the ever-expanding Reminiscence Theatre Archive website (https://www.reminiscencetheatrearchive.org.uk/).

Recent publications

Article

Derbyshire, Henry , Holden, Nicholas, O'Thomas, Mark (2022), Introduction - There's no place like London: theatrical landscapes of a city in recovery. Western Michigan University. In: , , , . Western Michigan University, Comparative Drama, 56: 1 (1&2) . pp. 1-11 ISSN: 0010-4078 (Print), (doi: https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.2022.0000).

Derbyshire, Harry and , (2022), ‘Creating change where it matters the most’: artistic directorship and representation in the London theatre. Western Michigan University. In: , , , . Western Michigan University, Comparative Drama, 56 (1-2) . pp. 199-226 ISSN: 0010-4078 (Print), (doi: https://doi.org/10.1353/cdr.2022.0008).

Derbyshire, Henry and , (2016), Caryl Churchill’s 21st Century Poetics: Theatre form and feminism from far away to Ding Dong the Wicked. De Gruyter Mouton. In: , , , . De Gruyter Mouton, Journal of Contemporary Drama in English, 4 (2) . pp. 367-384 2195-0164 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/jcde-2016-0021).

Book section

Derbyshire, Henry and , (2021), The Theatre of the Absurd as professional network in Pinter’s early career. Bloomsbury. In: , , , Harold Pinter: Stages, Networks, Collaborations. Bloomsbury, . ISBN: 9781350133624 (doi: ).

Derbyshire, Henry and , Hodson, Loveday (2020), Engaging with human rights: truth and reconciliation and hang. Palgrave Macmillan. In: , , In: Sian Adiseshiah, Jacqueline Bolton (eds.), Debbie Tucker Green: Critical Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, (1st) . pp. 89-108 . ISBN: 9783030345808 (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.

Derbyshire, Henry and , (2019), 'Let Battle Commence!': The Wesker Controversies. Intellect. In: , , In: Anne Etienne, Graham Saunders (eds.), Arnold Wesker: Fragments and Visions. Intellect, (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.

Derbyshire, Henry and , (2019), “Four-square behind the sputum”: dramatic form, female characters and implacable politics in Restoration and Summer. Peter Lang. In: , , In: Susana Nicolás Román (ed.), Women in Edward Bond. Peter Lang, . ISBN: 9783631773659 (doi: https://doi.org/10.3726/b15005) NB Item availability restricted.

Edited book

Derbyshire, Henry , Holden, Nicholas, O'Thomas, Mark, Knapper, Daniel (2022), Comparative Drama. University of Western Michigan. In: , , , . University of Western Michigan, Michigan, USA , 56 (1&2) (1st) . ISBN: 56, Number 1 & 2, Spring & Summer 2022 0010-4078 (Online) (doi: https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/47895).

View all publications