Oliver Jakes

Thesis title: British Theatre and the Commodification of Virtue, c.1770-1832

Supervisor: David Francis Taylor

Research interests: Theatre history; gender; politics and economics in the long eighteenth century; Shakespeare

My research focuses on the relationship between gender and economics in long eighteenth century drama. I am particularly interested in the theatre as a site for cultivating the public's financial literacy and exploring different forms of value. My approach draws on Marxist philosophy and Judith Butler's model of gender as a site of performance, as well as Enlightenment commentary on trade, colonialism, marriage and the law. I am currently looking at writing by Elizabeth Inchbald, Hannah Cowley, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, William Hazlitt and Charles Lamb.

I am a firm believer in the importance of academic projects that emphasise public engagement. At the University of Cambridge I helped to edit Joanna Baillie's comedy, The Tryal (1798), for a rehearsed reading at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds. This theatrical revival project was organised by the University of Essex and funded by the British Association for Romantic Studies. I am also a lecturer for the 2025-2026 series of Balliol College, University of Oxford's 'Insight into Humanities Talks', and will be presenting a talk entitled 'Performing Gender: Cross-dressing and Androgyny on the Eighteenth Century Stage' in January. These talks aim to spark interest in the humanities among students aged 16-18.

I am the current recipient of the Leon-E and Iris L Beghian Graduate Scholarship at Magdalen College.