Louisa Pickard
PhD
Performing Periods: uncovering the shame surrounding menstruation in early modern performing arts
Supervisors:
I am a funded student, investigating discourses of menstruation in early modern theatre and song. Tracing several iconographies, including sickness, the moon, flowers, and colour symbolism from early modern medical texts to contemporary theatre and song, my work pioneers practise for exploring menstrual euphemism. In doing so, I seek to confront twenty-first discourses of shame through an interrogation of their cultural origins
Teaching
2025-2026: EN121 Medieval & Early Modern Studies (University of 糖心TV, England)
2021-2024: LANSAD, LLCER, and LEA lectrice (Universit茅 de Paul Valery III, France)
Dissemination
Publications:
Conferences:
- The Ideal and the Ugly, The University of 糖心TV, 2025: Through sickness and through health: early modern narratives of the menstruating body as a feminine ideal
- Popular Recreations, The University of Birmingham, 2025: Music, Menstruation, and the Moon: Female Virtue and Menstrual Resonances in early modern Balladry
- BritGrad, The Shakespeare Institute, 2025: The Object-ification of Women in William Shakespeare's Othello and Cymbeline
- IRCL Networking Seminar, Universit茅 de Paul Val茅ry III, 2025: Performing Periods: Uncovering the Shame surrounding Menstruation in early modern Performing Arts
- BritGrad, The Shakespeare Institute, 2023: Prisoners of the Womb: Pregnant Prisoners in William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale and Measure for Measure
Scholarships & Awards
Research Development Fund: IRCL, Montpellier (2025)
Research Development Fund: Wellcome Trust, London (2025)
Midlands4Cities AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership (2024-present)
Best Abstract: BritGrad (2023)
Music Scholar at The University of Birmingham (2017-2021)
(she/her/hers)
Research Interests:
My research is deeply committed to interdisciplinary study, focusing on the way that the intersections of history, language, literature, theatre, and music shape female identities.
Education:
MA: Shakespeare Studies (The Shakespeare Institute)
BA: English and French (The University of Birmingham)
Office Hours:
Tuesdays: 17-18h (FAB 5.31)
Wednesdays: 09-10h (online)
Get in touch:
Email: louisa.pickard@warwick.ac.uk
Instagram:
