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Sophie Duncan

@svduncan

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artistic associate @nationaltheatre
writer and theatre type
fan of spaghetti carbonara
🏳️‍🌈🎭👩🏼‍🍼✍🏻

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Realising this is the third show I’ve worked on this year that contains some sort of axe. Clearly chose violence in 2026…

Anyway, come see Lear up in Sheff if you’re about!

Director: @titansholster
Associate Director: me
Set & Costume Designer @rkentdesigner
Lighting Designer @ryandaylighting
Composer @sarah_angliss
Sound Designer Emma Laxton
Fight, Movement & Intimacy Director @yaritdor
Associate Fight Director @enric_ortuno
Casting Director @matilda_james
Dramaturg @svduncan
Voice Coach Barbara Housmann
Assistant Director @marcsmallactup
Produced by @sheffieldtheatres & @michaelgrandagecompany

CAST
King Lear - Ian McDiarmid
Gloucester - David Birrell
Edmund - @_fodes_
Edgar - Harry Redding
Goneril - @katieleewimpenny
Regan - @justina_kehinde
Oswald - @james_chetwood
Fool - @silk.boogie
Kent - Mark Holgate
Cornwall - @jaysaighal
Cordelia - @bebesanders47
Albany - Milo Twomey
France/Captain - @sachinsta.ks
Curan - Christopher Jordan
Cover/swing - @hzlmghn

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Worth a post?

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Shakespeare’s Juliet is remarkable.

Ahead of Shakespeare’s Shadows’ third season reaching your ears later this year, we’re looking back at the pod’s episode all about Shakespeare’s first tragic heroine.

That episode featured interviews with actors Naire Poole and Alejandra Escalante and with University of Oxford scholar Dr. Sophie Duncan.

Here’s some of what @svduncan said about Juliet on the pod:

“She only leaves her parents’ house to go to church, alive or dead, you know, whether she’s going there to be secretly married or to confession or to be buried, but she’s incredibly resourceful and hugely brave, and I am increasingly persuaded the more that you look at the play’s very early reception — so in the 1590s when Shakespeare writes it and then as it’s performed through the 17th century — it is Juliet that really speaks to the audiences.”

Stay tuned for season 3 of the podcast — which will feature an episode about another “Romeo and Juliet” character!

🎨: Charles Robert Leslie

The painting seen here is on the cover of Sophie Duncan’s 2023 book, “Searching for Juliet: The Lives and Deaths of Shakespeare’s First Tragic Heroine.”
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#shakespeare #juliet #romeoandjuliet #tragicheroine #shakespeareinart #theatre #podcast

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February Reads 📚🌱

#books #februaryreads #bookish #fantasy #booksbooksbooks

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Murder on the Elsinore Dance Floor 🪩🩸 // Shakespeare meets Saltburn // Hamlet at the National Theatre

Running until 22nd November 2025. 🇬🇧 Then onwards to Brooklyn Academy of Music 2026. 🇺🇸

📸 Photography by Me

Director ROBERT HASTIE
Set and Costume Designer BEN STONES
Lighting Designer JESSICA HUNG HAN YUN
Sound Designer ALEXANDRA FAYE BRAITHWAITE
Composer RICHARD TAYLOR
Movement Director IRA MANDELA SIOBHAN
Fight Director KATE WATERS
Associate Director GEORGIE STAIGHT
Voice SHEREEN IBRAHIM
Production Manager MEKEL EDWARDS
Assistant Production Manager LISA HOOD
Props Supervisor CHARLOTTE KING
Costume Supervisor NATASHA PRYNNE
Assistant Costume Supervisor CAROLINE STEVENS
Design Assistant JASMINE ARAUJO

🎨 Painted entirely by the National Theatre Scenic Art Dept. Team lead by Lindsay Tuffnell.
🛠️ Scenery built by Scott Fleary and the NT Workshop.

#Hamlet #NationalTheatre #SetDesign #ScenicDesign #CostumeDesign

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New Women & Shakespeare Podcast episode is live!
In Series 6, Sophie Duncan joins us to discuss her book Searching for Juliet—a bold, brilliant look at Shakespeare’s iconic heroine.

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & www.womenandshakespeare.com

#WomenAndShakespeare #SearchingForJuliet #ShakespearePodcast #JulietCapulet #feministshakespeare

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Handmade by us. Personalised by you.

Our Script Russian Rings are interlinked symbolising eternal love. The rings can be hand stamped with your special names, dates or meaningful words - making your ring bespoke and unique to you.

#stackerrings #russianring #handmaderings #personalisedringsuk

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From our hands to yours...❤

Crafted with love. Forever not fast.

#meaningfuljewellery #handmadejewelleryuk
#personalisedjewellery

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This week, we’re spotlighting real stories that inspire. 📖🔥⁣
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For Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting biographies & memoirs that capture the strength, resilience, and brilliance of women across industries and generations.⁣
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💼 Media moguls & business pioneers breaking barriers⁣
🎭 Comedians & creatives redefining success on their terms⁣
🎶 Music legends whose influence shaped generations⁣
🔥 Stories of survival, resilience & self-discovery⁣
👑 Legacies of powerful women throughout history⁣
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Because women’s stories aren’t just meant to be told—they’re meant to be remembered.⁣
📚 Which memoir is next on your list? Let us know in the comments!⁣
#WomensHistoryMonth #MemoirsThatInspire #ReadWomen #HachetteBookGroup

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💥 25 in 2025 💥

It’s time to post my TBR for 2025 - and what a bumper year it’s looking to be! I’ve tried to choose books I have wanted to read for aaages and this is the most excited I’ve been for a yearly TBR yet. There are only 20 books here because 4 aren’t released yet and one I own on kindle. I hope to read 100 books this year so, in reality, this should only be a quarter of the books I am going to enjoy in 2025.

I did a 24 in 2024 and really liked the incentive to pick up books I would have kept putting off, so I’m hoping this remains true for the coming year. I have also tried to choose less series as by the end of 2024 I was feeling quite overwhelmed with those I still had to read by December (as I don’t like overlapping them). I am just now releasing that this is incredibly Irish fiction heavy too but why not read things I already know that I will like? I’ve chosen authors I’ve read and loved, ones I’m giving a second chance, and ones I am completely new to. Maybe I’ll find a new favourite among this list - here’s to hoping!

So here are my choices:
1. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (released in March)
2. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (released in April)
3. My Name is Emilia de Valle by Isabel Allende (released in May)
4. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (released in June)
5. To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn (kindle)
6. Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
7. Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna
8. Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly
9. Rouge by Mona Awad
10. Green Dot by Madeleine Gray
11. Love & Virtue by Diana Reid
12. A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
13. Okay Days by Jenny Mustard
14. Friendaholic by Elizabeth Day
15. The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan
16. Prima Facie by Suzie Miller
17. Heartburn by Nora Ephron
18. Scenes of a Graphic Nature by Caroline O’Donoghue
19. A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe
20. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
21. Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
22. Searching for Juliet by Sophie Duncan
23. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (reread)
24. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
25. All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Let me know which you think I should read first!

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Doing research for my production of Romeo & Juliet. This book is fascinating, I highly recommend it. I’ve learned so much, from the strange scientific displays of the “Anatomical Venuses” (look it up), to the commentary on 18th century adaptions: “That [Garrick] had to cut so much to make Juliet acceptable to respectable 18th-century audiences tells us how exceptional, unruly, and vital Shakespeare’s youngest and greatest tragic heroine truly is… Shakespeare’s words challenged the Victorian model of an ideal woman, so instead it was easier to cauterise her character, making her less complex and less contrary.” @svduncan

By the way, did I mention that I will be playing Juliet- my dream role? 🖤

#romeoandjuliet #theater #sophieduncan #searchingforjuliet #juliet

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Have waiting until this could be announced - 2025 is going to be very exciting. Unbelievably proud of this 12-strong cast and the production team of dreams! Also deeply indebted to Sophie Duncan’s incredible book - our Juliet will be holding a red rose in her fingertips aloft her balcony in homage to this thrilling work of wisdom. Here’s to love. #aucklandtheatrecompany #asbwaterfronttheatre #romeoandjuliet

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