The Women’s Studies Group 1558-1837 is pleased to announce an exciting international conference, “APHRA BEHN TRA PAGINA E TEATRO” (Aphra Behn Between Page and Stage), taking place on 20-21 March 2025 at Teatro Due Parma, Italy. Our esteemed member, Francesca Saggini, is part of the organizing committee for this groundbreaking event, which represents the first event of its kind in Italy dedicated to the pioneering English author Aphra Behn.
About the Conference
This international conference, jointly organized by the Fondazione Teatro Due and the Università di Parma, will explore Behn’s remarkable contributions to literature and theatre, as well as the historical period in which she lived—a time combining “the charm of licentiousness with the violence of intrigue, marked by political and socio-cultural upheavals, scientific and artistic innovations.” The conference examines a crucial period spanning the English Civil War, the Stuart Restoration, and the Glorious Revolution through the lens of Behn’s work.
The event benefits from the support of institutions including the University of Oxford (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities), University of Cambridge (Lucy Cavendish College), Università degli Studi della Tuscia (Dipartimento di Studi Linguistico-Letterari, Storico-Filosofici e Giuridici), American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, and The Women’s Studies Group, 1558–1837.
Conference Schedule
20 March 2025
- 15:00 – Institutional greetings
- 15:15 – “The ingenious Mrs Behn”
Janet Todd (University of Cambridge)
The British author and scholar, a leading expert on Aphra Behn and largely responsible for her critical reappraisal in the late 20th century, will discuss her experiences of scholarship and life with this author.
- 16:00 – “The Divertisements of a Carnival”: orizzonti meridionali e mediterranei nel teatro femminile tra Sei e Settecento
Diego Saglia (Università di Parma)
An exploration, starting with The Rover, of southern and Mediterranean settings and their meanings in female comic theatre in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
- 16:45 – Break
- 17:00 – “New and old worlds: Aphra Behn and the geographies of prose fiction”
Ros Ballaster (University of Oxford)
Astrea’s prose production as a starting point to explore its geographical and cultural imagery.
- 17:45 – “Playwright for the people: altri palcoscenici per Aphra Behn”
Francesca Saggini (Università degli Studi della Tuscia)
An overview of Behn’s reappearance in contemporary culture, not only on stage or in publishing, but also through commemorative events and digital remediations.
- 18:15 – “Vita Sackville-West e Virginia Woolf: scrivere dopo Aphra Behn”
Liliana Rampello (Critica letteraria e saggista)
An evocative reading of reflections on Behn developed by Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf in the early decades of the 20th century.
21 March 2025
- 16:00 – Opening of proceedings
- 16:15 – “Boccaccio is in there too: Editing ‘The Rover’ for Cambridge University Press”
Elaine Hobby (Loughborough University)
A discussion of philological and annotation strategies based on the experience of editing The Rover for Cambridge University Press.
- 17:00 – “‘All the Womens partes for this tyme to come may bee performed by Women’: l’avvento delle attrici sui palcoscenici inglesi”
Maria Chiara Barbieri (Università degli Studi di Firenze)
A focus on Restoration theatre, particularly the revolutionary phenomenon of actresses appearing on stage following the reopening of London theatres in 1660.
- 17:45 – Break
- 18:00 – “Rochester, i ‘court wits’ e il teatro della Restaurazione”
Masolino D’Amico (Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa)
An in-depth analysis of the playwrights connected to the court of Charles II, including the controversial Earl of Rochester, and their innovative theatrical productions.
- 18:45 – “Come mi scrivono: Aphra Behn come personaggio, tra romanzo e teatro”
Luca Scarlini (Scrittore)
A broad overview of Behn as playwright and novelist, offering a general picture of the complexity and richness of a figure always inhabiting the space between stage and page.
A Festival of Behn
This conference is the culminating event of a two-month celebration of Aphra Behn taking place in February and March 2025. The broader initiative includes:
- A new Italian translation and performance of Behn’s play The Rover at Teatro Due
- Public readings of her prose works including Oroonoko and The History of the Nun
- The creation of a “docudrama” about the author
The conference welcomes university students and researchers, secondary school teachers and students, and the general public. This represents a significant milestone as the first event of its kind in Italy dedicated to Aphra Behn.
Program Committee
The conference is guided by an esteemed Program Committee comprising Ros Ballaster, Paola Donati, Giacomo Giuntini, Francesca Saggini, Diego Saglia, and Luca Scarlini.
Admission and Reservations
The conference offers free entry (ingresso libero). Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling tel. 0521 230242 or emailing biglietteria@teatrodue.org.
The Women’s Studies Group 1558-1837 is proud to support our member Francesca Saggini in this important endeavor to highlight the work and legacy of one of England’s first professional women writers.
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