Welcome to The History of European Theatre Podcast Website and thanks for joining me through millennia of theatrical history.

Nic Brownlie

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Nic Brownlie recently graduated with a PhD from the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham, completing a thesis focused on the effects of candlelight at Shakespeare’s Blackfriars playhouse. Nic currently runs the A Place to Write retreat centre in North Wales with his wife, Wendy, where they offer annual Shakespeare retreats exploring different genres of Shakespeare’s plays. In a varied prior career, he completed an English degree at the University of Hull, trained at Mountview Theatre School in London, and worked as an actor, theatre director and stage lighting designer for many years, including managing his own educational Shakespeare company. He has taught acting, stage lighting, and English Literature in a variety of educational settings, from secondary schools to higher education establishments, and he is currently working on a series of academic articles and a book detailing his research into Shakespeare’s late plays.

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Aug. 2, 2026

Lighting the Indoor Theatre: A Conversation with Nic Brownlee

Episode 227: One of the questions that immediately arises when we consider the indoor theatres is how they were lit, although there are also many other questions about how performing indoors was informed by the experience of the touring companies and how it changed the nature of playing itself. Very early in my journey through Shakespeare for the podcast I met Nic Brownlee who was then in the throes of completing his study into indoor theatre lighting, so the idea for this episode ha...
Guest: Nic Brownlie