Dr. Melinda Gough's research interests include early modern literature and culture; feminist, queer, and trans studies; Performance as Research; editing early modern plays; and early modern court studies.
Melinda's first book, Dancing Queen: Marie de Médicis’ Ballets at the Court of Henri IV (University of Toronto Press, 2019), draws on theories and methodologies from a wide variety of disciplines – including literary and cultural studies, history, musicology, dance studies, and women’s and gender studies – to examine the performing arts as a vehicle for politically engaged queenship. Her second book, Engendering the Stage in the Age of Shakespeare and Beyond (U Toronto P, 2025), co-edited with Dr. Peter Cockett, highlights resonances between the history of gendered performance on the early modern stage and our contemporary drive to achieve gender equity in theatre today.
Recent teaching includes undergraduate courses on Shakespeare as well as graduate seminars such as Engendering the (Queer, Trans, Non-Binary) Early Modern Stage: Then and Now, and Gender, Civility, Race, and Courtliness in Early Modern Europe.
Melinda welcomes graduate supervisees interested in early modern studies; performance studies and performance history; and feminist and gender studies.
Melinda is Editor for the peer-reviewed journal Early Theatre and is a member of the steering committee for the international research collaborative Theater Without Borders.
