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James Moran

Professor of Modern English Literature and Drama, Faculty of Arts

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Expertise Summary

MA (Cambridge), PhD (Cambridge)

Teaching Summary

I am currently the director of research in the School of English. Before that, I acted as lead for one of Nottingham University's five 'Global Research Themes' (you can read about that here:… read more

Research Summary

My research is primarily concerned with modern anglophone literature, and I have a particular interest in the theatre of twentieth-century Ireland and Britain.

My most recent books have examined topics including modern tragedy, fake news, and theatrical modernism. I am currently editing a volume about the playwright Sean O'Casey for Cambridge University Press.

Recent Publications

  • MORAN, JAMES, 2025. Intermediality. In: KENT, BRAD and KORNHABER, DAVID, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Modernist Theatre. Cambridge University Press. (In Press.)
  • JAMES MORAN, ed., 2025. Sean O'Casey in Context. Cambridge University Press. (In Press.)
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2024. Regional Drama: Lawrence and Joyce. In: GRICE, ANNALISE, ed., The Bloomsbury Handbook to D.H. Lawrence Bloomsbury. 147-64
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2024. Review of 'Gender, Performance, and Authorship' Literature & History. 32(2), 201-203

I have had the pleasure of supervising the work of a number of excellent PhD students and would welcome applications from those whose interests broadly intersect with my own. My former research students include Sam Haddow (lecturer in modern and contemporary drama, University of St Andrews), Soudabeh Ananisarab (lecturer in drama, Birmingham City University), Joseph Anderton (lecturer in English literature, Birmingham City University), and Yaqing Xie (lecturer in English, Beijing Normal University). I have recently supervised students working on theses entitled 'Franz Fanon: A Theatre of Embodiment', 'Broadcast Shakespeare from the 1980s to the Present', 'Representing the rural: new rural imaginaries on the twenty-first century British stage'; 'A modernist vision of Chinoiserie: The Bloomsbury Group's Chinese Taste'; and 'The cultural imagination of the working class: re-examining Lawrence, Sillitoe and Meadows'.

I am currently the director of research in the School of English. Before that, I acted as lead for one of Nottingham University's five 'Global Research Themes' (you can read about that here: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/inspiring-people/cc/james-moran.aspx). In previous years, I have also acted as deputy-head of school, senior tutor, head of the drama section, and head of drama and creative writing.

I am a recipient of the British Academy mid-career fellowship, an award that is given 'to support outstanding individual researchers with excellent research proposals', and I have also been awarded the Philip Leverhulme prize. In 2018-19 I was visiting research fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, I have been a visiting fellow at the University of Galway and have acted as external examiner/programme reviewer at Edge Hill University, Atlantic Technological University Sligo and the University of Galway. I have acted as member of the AHRC peer-review college, member of the peer-review college for the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship scheme, and member of the collaborative board of Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature. In 2024-25 I will be taking up a visiting fellowship at Harvard University.

Outside the academy, I enjoy giving lectures and seminars for a range of different organisations, including the Royal National Theatre, where I've delivered sessions with figures including the actor Anne-Marie Duff, playwright Enda Walsh, theatre director Wayne Jordan, and screenwriter William Ivory.

I am also regularly involved with the broadcast media: I've appeared, for example, on episodes of BBC TV's Who Do You Think You Are? with Minnie Driver and with Ian McKellen, and my most longstanding broadcasting commitment is the monthly book-review feature on BBC Radio Nottingham that I delivered from 2010 until 2020.

Past Research

In the past I have written or edited books on a number of different topics. These volumes include:

-Forms of Drama: Modern Tragedy (Bloomsbury, 2023)

-The Theatre of Fake News (Anthem, 2022)

-Modernists and the Theatre (Bloomsbury, 2022)

-George Bernard Shaw: Playlets (as editor: Oxford University Press, 2021)

-The Theatre of D.H. Lawrence (Bloomsbury, 2015)

-Sean O'Casey, The Silver Tassie (intro: Faber, 2014)

-Regional Modernisms (as co-editor, with Neal Alexander: Edinburgh University Press, 2013)

-The Theatre of Sean O'Casey (Bloomsbury, 2013)

-Irish Birmingham: A History (Liverpool University Press, 2010)

-Four Irish Rebel Plays (as editor: Irish Academic Press, 2007)

-Staging the Easter Rising (Cork University Press, 2005)

  • MORAN, JAMES, 2025. Intermediality. In: KENT, BRAD and KORNHABER, DAVID, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Modernist Theatre. Cambridge University Press. (In Press.)
  • JAMES MORAN, ed., 2025. Sean O'Casey in Context. Cambridge University Press. (In Press.)
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2024. Regional Drama: Lawrence and Joyce. In: GRICE, ANNALISE, ed., The Bloomsbury Handbook to D.H. Lawrence Bloomsbury. 147-64
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2024. Review of 'Gender, Performance, and Authorship' Literature & History. 32(2), 201-203
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2023. Forms of Drama: Modern Tragedy. Bloomsbury.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2023. Boucicault-O'Casey-Hansberry: Tracing a Line of Influence. Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2022. Modernists and the Theatre. Bloomsbury.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2022. The Theatre of Fake News. Anthem Press.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2022. Review of 'Yeats on Theatre'. TDR. 66(2), 181-82
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2022. 'The Plough and the Stars' (1926). In: RICHARDS, SHAUN, ed., Fifty Key Irish Plays Routledge. 45-48
  • MORAN, JAMES, ed., 2021. George Bernard Shaw, Playlets. Oxford University Press. (In Press.)
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2021. O'Flaherty V.C. in the Age of Covid. The Shavian. 7-14
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2021. Brendan Lehane. The Royal Society of Literature Review. 63
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2020. Adaptations: Commemoration and Contemporary Irish Theatre. In: FALCI, ERIC and REYNOLDS, PAIGE, eds., Irish Literature in Transition: 1980-2020 Cambridge University Press. 152-67
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2020. Calamity for the Comfortable. The Tablet. 7 May, 24
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2019. Joyce in the Time of Trump. The Tablet. 26 September, 21
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2019. 'Colonial Contexts'. Times Literary Supplement. 14 June, 14
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2019. Tough Love: Kevin Barry's 'The Night Boat to Tangier'. The Tablet. 2 November, 22
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2019. Review of 'The Edinburgh Companion to D.H. Lawrence and the Arts'. D.H. Lawrence Review. 44(2), 145-148
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2018. Theatre. In: ANDREW HARRISON, ed., D.H. Lawrence in Context. Cambridge University Press. 131-40
  • MORAN, JAMES and CULLEN, FINTAN, 2018. 'The Sherwood Foresters of 1916: Memories and Monuments'. Irish Studies Review. 26(4), 436-54
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2018. Kate O'Brien in the Theatre Irish University Review. 48(1), 7-22
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2018. Children of the Revolution: 1916 in 2016. In: WEITZ, ERIC and JORDAN, EAMONN, eds., The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance. Springer Nature. 783-98
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2018. Kit De Waal's 'The Trick to Time'. The Tablet. 26 May, 22
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2018. Bernard Shaw and William Archer. MLR: Modern Language Review. 113(4),
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2018. Tom Murphy: Obituary. The Tablet. 2 June, 30
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2017. Class During the Irish Revolution. In: PIERSE, MICHAEL, ed., A History of Irish Working-Class Writing. Cambridge University Press. 153-67
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2017. Art as Medication: Sara Baume's 'A Line Made By Walking'. The Tablet. 8 April 2017, 19
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2017. 'Faith of our Fathers'. Dublin Review of Books.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2017. A Review of "Irish Drama, Modernity and the Passion Play". International Yeats Studies. 2(1), 64-69
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. Irish Theatre in Britain. In: MORASH, CHRISTOPHER and GRENE, NICHOLAS, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre. Oxford University Press. 607-622
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. Competing Narratives. The Irish Review. 51, 116-18
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. Lawyers at the Gate. Times Literary Supplement. 4 March, 31
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. A Terrible Beauty. Breac: A Digital Journal of Irish Studies.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. More Books: Ireland. TDR: The Drama Review. 60(2), 169-71
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. Irish Gothic: Paraic O'Donnell's 'The Maker of Swans'. The Tablet. 16 April, 19
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. The Rebel Countess. Times Literary Supplement. 22 April, 13
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. We Know Nothing. Dublin Review of Books.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. Angel Delight: Patrick Pearse and Modernist Experiment. In: RÓISÍN NÍ GHAIRBHÍ and EUGENE MCNULTY, eds., Patrick Pearse and the Theatre. Four Courts Press.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. Review of R.F. Foster's 'Vivid Faces' [reprint of article originally published in Breac journal] Reading Ireland: The Little Magazine. 2(1), 48-51
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. Irish Gothic: Conor O'Callaghan's 'Nothing on Earth'. The Tablet. 17 September, 19
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. Uphill Battles. Dublin Review of Books.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. 'Yours Briefly': The Letters of Samuel Beckett, 1966-1989. The Tablet. 19 November, 19
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2016. Lawrence's Plays on the Stage: An Evolution from 2009 to 2016. JDHLS: Journal of D.H. Lawrence Studies. 4(2), 121-37
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2015. The Theatre of D.H. Lawrence. Bloomsbury.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2015. Seán O'Casey. In: Oxford Bibliographies in British and Irish Literature. Oxford University Press.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2015. D.H. Lawrence. In: Oxford Bibliographies in British and Irish Literature. Oxford University Press.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2015. The Enemies Within. Dublin Review of Books.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2015. Review of 'The Urban Plays of the Early Abbey Theatre'. Studies in Theatre and Performance.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2015. 1916: A British Soldier's Family Reunion and Death in Dublin. The Irish Times. 6 April, 11
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2015. 'Writers Inspired'. The Tablet. 17 January, 16-17
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2015. Laughing Matters: 'Quite a Good Time to be Born' by David Lodge. Dublin Review of Books.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2015. Novelist on the Money: Paul Murray's 'The Mark and the Void'. The Tablet. 1 August, 25
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2015. Taking things, literally: John Banville's 'The Blue Guitar'. The Tablet. 21 November, 23
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2015. Down the pit in Dogville. Times Literary Supplement. 20 November, 17
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2014. 'Introduction'. In: The Silver Tassie, Sean O'Casey. Faber. v-ix
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2014. Outsider-Insider. The Tablet. (15 March), 12-14
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2014. Uncomfortably Complicit: Audrey Magee's 'The Undertaking'. The Tablet. (5 April), 19
  • MORAN, JAMES., 2014. Sean O'Casey and 'The Silver Tassie'. The Silver Tassie Programme - Royal National Theatre. 30-32
  • MORAN, JAMES., 2014. Uneasy Homecoming: Paul Lynch's 'The Black Snow'. The Tablet. (24 May), 21
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2014. Review of Josephine Donovan, European Local-Color Literature. Comparative Critical Studies. 11(2-3), 365-68
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2014. London Calling. The Irish Review. Summer 2014(48), 106-110
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2014. Review of 'To Bodies Gone: The Theatre of Peter Gill'. Studies in Theatre and Performance.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2014. God and Godot. The Tablet. (20 Dec), 18-19
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2014. Programme Notes, 'Philadelphia, Here I Come!' Lyric Theatre Belfast. 11
  • MORAN, J., 2013. The theatre of Seán O'Casey Bloomsbury.
  • ALEXANDER, NEAL and MORAN, JAMES, eds., 2013. Regional Modernisms. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  • MORAN, J., 2013. Pound, Yeats, and the regional repertory theatres. In: ALEXANDER, N. and MORAN, J., eds., Regional modernisms Edinburgh University Press. 83-103
  • ALEXANDER, NEAL and MORAN, JAMES, 2013. Introduction. In: ALEXANDER, NEAL and MORAN, JAMES, eds., Regional Modernisms. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2013. Unstable Identities. Times Literary Supplement. (8 February), 18
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2013. Matthew Bevis's 'Comedy: A Very Short Introduction'. Times Literary Supplement. (8 February), 31
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2013. Re-Joyce: Ulysses. The Tablet. (9 February), 21
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2013. 'Levels of Life' by Julian Barnes. The Tablet. (27 April), 18
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2013. Piece by Piece Process: Colum McCann's 'TransAtlantic'. The Tablet. (6 July), 20
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2013. Between Bodies: The Plays of Samuel Beckett. Times Literary Supplement. (16 August), 30
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2013. Book Central. Dublin Review of Books.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2013. A Place in the Sun. Dublin Review of Books.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2013. Borstal Boy. 'Brendan at the Chelsea' Programme - Lyric Theatre Belfast. 11
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2013. Innocent's Progress. The Tablet. (21 December), 40
  • MORAN, JAMES., 2013. Apertures. Irish Review. 47, 143-45
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2012. Fenland Dystopia: Jon McGregor's 'This Isn't The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You'. The Tablet. 266(18 February), 22
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2012. Traitor for our Time: Mario Vargas Llosa's 'The Dream of the Celt'. The Tablet. 266(30 June), 30
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2012. Ireland Onstage at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. In: NICHOLAS GRENE and PATRICK LONERGAN, eds., Irish Drama: Local and Global Perspectives. Dublin: Carysfort Press. 65-80
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2012. Spokesinger: Marilynn Richtarik's 'Stewart Parker: A Life'. Times Literary Supplement. 5724 (14 December), 31
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2012. Avon Calling: the Influence of Frank Benson on the Irish Theatre. Irish University Review. 42(2), 217-35
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2012. Spoiled by Joyce. The Tablet. 266 (25 August), 20
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2012. Given a Voice: Colm Tóibín’s 'The Testament of Mary'. The Tablet. 266 (10 November), 26
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2012. Moving Pictures in the Hallway: Dramatising the Autobiographies of Seán O'Casey. Irish Studies Review. 20(4), 389-406
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2012. The Glory and the Shame. The Plough and the Stars: Abbey Theatre Programme. 6-8
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2012. Mr Nice Guy? Guardian Review. 5 May, 15
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2011. Inglorious Death: Sebastian Barry's 'On Canaan's Side'. The Tablet. 265(8 October), 27
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2011. Questions of Trust. The Tablet. 265(21 May), 22
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2011. Rosie Garner, The Rain Diaries. Times Literary Supplement. 5670 (2 December), 27
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2010. Review of 'A History of the Media in Ireland'. Studies in Theatre and Performance. 30(3), 364-67
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2010. Smart, Uncertain. The Tablet. 264(18 September), 33
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2010. 'Hegemony and Fantasy' Review. Theatre Research International. 79-80
  • MORAN, J., 2010. Irish Birmingham: a history Liverpool University Press.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2010. Concrete Proof. Dublin Review of Books.
  • MORAN, J., 2010. Meditations in time of civil war: 'Back to Methuselah' and 'Saint Joan' in production, 1919–1924 Shaw: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies. 30(1), 147-160
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2009. Gift of the Ambiguous Gab. The Tablet. 263(25 July), 10-11
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2009. Review of 'Modernism, Drama, and the Audience for Irish Spectacle'. Modern Drama. 52(1), 138-140
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2008. Green Man. Times Literary Supplement. 5493(11 July), 24
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2008. Swallowed by the Shopping Centre. Dublin Review of Books.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2008. Ireland in the Heart of England. The Tablet. 262(15 March), 14-15
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2008. New York Diary: A Night at the Theatre. Dublin Review of Books.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2008. Making theatre in Northern Ireland. Theatre Research International. 33(01), 101-103
  • MORAN, JAMES, ed., 2007. Four Irish Rebel Plays. Dublin : Irish Academic Press.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2006. 'The Field Day Anthology' and the impossibility of Roger Casement.. In: THOMPSON, H., ed., The current debate about the Irish literary canon: essays reassessing 'The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing'. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press. 219-233
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2006. Arms and the churchman. The Tablet. 260(11 March), 20-21
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2005. Staging the Easter Rising: 1916 as Theatre. Cork: Cork University Press.
  • MORAN, JAMES, 2004. Being Sir Rogered: George Bernard Shaw and the Irish rebel. In: ALEXANDER, N., MURPHY, S. and OAKMAN, A., eds., To the other shore: cross-currents in Irish and Scottish Studies. Belfast: Cló Ollscoil na Banríona. 128-136
  • MORAN, JAMES, Murder and Misfits. The Tablet. 11 May 2019, 18

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