Dr Andrew Maunder

Introduction

I've taught at the University of Hertfordshire since 2000 where I'm currently Head of the Department of Humanites. I've also worked for the Higher Education Academy English Subject Centre, as part of a team involved in projects relating to the teaching of English. In 2013 I was elected a Fellow of the English Association.

My research interests centre on literature of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, particularly crime and sensation fiction,  theatre (1910-1940) and  individual Victorian writers such as Wilkie Collins, Bram Stoker and Mrs Henry Wood.

Research Students

I have supervised and examined students in Britain, Australia and Canada. I'm always keen to hear from people wanting to pursue postgraduate research in the areas of Victorian studies, biography amd theatre history.

Publications

My most recent book is a biography of the children's author Enid Blyton (published by Palgrave/Springer, 2021).  

From 2014-19 I was a Co-Investigator on the AHRC-funded Everyday Lives in War: First World War Engagement Centre. This worked to support community research projects, connecting academic and public histories of the war. See our website.

Other recent publications include the book British Theatre and the Great War 1914-1919 (Palgrave, (2015), and a student guide to R.C. Sherriff's famous war play Journey's End (Bloomsbury/Methuen; 2016).

Redicovering British Theatre Project

Since 2011 I've been leading a performance-based project which revives forgotten plays of the First World War period and after, working with professional actors and directors, schools and local groups.

Productions have included J.M. Barrie's A Well-Remembered Voice (1918), the premiere of Robert Graves' play But it Still Goes On (1929) and a revival of St John Ervine's 1913 play Jane Clegg written at the height of the suffragette campaign. It ran at London's award-winning Finborough Theatre in London in April 2019, directed by David Gilmore. The production was a finalist in the OffWestEnd awards 2021. 

Recent projects include the first London production for more than 90 years of Kate O'Brien's 1926 play Distinguished Villa directed by Hugh Fraser (Finborough Theatre, September 2022). The trailer can be viewed here.  

This was followed by a production of three 1-act plays: Gertrude Robins' Makeshifts (1908) and Realities (1911), and Harold Harwood's Honour thy Father (1912). These were also produced at the Finborough Theatre  (August 2023), directed by Melissa Dunne. The production won the 2023 :London Pub Theatres award for Best Acting (Ensemble) and was nominated for Best Revival.

Most recently we produced Sidney Howard's 1926 family drama The Silver Cord again at the Finborough Theatre, directed by Joe Harmston (September 2024) 

Nineteenth century literature and culture, in particular sensation fiction; early twentieth century theatre, particularly First World War entertainment; Enid Blyton; biography.

I currently teach on the third year module`Euro-Crime on Page and Screen', a study of European crime fiction and film, 1920 to the present day.