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I am a writer and educator in Drama and Theatre Studies. My specialist areas are Shakespeare, particularly with regard to the female characters, dramaturgy and theatre history. Raising a little boy also gives me plenty of cause to reflect on parenting and social justice issues. While my active site is orlandocreature.wordpress.com you can find lots more of my writing archived at Hoyden About Town, under both Anna and my earlier handle, Orlando. Twitter: @orlandocreature

  • Thursday Hoyden and Talk Like a Pirate Day Special: Ching Shih

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    B&W wood cut of C19th Chinese woman fighting several men.

    In honour of annual Talk Like a Pirate Day, this week’s Friday Hoyden is being brought forward a day, and is the fearsome pirate admiral, Madame Ching Shih.

  • Friday Hoyden: Rosie Hackett

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    Sepia photo of elderly white woman in round spectacles.

    This month, Dublin City Council voted to name the new bridge over the river Liffey ‘Rosie Hackett Bridge’. This was in response to a huge campaign from Dubliners, mostly women, who felt Rosie was due a decent and long-lasting public memorial. All of the 16 previously existing bridges in the city are named after men. Rosie Hackett was a pioneering trade unionist who co-founded the Irish Women Workers’ Union (IWWU) in 1911.

  • Quick Link: Public Education On Principle

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    From Allison Benedikt at Slate comes this delightfully provocatively phrased piece, “If You Send Your Kid to Private School, You Are a Bad Person”. This seems like a conversation that is worth having.

  • Attack on Aboriginal Community in Broome

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    The black, red and yellow flag of the Australian Aboriginal Indigenous Rights Movement

    Yesterday someone threw a bomb out of a car at a group of Aboriginal people at the One Mile Community in Broome, in Western Australia. Four people were injured, one seriously. Can you find it in the news?

  • Signal Boost: I Am A Girl

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    quarter face of black teenage girl with the inscription "i am a girl".

    The new documentary I Am A Girl is about to screen, briefly, in Sydney and Melbourne. The film gives six teenage girls, each in a different country, the space to speak of their lives.

  • Friday Hoyden: Hellena in Aphra Behn’s “The Rover”

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    white and gold carnival mask on green silk

    The Rover is one of the all-time great Restoration comedies. One of the greatest silly romps of any era of playwriting, in fact, because it has everything: disguises, sword fights, carnival, a girl dressed as a boy, thwarted lovers, drunken shenanigans, sex, danger and a jilted courtesan. And its heroine, Hellena, is the ultimate witty wench.

  • Abbott Watch: they’re coming thick and fast

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    a red/white/blue poster done in the style of the Barack Obama "Audacity of Hope" posters. The image is of Tony Abbott, and in block letters underneath, it says "NOPE"

    In the interests of sound record-keeping, here is a collation of some of the awful, awful things Tony Abbott has been saying since the federal election date was set. Get ready to be set reeling by the way he is capable of being offensive in so many directions at once, but also remind yourself that this is just in the past week.

  • Friday Hoyden: Deborah Mailman

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    Colour headshot of Deborah Mailman in a black blouse, smiling.

    Deborah Mailman has been one of Australia’s most beloved actors for a couple of decades now, despite managing to look twenty only recently in the Sapphires.

  • Whimsy: Nerdy Love Song

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    A black and white kitten on a white tablecloth next to a teacup and saucer is touching noses with a wrinkly puppy who is, for some reason, sitting inside a teapot

    With Added Kitten Bonus, by TheRealDeAnne

  • Whimsy: “Next”

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    Puppet Shakespeare behind footlights, with a large basket full of props, and a cutout bear.

    The complete works of Shakespeare in 5-ish minutes of animation.