World-class research based on a distinctive, interdisciplinary approach to the natural sciences, social sciences, engineering and technology, and the arts and humanities.
The MU International Office is the first point of contact for international students applying for full-degree, Erasmus, Study Abroad, and Summer School programmes, and supports MU students who wish to study abroad.
Dr Stephen O’Neill is Associate Professor in English and Shakespeare Studies and was Head of Department for 2019-2020. Stephen previously lectured in University College Dublin, where he completed his PhD, before joining English at Maynooth University.
His current research is focused on eco-critical approaches to literature, with two projects, a monograph entitled Arborealities: Reimagining Trees in the Anthropocene, and an edited volume, Tree Lines: Arboreal Agency in the Creative Arts. These works build from his Irish Research Council funded project LIT: Literature and Ireland's Trees that led to the establishment of an arboreal research network, guest lectures, and a digital exhibition.
He is the author of two monographs, Shakespeare and YouTube (London and New York: Arden Shakespeare / Bloomsbury 2014), which explores digital productions of Shakespeare on the social media platform through a variety of critical lenses including gender and race; and Staging Ireland: Representations in Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama (Dublin: Four Courts, 2007), the defining study of Ireland as a recurrent text and context in early modern drama.
He has edited the collection Broadcast Your Shakespeare: Continuity and Change Across Media (London and New York: Arden Shakespeare / Bloomsbury 2018); and co-edited The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Adaptation (Arden Shakespeare 2022), recently reviewd in Shakespeare Bulletin:
"The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Adaptation positions adaptation as fundamental to Shakespeare studies today and the lifeblood of its future, through its spotlighting and championing of the important research being carried out on Shakespeare adaptation across the world. This is an essential volume for anyone working on contemporary Shakespeare, and will no doubt remain a rewarding resource within the field for many years to come".
Stephen has also co-edited a special issue of the Shakespearean International Yearbook on "Shakespeare and Refugees" (2021), and Shakespeare and the Irish Writer (Dublin: UCD Press 2010). He has contributed to the broadening of Shakespeare studies into fan studies, through work on Coriolanus fanfic in The Shakespeare Geek; and TV culture and adaptation through articles on HBO’s Westworld and Maggie O’Farrell’s award-winning novel Hamnet. He is also co-editing with Maria Pramaggiore a volume of essays Kylie Minogue: Critical Insights into Music and Media celebrity (under contract with Bloomsbury Academic), for which he is writing a chapter on Minogue's affective fandoms.
In 2022, he was part of a team that received a Maynooth University CTL Teaching Fellowship for the project “Eco-Journaling: Climate-Engaged Learning through Literature” for EN342: Lost Worlds. A key aim for the project team (which includes Dr Evan Bourke, Prof Pat Palmer, Dr Kevin Tracey, and Alan Waldron) is to involve students through direct participation in-class, through a campus tree-trail, and workshops with visual artist Susan Leen. The project will go beyond the timeframe of the module itself through a creative exhibition featuring class work and the launch of student leadership roles as “MU Climate Heroes”.
He is a regular contributor to the conferences of the Shakespeare Association of America and the European Shakespeare Research Association. He's also a member of the Irish Renaissance Seminar. He has supervised PhD and research dissertations in Shakespeare studies and adaptation and very much welcomes applications from PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers in the following areas: Shakespeare studies; adaptation and digital cultures; arboreal humanities; early modern literature; and eco-criticism.
Research Interests
Shakespeare studies, especially Shakespeare’s afterlives; contemporary Shakespeare adaptation studies and digital cultures; early modern literature, especially drama and theatre; early modern Ireland.
Research Projects
Title
Role
Description
Start date
End date
Amount
Literature and Ireland's Trees
PI
Strand-1a
Literature and Ireland’s Trees (LIT) aims to establish an arboreal literary studies network in collaboration with Crann: Trees for Ireland and international scholars. Exploring the literary lives of trees, the project will identify new ways of seeing trees and explore arboreal representation as a mode of engagement with climate challenge. Working with a Writer-in-Residence, and through a networking event, postgraduate placements, and a web presence, the project will lead to an essay collection featuring critics, arborists and writers, and to the generation of meaningful knowledge about how Ireland’s tree and literary cultures enrich Irish society.
01/12/2021
01/09/2021
10448
Book
Year
Publication
2014
O'Neill, Stephen (2014) Shakespeare and YouTube: New Media Forms of the Bard. London and New York: Bloomsbury / Arden Shakespeare. [Link]
2007
O'Neill, Stephen (2007) Staging Ireland: Representations in Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama. Dublin: Four Courts Press. [Link]
Edited Book
Year
Publication
2022
O'Neill, S and Diana Henderson (Ed.). (2022) The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Adaptation. London and New York: Arden Bloomsbury, [Link]
2021
Stephen O’Neill and Ton Hoenselaars (Ed.). (2021) The Shakespearean International Yearbook 19: Special Section, Shakespeare and Refugees. London: Routledge, [Link]
2018
O'Neill, Stephen (Ed.). (2018) Broadcast Your Shakespeare: Continuity and Change Across Media. London: Bloomsbury / Arden Shakespeare, [Link]
2010
Stephen O'Neill and Janet Clare (Ed.). (2010) Shakespeare and the Irish Writer. Dublin: University College Dublin Press, [Link]
Peer Reviewed Journal
Year
Publication
2023
Stephen O'Neill (2023) 'Arborealities, or Making Trees Matter in Elif Shafak’s The Island of Missing Trees'. ISLE Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, . [Link] https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/isad040 [Full-Text]
2021
O’Neill S. (2021) '“And Who Will Write Me?”: Maternalizing Networks of Remembrance in Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet'. Shakespeare, 17 (2):210-229. [DOI][Full-Text]
2021
O’Neill S. (2021) 'Bring yourself back online, Old Bill: Westworld’s media histories, or six degrees of separation from Shakespeare'. Cahiers Elisabethains, . [DOI][Full-Text]
2020
O'Neill, Stephen (2020) 'Shakespeare's Hand, or the strangers' case: Remediating Sir Thomas More in the context of the Refugee Crisis'. BORROWERS AND LENDERS: THE JOURNAL OF SHAKESPEARE AND APPROPRIATION, . [Link]
2019
O'Neill, Stephen (2019) 'Finding Refuge in King Lear: From Brexit to Shakespeare's European Value'. Multicultural Shakespeare, 19 (34). [Link][DOI][Full-Text]
2018
O'Neill, Stephen (2018) 'Shakespeare’s Digital Flow: Humans, Technologies and the Possibilities of Intercultural Exchange'. Shakespeare Studies, 46 :120-133. [Link][Full-Text]
2018
O'Neill, Stephen (2018) 'Beyond Shakespeare's land of ire: Revisiting Ireland in English Renaissance drama'. Literature Compass, 15 (10). https://doi.org/10.1111/lic3.12491
2016
O'Neill, Stephen, and Maurizio Calbi (2016) 'Introduction: #SocialMediaShakespeares'. BORROWERS AND LENDERS: THE JOURNAL OF SHAKESPEARE AND APPROPRIATION, X (1). [Link][Full-Text]
2016
O'Neill, Stephen (2016) '‘It's William Back from the Dead’: Commemoration, Representation, and Race in Akala's Hip-Hop Shakespeare'. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 16 (2):246-256. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.jproxy.nuim.ie/doi/10.1111/sena.12192/full [Full-Text]
2015
O'Neill, S (2015) 'Shakespeare and Social Media'. Literature Compass, 12 :274-285. [DOI][Full-Text]
2015
O'Neill, Stephen (2015) 'Teaching and Learning Guide for: “Shakespeare and Social Media”'. Literature Compass, 12 (7). [Link][DOI]
2014
O'Neill, Stephen (2014) 'Ophelian Negotiations: Remediating the Girl on YouTube'. BORROWERS AND LENDERS: THE JOURNAL OF SHAKESPEARE AND APPROPRIATION, IX (1). [Link] http://www.borrowers.uga.edu/1281/show [Full-Text]
2011
Stephen O'Neill (2011) 'Uploading Hamlet: Agency, Convergence and YouTube Shakespeare'. ANGLISTICA, 15 :63-75. [Link][Full-Text]
Book Chapter
Year
Publication
2022
O'Neill, Stephen (2022) '‘The time invites you’, or Making Hamlet your Digital Contemporary: Online Adaptation and Community' In: Agrégation anglais 2023. William Shakespeare. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Paris : Ellipses.
2022
O'Neill, Stephen (2022) '“Quoting Machines: Shakespearean things in and beyond HBO’s Westworld”' In: Performing Shakespearean Appropriations Essays in Honor of Christy DesmetPerforming Shakespearean Appropriations Essays in Honor of Christy Desmet. Lanham : Rowman and Littlefield. [Link]
2020
O'Neill, Stephen (2020) 'Hiddleston–Shakespeare–-Coriolanus, or Rhizomatic Crossings in Fanfic' In: Shakespeare and Geek Culture. London : Arden Bloomsbury. [Link]
2016
O’Neill S. (2016) 'Beyond MacMorris: Shakespeare, Ireland and critical contexts' In: Celtic Shakespeare: The Bard and the Borderers. [DOI]
2018
O'Neill, Stephen (2018) 'Quoting Shakespeare in Digital Cultures' In: Shakespeare and Quotation. Cambridge : Cambridge UP. [Link]
2017
O'Neill, Stephen (2017) 'Theorizing User Agency in YouTube Shakespeare' In: The Shakespeare User: Critical and Creative Appropriations in a Networked Culture. New York : Palgrave Macmillan. [Link]
2017
O'Neill, Stephen (2017) '“In fair [Europe], where we lay our scene” Romeo and Juliet, Europe and digital cultures' In: Romeo and Juliet in European Culture. Amsterdam : John Benjamins. [Link][Full-Text]
2014
O'Neill, Stephen (2014) '“YouTube, Shakespeare and the Sonnets: Textual Forms, Queer Erasures”' In: Digital Shakespeares: Innovations, Interventions, Mediations, special issue of The Shakespearean International Yearbook. London : Ashgate.
2013
O'Neill, Stephen (2013) 'Beyond MacMorris: Shakespeare, Ireland and critical contexts' In: Celtic Shakespeare: The Bard and the Borderers. London : Ashgate.
2007
O'Neill, Stephen (2007) '1599: Sir John Oldcastle, the Irish Wars and the Elizabethan Stage' In: Ireland in the Renaissance, c. 1540-1660. Dublin : Four Courts Press.
Edited Journal Issue
Year
Publication
2019
O'Neill, Stephen (2019) Shakespeare and Digital Humanities: New Perspectives, Future Directions, Humanities. [Edited Journal Issue] [Link]
2015
O'Neill, Stephen (2015) “Shakespeare/ Social Media”, Borrowers and Lenders. [Edited Journal Issue] [Link]
Magazine Article
Year
Publication
2022
O'Neill, Stephen (2022) What's your favourite reference to trees in Irish literature?. [Magazine Article] [Link]
Other Journal
Year
Publication
2021
Stephen O'Neill (2021) 'On the ‘Spenser Dispenser’'Spenser Forum, 51 (3) . [Link]
Conference Contribution
Year
Publication
2023
O'Neill, Stephen (2023) Arborealizing Adaptation in Lois Patiño and Matías Piñeiro’s Sycorax (2021) Irish Renaissance Seminar Queen's University Belfast, 28/01/2023-28/01/2023.
2022
O'Neill, Stephen (2022) “Ventriloquizing (Arboreal) Forms: Finding Tree lines Tree Lines: Texts, Times, Images Maynooth University, 18/11/2022-19/11/2022.
2022
O'Neill, Stephen (2022) Tree Lines: Texts, Times, Images Literature and Ireland's Trees Research Symposium Maynooth University, 18/11/2022-19/11/2022.
2022
O'Neill, Stephen (2022) “If that happens in Hamlet. I don't care”: Succession as Adaptation Theory, or Serial TV's selective Shakespeareanisms Shakespeare's Serialty: an International Workshop Universität Konstanz, 14/07/2022-16/07/2022.
2022
O'Neill, Stephen (2022) “Arborealities: Bearing Witness and Being (with) Nature in Elif Shafak’s The Island of Missing Trees” “Landscape, Narrative, and Deep Time” St Louis University, Madrid, 02/06/2022-04/06/2022.
2021
O'Neill, S. (2021) Eco-Migration: Shakespeare and the Contemporary Novel”, Shakespeare Association of America Shakespearean eco-echoes in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island online, 03/04/2021-03/04/2021.
2019
O'Neill, Stephen (2019) “By most mechanical … hand”: Shakespeare embedded in Westworld and digital cultures Shakespeare on Screen in the Digital Era Université of Paul-Valéry Montpellier, 26/09/2019-28/09/2019.
2018
O'Neill, Stephen (2018) ‘“The Strangers’ Case”: Sir Thomas More, the Refuge Crisis and Social Media’ Shakespeare Studies Today, British Shakespeare Association Queen's University, Belfast, 14/06/2018-17/06/2018.
2018
O'Neill, Stephen (2018) Remediating Early Modern Drama seminar Shakespeare Association of America Los Angeles, 29/03/2018-31/03/2018.
2017
O'Neill, Stephen (2017) Shakespeare / Hiddleston / Coriolanus: Rhizomatic Crossings in Fanfiction, Shakespearean Fandom and Digital Cultures Shakespeare Association of America Atlanta, 06/04/2017-08/04/2017.
2016
Stephen O'Neill (2016) #notforanagebutforalltime: Quoting Shakespeare in Digital Cultures Shakespeare and Modern Popular Culture Université d’Artois, Arras, France, 15/06/2016-17/06/2016.
2016
Stephen O'Neill (2016) ‘It is the digital, | The digital above us, govern our conditions’: Shakespeare, (Mis)Quotation and Digital Cultures Shakespeare Lives across the Island: Conversations and Celebrations Irish Renaissance Seminar Queens University Belfast, 07/05/2016-07/05/2016.
2015
Stephen O'Neill (2015) Shakesgirls, or what’s Ophelia doing in social media? The Gendered Politics of Production Middlesex University, London, 16/06/2015-16/06/2015.
2015
Stephen O'Neill (2015) #Shakespeare: Twitter and Tumblr as Modes of Shakespeare Commemoration Celebrating Shakespeare: Memory and the Cultures of Commemoration Murcia University, Spain, 04/11/2015-07/11/2015.
2013
Stephen O'Neill (2013) YouTube Shakespeare Digital Shakespeares University of Nottingham, 24/07/2013-.
2013
Stephen O'Neill (2013) “‘Scaling his present, bearing with his past’: Coriolanus and the Challenges of Teaching Shakespearean Topicality now Reimagining Topicality, Shakespeare Association of America St Louis, USA, 09/04/2014-12/04/2014.
2012
Stephen O'Neill (2012) Has no one made him out to be an Irishman?: interpreting Shakespeare's perceived Irish problem Irish Studies Centre, Concordia University Montreal, .
2012
Stephen O'Neill and Maurizio Calbi (2012) Social Media Shakespeare Seminar Shakespeare Association of America Toronto, .
2011
Stephen O'Neill (2011) Shakespeare, You Tube and the (Un)sexing of the Sonnets Media Shakespeare: Appropriation Reconsidered, European Shakespeare Research Association Weimar, Germany, 29/04/2011-30/04/2011.
2011
Stephen O'Neill (2011) Shakespeare's Sonnets on YouTube: Medium Play, Queer Erasures and the Culture of Vernacular Creativity UCD School of English Research Seminar Dublin, 17/11/2011-17/11/2011.
2011
Stephen O'Neill (2011) “Shakespeare, Ireland and the Critics” World Shakespeare Congress Prague, .
2010
Stephen O'Neill (2010) “It’s Shakespeare … with a twist: Exploring Conflict in Shakespeare on You Tube” European Shakespeare Research Association Conference Pisa, .
2010
Stephen O'Neill (2010) “Politics, Paranoia, and Power in Shakespeare’s Plays” Abbey Theatre Dublin, .
2010
Stephen O'Neill (2010) Celtic Shakespeare? Or, what has happened to Shakespeare’s ‘English’ histories? Shakespeare, Performance and Ireland Research Seminar, with the Moore Institute NUI Galway, 29/05/2010-29/05/2010.
2009
Stephen O'Neill (2009) Beyond Mackmorrice?: Rethinking Shakespeare's Irish Subtexts Shakespeare, Ireland, Scotland, Wales Conference School of English, Trinity College Dublin, .
2009
Stephen O'Neill (2009) 'Has no-one made him out to be an Irishman?': Shakespeare and Irish Writing Research Seminar, School of Language and Literature, New Bulgarian University Sofia, Bulgaria, .
2009
Stephen O'Neill (2009) Twentieth Century Rewritings of Shakespeare Guest Lecture, School of Language and Literature, New Bulgarian University Sofia, Bulgaria, .
2009
Stephen O'Neill (2009) After-show Talk and Discussion, Macbeth Rathmines Literary Festival St Louis, Dublin, .
2009
Stephen O'Neill (2009) It's Shakespeare with a twist: Exploring Conflict in Shakespeare on You Tube The 8th International European Shakespeare Research Association Conference Pisa, Italy, .
2008
Stephen O'Neill (2008) Villainy and the (Dis)Closure of Trauma in Shakesp Shakespeare Association of America Dallas, Texas, .
2008
Stephen O'Neill (2008) CGI Elizabeth, or a Spanish Tragedy: Historical T Filming and Performing Renaissance History Symposi Queen's University Belfast, .
2007
Stephen O'Neill (2007) “Images of the Irish”, Author Interview, Staging I The Eleventh Hour, RTE Radio One Dublin, .
2007
Stephen O'Neill (2007) ‘What ish my nation?, or questions of Irish differ Queen's University, Belfast Belfast, .
2007
Stephen O'Neill (2007) Shakespeare’s Stage Irishman and questions of diff Jean Monnet University Saint-Etienne, France, .
2007
Stephen O'Neill (2007) Panel Discussion on Shakespeare The Orla Barry Show, Newstalk Dublin, .
2007
Stephen O'Neill (2007) “Shakespeare’s Relevance Today Tubridy Show, RTE Radio One Dublin, .
2005
Stephen O'Neill (2005) Go not to Ireland’: Negotiating the Trauma of the Early Modern Terrorism: Atrocity and Political Vio University of Manchester, .
2005
Stephen O'Neill (2005) 1599: Drama, Nation, and the Burden of War Ireland in the Renaissance Dublin, .
Webinar
Year
Publication
2023
Stephen O'Neill (2023) 'The book that gave us Shakespeare: Four hundred years of the First Folio, Inspiring Ideas at Trinity, TCD. [Webinar] [Link]
2022
O'Neill, Stephen (2022) “Writing with Trees: in conversation with Lynn Buckle. [Webinar] [Link]
2022
O'Neill, Stephen (2022) Texts and Trees: Forays into Ireland's Arboreal Cultures in conversation with Dr Anna PIlz and Dr Brandon Yen. [Webinar] [Link]
Blog
Year
Publication
2017
Stephen O'Neill (2017) The Strangers' Case: Sir Thomas More, Social Media and the Refugee Crisis. [Blog] [Link]
2015
Stephen O'Neill (2015) “Shakespeare and Online Video”, Shakespeare on YouTube. [Blog] [Link]
Radio Presentation
Year
Publication
2022
O'Neill, Stephen (2022) Literature and Ireland’s Trees, Mooney Goes Wild. Dublin: [Radio Presentation] [Link]
Guest Lectures
Year
Publication
2023
Stephen O'Neill; Katie Holten (2023) IMMA Outdoors, Garden Talk and Walk about The Language of Trees. [Guest Lectures]
Online Multimedia
Year
Publication
2019
O'Neill, S; Watson, L. (2019) 'I should be so lucky: doing the academic locomotion with Kylie', RTE Brainstorm. [Online Multimedia] [Link]
2016
Stephen O'Neill (2016) Storify - Introduction Shakespeare and Social Media. [Online Multimedia] [Link]
Conference Publication
Year
Publication
2000
Stephen O'Neill (2000) Proceedings of the British Graduate Shakespeare Conference . In: Janet R. Costa eds. ‘“Irish Affairs’: Representing Ireland in Sir John Oldcastle” The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham,
1998
Stephen O'Neill (1998) PAGES “‘From Ireland coming’: the Irish Wars in Late Elizabethan Drama” University College Dublin,
Book Review
Year
Publication
2022
O'Neill, Stephen (2022) Studying Shakespeare Adaptation: From Restoration Theatre to YouTube By Pamela Bickley and Jenny Stevens (2021). Shakespeare Studies. [Book Review] [Link]
2010
Dr Stephen O'Neill (2010) Review of J.B Lethbridge (Ed.). Shakespeare and Spenser: Attractive Opposites (Manchester University Press, 2008). [Book Review]
2008
Stephen O'Neill (2008) The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street by Charles Nichol, The Arts Show, RTE Radio One. [Book Review]
2006
Dr Stephen O'Neill (2006) Review of Deana Rankin, Between Spenser and Swift: English Writing in Seventeenth Century Ireland (Cambridge University Press, 2005). [Book Review]
2004
Dr Stephen O'Neill (2004) Review of Clare Carroll, Circe’s Cup: Cultural Transformations in Early Modern Ireland (Notre Dame University Press, 2001). [Book Review]
1999
Dr Stephen O'Neill (1999) Review of Curtis Perry, The Making of Jacobean Culture (Cambridge University Press, 1999). [Book Review] http:/www.hull.ac.uk/renforum/v3no2/oneill.htm
Reviews
Year
Publication
2016
Stephen O'Neill (2016) Review: Reason in Madness, Draíocht Theatre. [Reviews] [Link]
2015
Stephen O'Neill (2015) “Of Crowns, Nations and Memory Machines: Druid reimagines Shakespeare’s Histories.”. [Reviews] [Link]
2014
Stephen O'Neill (2014) Review of Brigit by Tom Murphy for Exuent. [Reviews] [Link]
Thesis
Year
Publication
2004
Dr Stephen O'Neill (2004) Staging Ireland: Representations in English Renaissance Drama, c.1587-1603. University College Dublin: [Thesis]
Dr O'Neill is the recipient of a Maynooth University Teaching Award (2023). His main teaching interests and responsibilities are in Shakespeare and early modern literature studies but he also contributes more broadly to teaching across the MU English degree. Current teaching includes EN106: "Cli-Fi: Climate Crisis and the Literary Imagination", which is available to double major and single honours students; EN202: "Literature and History"; EN244: "Imagined Worlds"; and EN342: "Lost Worlds: Reading a Fragile Planet". He also offers an elective module in Third Year, "Shakespeare Across Media", which explores adaptations of Shakespeare in literary and popular cultures. He has previously taught modules on Shakespeare, Feminism and Popular Culture, and on thee fiction of Don DeLillo. At postgraduate level, he co-teaches the module Afterlives on the Department's new MA programme, Literatures of Engagement. He also supervises PhD projects on Shakespeare and also in digital media.
In 2022, he received a Maynooth University CTL Teaching Fellowship for the project “Eco-Journaling: Climate-Engaged Learning through Literature” as part of EN342. A key aim for the project team (which includes Dr Evan Bourke, Prof Pat Palmer, Dr Kevin Tracey, and Alan Waldron) is to involve students through direct participation in class, through a campus tree-trail and workshops with visual artist Susan Leen. But we want to go beyond the timeframe of the module itself through a creative exhibition featuring the group’s work and also launch student-leadership roles as “MU Climate Heroes”. By developing greater learner partnerships, we can together explore how the study of literature helps us as global citizens to apprehend, process, and identify actions as we face the climate crisis.
Digital Badges:
All Aboard digital badge for “Flipped Classroom”. All Aboard Digital Skills in Higher Education. The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.
All Aboard digital badge for "Design Thinking”. All Aboard Digital Skills in Higher Education. The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.