
Ms Rachel Hare
Current positions
Contact
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Research interests
My PhD research examines the complex and often contradictory significations of fainting in early modern drama. Drawing on analysis of hundreds of staged faints with detailed readings of plays by Shakespeare, Marston, Heywood and Ford, I consider the conflicting interpretations of embodied gestures and the ways these conflicts expose and interrogate prevalent anxieties about gender, performance, perception, emotion, and the body. The project is funded by South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWW DTP). In 2023, I won the University of Bristol Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition with my presentation 'The Art of the Swoon' and was selected to compete in the national final. In 2024, I was Runner Up in the European final, run by the Coimbra Group.
I have been involved with a variety of projects related to grief, creativity and community. I am a member of the Good Grief Festival team and was one of the University's first cohort of Early Career Enterprise Fellows. I worked on a project about grief education in schools with Dr Lesel Dawson, Dr Lucy Selman, Tracey Boseley (Head of Development: Education for Child Bereavement UK), and Alison Penny (Director of Childhood Bereavement Network), and am currently a member of the Grief Education Influencing Group. I also helped to write, evaluate and expand the illustrated booklet Pregnancy, Baby Loss and the Grief Journey. Other projects include co-authoring two zines to accompany She Said Jump’s The Guy in the Luggage Rack, collaborating on a project exploring group storytelling during bereavement, and helping to produce short films on Children, Grief and Creativity and Children, Grief and Art Therapy.
Interested in theatre, arts and culture, I was part of the creative team for The Place at the Bridge, a Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory production which reimagined a selection of Shakespeare’s sonnets to explore five modern characters' relationships to Bristol and each other. I am currently working with She Said Jump to develop and evaluate DIRT!: A Circus Adventure Underground. Aimed at young people and families, the immersive and accessible performance and installation explores themes related to the climate crisis and ecosystem degradation to spark conversation and provide a framework for constructive hope and positive action. I regularly guest write posts for Super Culture's blog.
I am a certified Diversity Ambassador after completing training with the Global Equality Collective. I have helped adapt materials for different audiences, including the easy read version of The Guy in the Luggage Rack zine which is suitable for children and people with learning disabilities.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Good Grief: Creating a Sustainable Social Enterprise
Principal Investigator
Description
While grief is not a medical condition, it is crucial that people feel supported in bereavement; yet, sadly this is often not the case. Support services are over-stretched and private…Managing organisational unit
Department of EnglishDates
01/03/2025 to 31/08/2025
Grief Centre launch
Principal Investigator
Description
We have secured NIHR funding to work towards establishing a Grief Centre at the University of Bristol.Managing organisational unit
Department of EnglishDates
01/09/2024 to 31/08/2026
Engaging Multi-Generational Audiences on Climate Change through Storytelling and Physical Theatre
Principal Investigator
Description
How do we open up conversations about the climate crisis, inspiring intergenerational audiences to make positive changes, both big and small? This Brigstow Ideas Exchange will bring together academics from…Managing organisational unit
Department of EnglishDates
19/02/2024 to 31/07/2024
Exploring the Role of Collaborative Creativity in Grief Processing
Principal Investigator
Description
All of us will experience grief in our lifetimes. With counselling services increasingly over-subscribed, there is a turn towards social prescribing initiatives and growing pressure to find new ways to…Managing organisational unit
Department of EnglishDates
01/11/2023 to 31/07/2024
Increasing Impact: Mandatory Grief Education in Schools
Principal Investigator
Description
Funded by an ESRC Impact Acceleration Grant, we will record a panel discussion on ‘Grief Education in Schools’ for the Good Grief Festival, featuring Michael Rosen, a high-profile children’s author,…Managing organisational unit
Department of EnglishDates
01/03/2023 to 31/03/2023
Publications
Recent publications
12/02/2024Pregnancy and Baby Loss Contacts and Resources
Pregnancy, Baby Loss and the Grief Journey
Community engagement in a seaside town
Palliative Care and Social Practice
Grief and Collaborative Storytelling
Journal of Creativity in Mental Health
'The one thing guaranteed in life and yet they won't teach you about it'
Bereavement