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Professor Nerida Newbigin

BA PhD FAHA
Professor Emerita

A18 - Brennan MacCallum Building
The University of Sydney
Website Italian Medieval and Renaissance Theatre and Spectacle Pages

Biographical details

Nerida Newbigin taught Italian Language and Literature at the University of Sydney from 1970 until her retirement in December 2008. She is now a full-time researcher. Her research interests are philological and historical: the history of theatre and performance in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, late medieval lay piety, and the editing and interpretation of theatrical texts and archival material. In June 2009, she set up a web page of transcriptions, texts, and translations prepared in conjunction with her teaching and research at www-personal.usyd.edu.au/~nnew4107/Texts/Home.html. She was elected to the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1995, and appointed to a personal chair in Italian Studies in 2001.

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Research interests

  • Philology and textual editing
  • Theatre history
  • Late medieval and renaissance lay piety
  • Florentine social history
  • Translation

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Current projects

  • ARC Discovery Grant, 2005-8: Festival, Spectacle and Plays in Renaissance Florence
  • ARC Research Network for Early European Research, based at the University of Western Australia and made up of fifty established researchers throughout Australia. Panels: social fabric: social structures in early Europe, and their relationship to contemporary issues, especially poverty; families and gender; war, peace and conflict; religion and spirituality: the diversity of religious practice, thought and spirituality that shape European identity.

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Selected grants

2005

  • Festival, Spectacle and Plays in Renaissance Florence; Newbigin N; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Project.

2000

  • Easter plays in the colosseum 1494-1539; Newbigin N, Wisch B; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Large Research Grant.
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Selected publications & creative works

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Books

  • Newbigin, N., Wisch, B. (2013). Acting On Faith: The Confraternity of the Gonfalone in Renaissance Rome. PHILADELPHIA: SAINT JOSEPH’S UNIVERSITY PRESS.
  • Newbigin, N. (2006). I Prigioni Di Plauto: Tradotti Da L'Intronati Di Siena. Siena, Italy: Accademia Senese Degli Intronati.

Book Chapters

  • Newbigin, N. (2012). 'Ut poesis sculptura':Poetic and Dramatic Sources for the Malcove Cross? In Sheila Campbell (Eds.), A 16th Century Italo-Byzantine Cross, (pp. 51-64). New Jersey, USA: Gorgias Press.
  • Newbigin, N. (2011). Piccolomini drammaturgo sperimentale? In Marie-Francoise Piejus, Michel Plaisance, Matteo Residori (Eds.), Alessandro Piccolomini (1508-1579) UN SIENNOIS A LA CROISEE DES GENRES ET DES SAVOIRS, (pp. 155-170). Paris, France: Universite Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3.
  • Newbigin, N. (2011). Secular and religious Drama in the Middle Ages. In J Farrell & P Puppa (Eds.), A History of Italian theatre, (pp. 9-27). New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Newbigin, N. (2010). Imposing presence: the celebration of Corpus Domini in Fifteenth-Century Florence. In Catherine Emerson, Adrian P. Tudor and Mario Longtin (Eds.), Performance, drama and spectacle in the medieval city: essays in honour of Alan Hindley, (pp. 87-109). Leuven, Belgium: Peeters Publishers.
  • Newbigin, N. (2009). Jousting alone: scandal as social capital in renaissance Florence. In Terpstra, Nicholas; Eckstein, Nicholas (Eds.), Sociability and its discontents: civil society, social capital, and their alternatives in late Medieval and early modern Europe, (pp. 73-86). Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers.
  • Newbigin, N. (2007). Directing the Gaze: Expository Modes in Late Medieval Italian Plays. In Butterworth, Philip (Eds.), The Narrator, the Expositor, and the Prompter in European Medieval Theatre, (pp. 69-89). Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers.
  • Newbigin, N. (2007). Playing in the Piazza: Peter, Paul and Santa Maria del Carmine. In Nicholas A. Eckstein (Eds.), The Brancacci Chapel: Form, Function and Setting, (pp. 139-155). Florence, Italy: Leo S. Olschki Editore.
  • Newbigin, N. (2006). Docere Delectando: Confraternal Drama Studies and the Academy. In C. Black & P. Gravestock (Eds.), Early Modern Confraternities in Europe and the Americas, (pp. 226-242). Hampshire, England: Ashgate.
  • Newbigin, N. (2006). Secular and religious drama in the Middle Ages. In J Farrell & P Puppa (Eds.), A History of Italian theatre, (pp. 9-27). New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Newbigin, N. (2004). La Compagnia del Gonfalone e le sue rappresentazioni della Passione negli Anni Santi del 1500 e del 1525 (The Confraternity of the Gonfalone and its Passion Plays in the Holy Years of 1500 and 1525). In Carlo Ricci (Eds.), Il Cristianesimo fonte perenne di ispirazione per le arti (Christianity: Perennial Source of Inspiration in the Arts) ", (pp. 161-182). Naples: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane SpA.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Le Feste. In Lotti, L (Eds.), Storia Della Civilta Toscana, (pp. 579-596). Stampa, Italy: Academic Press Elsevier.

Journals

  • Newbigin, N. (2011). Le Onoranze Fiorentine Del 1459. Letteratura Italiana Antica, XII, 17-81.
  • Newbigin, N. (2009). Dieci sacre rappresentazioni inedite fra Quattro e Cinquecento. Letteratura Italiana Antica, 10, 21-397.
  • Newbigin, N. (2009). Primo Levi, the truce. Zachor : Journal of the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, 2009, 26-29.
  • Newbigin, N. (2008). Greasing the Wheels of Heaven: Recycling, Innovation and the Question of "Brunnelleschi's" Stage Machinery. I Tatti Studies: essays in the Renaissance, 11, 201-241.
  • Newbigin, N. (2008). Pirandello, Machiavelli and their Donne di Virtu. Pirandello Studies, 28, 48-67.
  • Newbigin, N. (2008). Rewriting John the Baptist: building a history of the San Giovanni edifici. Spunti e Ricerche, 22, 5-27.
  • Newbigin, N. (2007). L'Occhio si Dice Ch'e a Prima Porta: Seeing With Words in the Florentine Sacra Rappresentazione. Mediaevalia, 28(1), 1-22.
  • Newbigin, N. (2007). Quattro postille alle Rappresentazioni fiorentine. Letteratura Italiana Antica, 8, 393-398.
  • Newbigin, N. (2006). Mass Media: Visualizing The Last Supper in Late Medieval Italian Plays. Mediaevalia, 27(1), 185-205.
  • Newbigin, N. (2004). 'Del grasso di Lorenzo un'ampolletta': relics and representations in the quest for forgiveness in Renaissance Rome. Journal of Religious History, 28(1), 50-63.
  • Newbigin, N. (2004). Giuliano Dati: Stazione, indulgenzie e reliquie: quadragesimale de l'alma citta di Roma. Letteratura Italiana Antica, 5, 227-257.
  • Newbigin, N. (2004). Translation Of: Play And Record: Ser Tommaso Di Silvestro And The Theatre Of Medieval And Early Modern Orvieto. European Medieval Drama, 8, 127-171.
  • Newbigin, N. (2003). Bit part of leading role? Confraternal drama studies in the academy. Confraternitas: bulletin of the Society of Confraternity Studies, 14(2), 5-12.
  • Newbigin, N. (2003). Review of L'Oratorio del Gonfalone a Roma. Il ciclo cinquecentesco della Passione di Cristo. Confraternitas: bulletin of the Society of Confraternity Studies.
  • Newbigin, N. (2002). I Giornali di Ser Guisto Guisti D'Anghiari (1437 - 1482). Letteratura Italiana Antica, 3, 41-246.
  • Newbigin, N. (2002). Playing a Role: Confraternities, Drama and the Academy. Arts: the proceedings of the Sydney University Arts Association, 24, 103-114.
  • Newbigin, N. (2002). Quale lingua? Perche' studiare la lingua italiana all'universita'? Italiano e Scuola, 7(1), 29-30.
  • Newbigin, N. (2002). Review of Elissa B. Weaver. Convent Theatre in Early Modern Italy: Spiritual Fun and Learning for Women. European Medieval Drama.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Armies of God: Procession and Pageant in Florentine Religious Drama. European Medieval Drama, 4, 91-108.
  • Donnelly, P., Maher, M., Kirksville, M., Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of Confraternities and Catholic Reform in Italy, France , and Spain. Journal of Religious History.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of Giordano Bruno. Candelbearer. Parergon.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of Giordano Bruno. Candlebearer. Sixteenth Century Journal: journal of early modern studies.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of Sydney Higgins, ed. European Medieval Drama. Early Drama, Art, and Music Review.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of The Politics of Ritual Kinship. Parergon.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. Vasari On Theatre. Australasian Drama Studies.

Conferences

  • Newbigin, N. (2007). Una commedia per la visita di Carlo V? I prigioni tradotti dagl'Intronati di Siena (Translation: A comedy for the visit of Charles V? The Prisonsers, translated by the Intronati of Siena). Les Annees trente du XVI siecle italien (Translation: The 1530s in Italy) - International Conferences, Paris, France: Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche sur la Renaissance Italienne.

Original Creative Work

  • Newbigin, N. (2010). Niccolo Machiavelli: Mandragola. Niccolo Machiavelli: Mandragola, Brunswick, Maine.

Curated / Produced Exhibition / Event

  • Newbigin, N. (2009). Giulia Niccolai, Adriano Spatola & the creation of the Poesia Visiva collection.

Reference Works

  • Newbigin, N. (2005). May, Frederick.

2013

  • Newbigin, N., Wisch, B. (2013). Acting On Faith: The Confraternity of the Gonfalone in Renaissance Rome. PHILADELPHIA: SAINT JOSEPH’S UNIVERSITY PRESS.

2012

  • Newbigin, N. (2012). 'Ut poesis sculptura':Poetic and Dramatic Sources for the Malcove Cross? In Sheila Campbell (Eds.), A 16th Century Italo-Byzantine Cross, (pp. 51-64). New Jersey, USA: Gorgias Press.

2011

  • Newbigin, N. (2011). Le Onoranze Fiorentine Del 1459. Letteratura Italiana Antica, XII, 17-81.
  • Newbigin, N. (2011). Piccolomini drammaturgo sperimentale? In Marie-Francoise Piejus, Michel Plaisance, Matteo Residori (Eds.), Alessandro Piccolomini (1508-1579) UN SIENNOIS A LA CROISEE DES GENRES ET DES SAVOIRS, (pp. 155-170). Paris, France: Universite Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3.
  • Newbigin, N. (2011). Secular and religious Drama in the Middle Ages. In J Farrell & P Puppa (Eds.), A History of Italian theatre, (pp. 9-27). New York: Cambridge University Press.

2010

  • Newbigin, N. (2010). Imposing presence: the celebration of Corpus Domini in Fifteenth-Century Florence. In Catherine Emerson, Adrian P. Tudor and Mario Longtin (Eds.), Performance, drama and spectacle in the medieval city: essays in honour of Alan Hindley, (pp. 87-109). Leuven, Belgium: Peeters Publishers.
  • Newbigin, N. (2010). Niccolo Machiavelli: Mandragola. Niccolo Machiavelli: Mandragola, Brunswick, Maine.

2009

  • Newbigin, N. (2009). Dieci sacre rappresentazioni inedite fra Quattro e Cinquecento. Letteratura Italiana Antica, 10, 21-397.
  • Newbigin, N. (2009). Giulia Niccolai, Adriano Spatola & the creation of the Poesia Visiva collection.
  • Newbigin, N. (2009). Jousting alone: scandal as social capital in renaissance Florence. In Terpstra, Nicholas; Eckstein, Nicholas (Eds.), Sociability and its discontents: civil society, social capital, and their alternatives in late Medieval and early modern Europe, (pp. 73-86). Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers.
  • Newbigin, N. (2009). Primo Levi, the truce. Zachor : Journal of the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, 2009, 26-29.

2008

  • Newbigin, N. (2008). Greasing the Wheels of Heaven: Recycling, Innovation and the Question of "Brunnelleschi's" Stage Machinery. I Tatti Studies: essays in the Renaissance, 11, 201-241.
  • Newbigin, N. (2008). Pirandello, Machiavelli and their Donne di Virtu. Pirandello Studies, 28, 48-67.
  • Newbigin, N. (2008). Rewriting John the Baptist: building a history of the San Giovanni edifici. Spunti e Ricerche, 22, 5-27.

2007

  • Newbigin, N. (2007). Directing the Gaze: Expository Modes in Late Medieval Italian Plays. In Butterworth, Philip (Eds.), The Narrator, the Expositor, and the Prompter in European Medieval Theatre, (pp. 69-89). Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers.
  • Newbigin, N. (2007). L'Occhio si Dice Ch'e a Prima Porta: Seeing With Words in the Florentine Sacra Rappresentazione. Mediaevalia, 28(1), 1-22.
  • Newbigin, N. (2007). Playing in the Piazza: Peter, Paul and Santa Maria del Carmine. In Nicholas A. Eckstein (Eds.), The Brancacci Chapel: Form, Function and Setting, (pp. 139-155). Florence, Italy: Leo S. Olschki Editore.
  • Newbigin, N. (2007). Quattro postille alle Rappresentazioni fiorentine. Letteratura Italiana Antica, 8, 393-398.
  • Newbigin, N. (2007). Una commedia per la visita di Carlo V? I prigioni tradotti dagl'Intronati di Siena (Translation: A comedy for the visit of Charles V? The Prisonsers, translated by the Intronati of Siena). Les Annees trente du XVI siecle italien (Translation: The 1530s in Italy) - International Conferences, Paris, France: Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche sur la Renaissance Italienne.

2006

  • Newbigin, N. (2006). Docere Delectando: Confraternal Drama Studies and the Academy. In C. Black & P. Gravestock (Eds.), Early Modern Confraternities in Europe and the Americas, (pp. 226-242). Hampshire, England: Ashgate.
  • Newbigin, N. (2006). I Prigioni Di Plauto: Tradotti Da L'Intronati Di Siena. Siena, Italy: Accademia Senese Degli Intronati.
  • Newbigin, N. (2006). Mass Media: Visualizing The Last Supper in Late Medieval Italian Plays. Mediaevalia, 27(1), 185-205.
  • Newbigin, N. (2006). Secular and religious drama in the Middle Ages. In J Farrell & P Puppa (Eds.), A History of Italian theatre, (pp. 9-27). New York: Cambridge University Press.

2005

  • Newbigin, N. (2005). May, Frederick.

2004

  • Newbigin, N. (2004). 'Del grasso di Lorenzo un'ampolletta': relics and representations in the quest for forgiveness in Renaissance Rome. Journal of Religious History, 28(1), 50-63.
  • Newbigin, N. (2004). Giuliano Dati: Stazione, indulgenzie e reliquie: quadragesimale de l'alma citta di Roma. Letteratura Italiana Antica, 5, 227-257.
  • Newbigin, N. (2004). La Compagnia del Gonfalone e le sue rappresentazioni della Passione negli Anni Santi del 1500 e del 1525 (The Confraternity of the Gonfalone and its Passion Plays in the Holy Years of 1500 and 1525). In Carlo Ricci (Eds.), Il Cristianesimo fonte perenne di ispirazione per le arti (Christianity: Perennial Source of Inspiration in the Arts) ", (pp. 161-182). Naples: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane SpA.
  • Newbigin, N. (2004). Translation Of: Play And Record: Ser Tommaso Di Silvestro And The Theatre Of Medieval And Early Modern Orvieto. European Medieval Drama, 8, 127-171.

2003

  • Newbigin, N. (2003). Bit part of leading role? Confraternal drama studies in the academy. Confraternitas: bulletin of the Society of Confraternity Studies, 14(2), 5-12.
  • Newbigin, N. (2003). Review of L'Oratorio del Gonfalone a Roma. Il ciclo cinquecentesco della Passione di Cristo. Confraternitas: bulletin of the Society of Confraternity Studies.

2002

  • Newbigin, N. (2002). I Giornali di Ser Guisto Guisti D'Anghiari (1437 - 1482). Letteratura Italiana Antica, 3, 41-246.
  • Newbigin, N. (2002). Playing a Role: Confraternities, Drama and the Academy. Arts: the proceedings of the Sydney University Arts Association, 24, 103-114.
  • Newbigin, N. (2002). Quale lingua? Perche' studiare la lingua italiana all'universita'? Italiano e Scuola, 7(1), 29-30.
  • Newbigin, N. (2002). Review of Elissa B. Weaver. Convent Theatre in Early Modern Italy: Spiritual Fun and Learning for Women. European Medieval Drama.

2001

  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Armies of God: Procession and Pageant in Florentine Religious Drama. European Medieval Drama, 4, 91-108.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Le Feste. In Lotti, L (Eds.), Storia Della Civilta Toscana, (pp. 579-596). Stampa, Italy: Academic Press Elsevier.
  • Donnelly, P., Maher, M., Kirksville, M., Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of Confraternities and Catholic Reform in Italy, France , and Spain. Journal of Religious History.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of Giordano Bruno. Candelbearer. Parergon.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of Giordano Bruno. Candlebearer. Sixteenth Century Journal: journal of early modern studies.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of Sydney Higgins, ed. European Medieval Drama. Early Drama, Art, and Music Review.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of The Politics of Ritual Kinship. Parergon.
  • Newbigin, N. (2001). Review of Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574. Vasari On Theatre. Australasian Drama Studies.
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