Madness and Melancholy in Early Modern English Drama (RSA Dublin, April 7-10, 2021)
Few people know about Kelly Thomas, a homeless man diagnosed with schizophrenia who, in 2011, was beaten to death in Orange County by six police officers. Thomas was unarmed. All the officers were acquitted. The way we treat those with mental illness has become of interest to humanities scholars, particularly those working in Disability Studies. Margaret Price’s brave research, in Mad at School, rallies against the exclusion of those with mental disability from academic discourse (and academic life). Scholars of early modern disability have explored various neurodiversity in theater, from figurations of wise fools to imaginings of mad revengers.