In this episode, Dr Ruby Rutter and Dr Lewis Ryder speak with playwright, academic, and “accidental historian” Dr Stephen Hornby — National Playwright in Residence to LGBT+ History Month. Hornby specialises in transforming archival fragments, absences, and queer histories into compelling stage and screen narratives.

Across the conversation he explains how drama can both illuminate and disrupt the historical record, especially when sources are scant or shaped by silence. He discusses the dilemmas of authenticity, the ethics of representing marginalised pasts, and the creative potential of purposeful anachronism. Drawing on projects from Manchester drag-ball raids to Burnley’s 1971 public coming-out meeting and the BBC’s first documentary on male homosexuality, Hornby shows how performance can open up alternative ways of “doing” history.

Find out more about Stephen's work here:

Instagram: @inkbrewproductions

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dr-stephen-m-hornby

Read the journal here:

https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cerh20/current

Follow the journal here:

Bluesky: @EuroReviewHist

Threads:@EuroReviewHistory

Instagram: @euroreviewhistory

Blog: www.euroreviewhistory.com

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Dr Stephen Hornby - Dramatizing the Archive