Much Ado About Cooking

He has played many roles on stage, film, television and radio – ranging from Winston Churchill to Stalin, George Smiley to King Arthur – but ever since his appearance at school as a glamorous Desdemona, complete with false eyelashes that rendered him half-blind, he has been captivated by Shakespeare. He started his theatrical career at The Royal Court, and went on to the Royal Shakespeare Company for eight years. Since then, he has spent 20 years at The National Theatre. His numerous theatre credits include: Hamlet; A Christmas Carol; The Lehman Trilogy; King Lear; Collaborators; Temple; Privates on Parade; Macbeth; and Jumpers, to name but a few. On screen, his credits include; House of the Dragon; Mary & George; Vanity Fair; Penny Dreadful; The Death of Stalin; and My Cousin Rachel. His account of an actor's life and work, A Piece of Work – Playing Shakespeare and Other Stories, was published by Abacus in September 2024.

Her fourth book, Much Ado About Cooking, written in collaboration with Shakespeare’s Globe, recreates recipes from the early modern period inspired by the food references in Shakespeare’s plays.

She is the author of Multisensory Shakespeare and Specialized Communities (Arden Shakespeare), and is currently writing another Arden volume, Shakespeare and Food: Teaching the Plays through Culinary History and Practice. Her research explores the intersections of literature, food and culture, and she has published widely in the field. Sheila has collaborated with organisations including the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum and Eat Medieval, and has taught with Ivan Day at the School for Artisan Food. Her teaching spans culinary and literary history from the Norman Conquest to the First World War, and she regularly delivers international presentations on historic food and culture.

Will Tosh is Director of Education (Higher Education and Research) at Shakespeare’s Globe. He leads the Globe’s scholarly research mission with Lucy Cuthbertson. He teaches, writes and researches the literature and culture of Shakespeare’s England, and contributes to dramaturgy, new writing development and public engagement. He is the author of the acclaimed Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare (2024, winner of the Theatre Book Prize 2025). Will’s other books include Playing Indoors: Staging Early Modern Drama in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (2018), a study of performance in the Globe’s candlelit indoor theatre, and Male Friendship and Testimonies of Love in Shakespeare’s England (2016), which revealed the intimate social circle of the Elizabethan spy Anthony Bacon.