Jan Clarke is Professor and Director of Studies in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at Durham University. Her research centres on seventeenth-century theatre, with a particular focus on stage and theatre design, stage lighting, company organisation, and the role of women both on and off stage. As well as penning numerous chapters and articles, she published the first, three-volume history of the company that succeeded that of Molière, The Guénégaud Theatre in Paris (1998, 2001, 2007).