Shelley-Mills Prize 2026 awarded to Hertford student Annabelle Higgins

7 May 2026

Congratulations to Annabelle Higgins, who has been awarded this year’s Shelley-Mills prize for her essay ‘Senseless Perception and the Health of the Theatre in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Zinnie Harris’ Macbeth (An Undoing)’.

The Shelley-Mills Prize aims to promote the study of the works of William Shakespeare, and the subject for 2025–26 was ‘Shakespeare and the Senses’.

Annabelle explained:

‘My essay seizes upon a line from Harris’ play – ‘You can tell the health of a theatre by what fills the stage’ – and uses it to explore the more abstract idea of the theatre-world Shakespeare constructs and the diagnostic capacity this implies in the audience engaging with the play. In doing so, I consider the modalities in which audience sensitivity, susceptibility, and/or desensitisation shape this metaphorical category of health, considering whether our eyes, like Lady Macbeth’s, might be open, yet their sense shut.’

She added:

‘As someone who has been a devout Shakespearean for the better part of my life, winning this prize reassures me that I am on the right path and fills me with joy and excitement for my future pursuits in the field of Shakespeare studies!’