Work-in-Progress talk with K. Olivar, PhD candidate, English, and 2025–26 OHC Dissertation Fellow.

A Nest of Antics excavates examples of madness in early modern English drama that celebrate cognitive difference, arguing that the era had more interest in positive representations of neurodiversity than critics have noticed. Early modern comedy’s abundance of idiosyncratic character types treated favorably show that audiences valued comedic representations of madness beyond its tragic associations. Madness amounted as an avenue toward unique knowledge production, community belonging, and joy in ways that resonate with modern ideas about neurodiversity.