Bard & Body Swap: A Gender-Swapped Time-Travel Romance at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater

A 30,000 word time travel gender swap romance in the age of Shakespeare

Modern actor Ben Harper never imagined a time travel experiment to let him act in the time of Shakespear would trap him in the body of Marian Drake, only daughter of a prosperous London merchant. In an age when women are banned from the stage, Ben must split his life between fulfilling dutiful daughter duties at night, while each day posing as a boy actor at Shakespeare’s Globe.

A Confusion of Ben faces the challenges of multiple roles, of being a man in a woman's body out of time pretending to be a boy actor pretending in multiple roles to be a woman. By daylight, Ben is male urchin actor, perfect for small female parts like the First Fairy (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Luciana (The Comedy of Errors). Each performance before raucous groundlings and candlelit galleries fuels his hunger for the stage. When the Globe falls silent, Ben inhabits Marian’s tight stays, curtsey drills, and embroidery lessons, fulfilling daughterly duties to seek a lordly husband, choosing gowns and attending dances—which also sharpens Ben's grasp of feminine grace for the next day’s roles.

• Budding Romance & Secret Fellow player Nicholas Tooley recognizes Ben’s spark and becomes a close friend during the day, but separately falls for Ben's "cousin" Marian, and begins seeing "her" many evenings. What begins as an acting exercise for Ben blossoms into clandestine affection beneath torchlit taverns. As their bond grows, Ben must decide whether to guard his secret or surrender to a love that defies gender and century.

• Shakespeare from the Inside Feel Ben’s thrill as he recites Shakespeare’s verse by candlelight, senses the Bard’s pride in rehearsal, and finally brings down the house in Twelfth Night.

From Marian’s stifling bodice to the electric rush of the Globe, Bard & Body Swap is a tightly woven journey of identity, performance, and the perilous risk of opening one’s heart in a world that may never understand.