Doctoral Students
Mihaela Antoniou
From Voice to Body: Contemporary Acting Techniques in Greece and Productions of Electra by Sophocles, 1936-1998
As its title indicates, this thesis aims to analyse and elucidate the acting techniques employed on the Greek stage in the period specified. The research involved reviews acting techniques that have developed from a vocal/rhetorical/text-based approach, as well as a bodily/physical one. The focus here is on tragedy because this genre is presented on the Greek stage regularly, and, therefore, it can be an eloquent example in order to examine the evolution of acting. Moreover, the text of Greek tragedy possesses a philological significance independent of its life on stage, thus making the distinction between vocal and physical approaches palpable when a play is performed. Electra is the central focus of the thesis because it has been staged numerous times through the years indicated by directors who occupy different positions within the theatre field.
Philippa Burt
The Ideal of Ensemble Practice in British Theatre
The central focus of this thesis is ensemble practice as an ideal of British theatre, and the latter’s development throughout the twentieth century. By acknowledging the origins of the concept of ensemble work in the Moscow Art Theatre, the thesis explores the underlying influence of Russian theatre on an understanding of ensemble practice in Britain. It presents a historical perspective on attempts to establish a permanent ensemble company and focuses on the directors Edward Gordon Craig, Harley Granville Barker, Theodore Komisarjevsky, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Peter Hall, Michael Boyd and Declan Donnellan. Particular attention is given to the importance each director places on the ensemble, and how he or she attempts to achieve this during the rehearsal process. Through analysing the work of these directors chronologically, the thesis foregrounds a line of ancestry and identifies the notion of a permanent company working collaboratively as an aspiration that has existed in the British theatre over the last century. Methodologically situated within the sociology of the theatre, the thesis charts the progression of ensemble practice in close reference to the social, political and cultural developments taking place throughout British society in the twentieth century, drawing from the work of writers such as Pierre Bourdieu and Maria Shevtsova. In particular, it examines the pervading influence of individualism in all areas of British life, and argues that the subsidiary principles constitute a theatre climate antithetical to the establishment of a permanent ensemble company.
Ysabel Claire
I am making a detailed investigation into Stanislavsky's system of actor training, looking at the deep structure, the underlying information and cognitive structures. Using my own model and developing techniques from neuro-linguistics, I hope to approach a new level of understanding.
Scheherazaad Cooper
Embodying Access Points in Performance: Practice and Perspectives in Odissi Indian Classical Dance
The significance of this thesis lies in its attempt to fill a gap in the existing literature on Odissi Indian classical dance. Situated within a practice-as-research framework, this research draws from personal performance experience and engagement with Odissi in order to explore how the contemporary practitioner develops their artistic practice. The thesis postulates that the audience can be initiated into the performance by a conscious focus by the practitioner on ‘access points’ or matrices of contact for the spectator within the transient performance itself. The notion of ‘access points’ is explored in terms of the cultivation and articulation of such points within practice and performance-identifying points specific to Odissi Indian classical dance,and the socio-cultural relevance of these points in relation to audiences who have varying levels of initiation in the codification inherent in the performance. It is the artist’s responsibility to develop and make available these points of contact within the performance – a process that can only be achieved by a deep and nuanced awareness of the existence and significance of such points, which requires training, study, technical mastery, as well as constant self-evaluation. Although this is a study based in the tradition of Indian classical dance, this thesis will demonstrate through the specificity of one form the relevance and importance of access points to performance as a field of study and as a practice.
Jorge Crecis
Altered States of Consciousness in Performance: Ritual Creation in Real Time
In the context of modern and contemporary live art, the performative quality of those who play an active role on stage has been a recurring theme of research. Artists and researchers have sometimes approached such studies by utilising a spiritual point of view. Rituals have been a topic widely employed for that purpose. Due to its double nature as performance and meditative ritual, this practice-as-research takes the whirling dervish as a starting point for what follows. Emerging from this, the research aims to transfer the process of spinning into contemporary dance, thereby exploring ways in which performers can intentionally modify their states of mind while performing. To arrive at a better understanding of the processes involved, the research will examine the field of neuroscience, with a practical input of EEG studies and Alpha-Betha training. The central question posed is how performers can actually access and create the experience of altered states of mind while performing, rather than pretending such experience.
Ekua Ekumah-Asamoah
African Diasporic Theatre and Performance Practices.
The focus of this thesis is on the theatre emerging from the second and third-generation of peoples and communities of the African Diaspora in Britain, who are negotiating and interrogating their multiple and constantly shifting identities as second-generation migrants in relation to the heritage of their parents. My work examines selected playwrights and two theatre companies, Tiata Fahodzi and Collective Artists, and explores through them the question of how relevant this theatre is to the project of articulating the African Diasporic experience. This thesis addresses questions concerning how this theatre is trying to write the African Diasporic experience and how it attempts to re-shape perceptions and history. Another central question of importance that this thesis examines is whether this African Diasporic theatre is considered part of the British landscape, and what contribution this theatre is making and how it is dealing with that landscape.
Rebecca McFadden
Performance, Community and Identity in Twenty-first Century Prague: Topography of a New Theatre-Making Context
This thesis explores the current performance-making landscape of the city of Prague, examining the social function, dramaturgical content and methodological practice of self-defined international theatre companies Farm in the Cave, Krepsko and Divadlo Miloco. At the heart of the research, within the framework of the sociology of theatre, is an attempt to articulate the role played by such companies in creating hybrid and multiple identities and communities within the city theatre artists and audiences of Prague. Questions of motivation for the active cultivation on the part of Czech artists of a neutral or hybrid artistic identity will be contrasted with the reciprocal phenomenon of Western European and North American artists choosing to base their careers in Prague. An examination of the working methods employed by such companies will document the rehearsal and performance-making processes utilized and developed to address the needs of multi-lingual artists and audiences. Research on the audiences of these companies will question whether attendance at “international” theatre events leads to the creation of multi-national, multi-lingual communities. These considerations are placed within the wider context of Czech cultural and political history from the cosmopolitan/parochial debate of the nineteenth century to the writings and career of Václav Havel.
Karen Morash
The Writer-Deviser: An Examination of New Methodologies in Playmaking
As devised theatre and ‘live art’ are becoming less a part of the avant-garde and more mainstream, playwrights must accept that the landscape of performance is changing and adapt their working practices, or risk becoming redundant. Methodologies used in collaborative and devised performance, specifically the focus on body, space and play, are useful for the playwright who wants to engage meaningfully with other playmakers and their audience. Through research on the working practices of a number of companies such as Forced Entertainment, Deus ex Machina, Odin Teatret, Out of Joint and Shunt, an examination of specific writers who have worked collaboratively and taking into account first hand observations of rehearsals/playmaking (of at least two companies), this thesis examines how working with ‘live’ bodies and space will fundamentally change a playwright’s approach to making theatre. This research, and documented collaboration with other playmakers (directors, performers and creative technicians) lead to the production of a new piece of work, reflective of the methodologies observed.
Chris O’Shaughnessy
Spirituality in English-speaking theatre since 1935: a critical revaluation and a dramatic contribution
Spirituality is the human urge towards transcendence. In the thesis, spirituality is explained in theatrical terms, then located and analysed in six key areas in two representative texts from four major dramatists.
The analysis draws on the psycho-semiotic theories of Julia Kristeva and Jacques Lacan, the stages of faith theory of James Fowler, the gender theories of Carol Gilligan and Helen Cixous, and contemporary research into spirituality by David Hay and Nicola Slee. The practice dimension of the research is the mapping of the writing of a new play, mindful of the six key areas and showing, by journal keeping and post-creative critical analysis, the process by which spirituality becomes (or does not become) embedded in a newly-created dramatic text.
This practice-based research asks the question, ‘Can spirituality be located in dramatic texts?’ What are the means by which this might be achieved and how can spirituality be identified? Are there different kinds of spirituality? If so, what are the implications for future evaluations of theatrical performance?
The texts to be investigated are Murder in the Cathedral and The Family Reunion by T.S. Eliot; The Lady’s Not for Burning and The Dark is Light Enough by Christopher Fry; Saved and There Will be More by Edward Bond; Blasted and 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane. At no time in the study is spirituality exclusively equated with good; on the contrary, spirituality may be identified as twisted, suppressed or malign. The recognition of spirituality as a substantive and assessable feature of dramatic writing affords a new perception of the meaning of a dramatic text.
Rick Piatt O.S.A.
The Art of Liberation: Theatre of the Oppressed and Latin American Liberation Theology in Dialogue
This focus of this thesis is the work of Augusto Boal explored through the lens of Latin American Liberation Theology, which seeks to find ways in which the latter might inform the evolution of the former. The methodology employed in classic Latin American Liberation Theology, specifically the socio-analytical, hermenutical and practical mediations which enable the oppressed to see, to judge and to act upon their socio-political situation, proves vital for a discussion of the future of Theatre of the Oppressed. Liberation Theology provides a framework upon which Theatre of the Oppressed might both explore its own potential for creating social change while effecting a return to the core principles of consciousness raising (as outlined by Paulo Freire) among the oppressed. Specifically, it demands that the oppressed themselves engage in critical reflection upon their own roles in the social situation they inhabit and then become actors in their own drama. By doing so, they reclaim possession of the humanity denied them by unjust social structures.
Vanio Papadelli
A hybrid model of embodiment: Grotowski-inspired psychophysical training reconsidered through the somatic and postmodern dance practice of Contact Imrpovisation
This practice-as-research project investigates a hybrid model of embodiment for a theatre performer’s movement training that argues for the benefits of instilling Contact Improvisation’s somatic awareness and postmodern dance improvisation elements into Grotowski-inspired heightened emotional expressions. This hybrid embodiment model draws upon Merleau-Ponty’s dynamic body schema expanded by Shusterman’s somaesthetics and Sheets Johnstone’s kinetic bodily logos. It stems from my individual teaching and performance experience that blends selected principles mainly from the work of the international ensemble Song of the Goat and from Contact Improvisation material by various UK and USA-based teachers. Grotowski-inspired psychophysical training views the moving body as an instrument of authentic emotional expression and narrative. A rather intense training routine aims at an optimally heightened, extra-daily and un-reflected unveiling of the performer’s inner world, rigorously rehearsed and aimed at being performed with ultimate precision. On the other hand, Contact Improvisation, as a somatic and post-modern dance paradigm that is based on touch and weight exchange and can include pedestrian movements, is intrinsically disinterested in the production of narrative, the overt expression of emotions while also maintaining an improvisational character even when performed. Although both practices require the silencing of the over-intellectualising mind, Contact Improvisation cultivates a self-reflective and self-correcting consciousness towards effortless and anatomically aware movement; hence, it reinforces the spontaneity and transcendental emotional expression of Grotowski-inspired interacting bodies with awareness of the physical laws that govern their movement, release of unnecessary muscular tensions and the potential of a more daily movement vocabulary. Consequently, this proposed hybrid embodiment model seeks to promote a psychophysically safer and more versatile movement training paradigm.
Anna Porubcansky
Social Performing Groups and the Building of Community: Odin Teatret, Gardzienice, and Song of the Goat Theatre
This thesis examines the performing group as a social group, inherently holding a distinct connective function in society. Drawing upon the sociological investigations of Bourdieu, Elias, Bakhtin, Durkheim and Tönnies, this study is rooted in a legacy of socially-oriented theatrical practices emerging from the Romantic tradition in Poland. Its focus is Odin Teatret, Gardzienice, and Song of the Goat Theatre who are indebted in various ways to the innovative theatre laboratory work of Polish directors, Juliusz Osterwa and Jerzy Grotowski, and who represent three contemporary generations of performing groups devoted to the investigation of the deep and visceral connection between human beings and diverse communities as they encounter one another through theatre. By analysing these performing groups’ unique approaches not only to training and performance, but to their idiosyncratic involvement in the larger world as social groups, this thesis emphasises the vital role and responsibility of theatre as a dynamic and affective social force.
Mike Reynolds
The Dramatic Aesthetic of Count Harry Kessler and its Impact on the Strauss/von Hofmannsthal Partnership
Count Harry Kessler (1868 – 1937) was an intimate of Hugo von Hofmannsthal and a friend of Richard Strauss. The thesis examines the German, French and English theatrical and literary works and influences (including his extensive network of contacts) on Kessler that came to define his own dramatic aesthetic, and assesses the impact this had on two major stage works by the Strauss/von Hofmannsthal partnership: the opera Der Rosenkavalier and the ballet Die Josephslegende. In particular the thesis traces the derivation of Der Rosenkavalier from a French operetta La Marquise et le Marmiton (1907) by Louis Artus and Claude Terrasse, which Kessler (alone of the three partners) had seen. The dramatic and musical structure of this work is analysed and compared with the work that it inspired. The thesis concludes that Kessler made a major input to the architecture and dramatic structure of both Rosenkavalier and Josephslegende and should be regarded as one of their three co-creators.
Cathy Rosario
Dramatic re-writings of William Shakespeare’s controversial Venice plays: from 1700 to the present
This practice-based PhD investigates how Shakespeare’s Othello, The Moor of Venice and The Merchant of Venice have been rewritten in English for the stage. It makes the claim that, since 1960, there has been a marked shift in how these plays are interpreted, and that this is connected to the white, gentile male largely standing down from appropriating these texts, leaving the field open to previously marginalised voices, who have rejected or radically adapted earlier dramatic structures, themes and aesthetics.
As part of my research, I am writing my own contemporary versions of both plays and considering the context in which they are written.
Shanu Sadhwani
Culture, Hybridity and British-Asian Performance 1976-2012
The focus of this thesis is the development of British-Asian performance in relation to multicultural Britain from 1976 onwards. It specifically examines the work of two forerunners in the field, artistic director Jatinder Verma of Tara Arts, and the choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh. Verma and Jeyasingh draw from both British and Asian heritages and, by interweaving them, they have developed hybrid aesthetics that are shaped by the migrant experience. Analysis of the work of Verma and Jeyasingh, in relation to British immigration politics, will illustrate the social-cultural significance of their artistic practices. It will be evident that Verma and Jeyasingh share similar concerns, and use their artistic practices to promote a fluid notion of British-Asian identity by challenging inherited notions of home defined purely by geography. Their works embrace a malleable understanding of identity, and the hybrid aesthetics they have developed are able to demolish hierarchical structures, displace cultural hegemonies and create spaces that re-negotiate differences. The resultant aesthetics are layered with many cultural references and are able to epitomize the multiple concerns and experiences of British-Asians.
Rachel Shapiro
Theatre and Integration Politics in France 1999-2009
Methodologically rooted in the sociology of the theatre, this thesis situates the multiform conceptual, socio-historical and symbolic difficulties that underlie in France’s ‘politics of integration’ within the urban theatrical landscape of Paris Ile-de-France. Focusing on immigration-themed works produced by Hervé Breuil’s Lavoir Moderne Parisien theatre, Cie Graines de Soleil and Mohamed Rouabhi, this research explores the material and formal ways in which French integration politics and concomitant public discourses on integration have impacted the work of these three practitioners since 1999. It posits a two-pronged approach to exploring the difficulties bound up with integration in theatrical contexts. First, it unearths the social and symbolic function of culturally-hybridized community theatre works and socio-cultural facilitation projects produced within the formalised framework of France’s territorial integration projects. Equally, it examines the ways in which differentiating representations of France’s populations of North and West African origin in national political and media arenas, fuelled by public discourses on integration, have shaped the thematic and stylistic content of works created by these three practitioners.
Sarah Sigal
Writing and Authorship: the Role of the Writer in New Collaborative Performance-Making in the UK from 2001-2010
This thesis focuses on the role of the writer, writer/dramaturg and writer/director in the work of Frantic Assembly, Shared Experience and Filter Theatre. Each of these companies is driven by the creative vision of their respective artistic directorships, but also employs the expertise of specialized practitioners such as designers, performers, choreographers and writers. The aim of this study is to examine the ways in which writers external to the permanent artistic directorship of each of these companies have helped shape, create and author the text for performance and the resulting production. This thesis addresses issues concerning to what extent contemporary practitioners are creating new models of working with writers in collaboration and to what extent they are related to historical models; how authorship is influenced by practice between writers and companies; how a text is produced in different processes that involve a writer; and what the role or roles of the writer are in new collaborative theatre-making in the UK. It contends that the illumination of the role of the writer in collaboration hinges upon the redefinition of terms such as ‘writing’ and ‘author’ within the context of new theatre-making, playwriting and dramaturgical practices.
Roger Smart
Toward the Potential Space: the search for motility, presence, and creativity
Jacque Lecoq asserted that the public always knows when they have witnessed a highly motile, authentic, and present performer. This practice-as-research project involves an ongoing review of scholarship in contemporary neuroscience – psychology, philosophy, memory, emotion, creativity, and cognition research. It explores the assertion that a psychophysical approach to training and rehearsing for actors and directors was more effective for more actors in achieving motility and presence. The development of the project suggests that, in addition to facilitating presence and motility in actors, a psychophysical approach to training and rehearsal also advantages theatre artists in creativity and cognition. The unfolding of this practice-as-research project has led to the co-option of the notion of the Potential Space, coined by psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott to refer to an intermediate area of experiencing that lies between fantasy and reality — a flow state, where creativity and levels of performance are optimized.
Jony Hyuk Song
The Work of Jerzy Grotowski from the Perspective of Daoism
This thesis investigates the work of Jerzy Grotowski from the perspective of the Eastern philosophy, Daoism. One of the most problematic debates in the history of the Western acting practice has been the actor’s duality: the actor’s own self versus the character she/he portrays as well as the actor’s psychology versus physicality. Konstantin Stanislavsky, in search of an answer to the actor’s dilemma, emphasizes the actor’s consistent work on her/himself as an organic entity with both mind and body. Grotowski, in following the precept of Stanislavsky, develops his acting praxis inspired by the diverse Eastern traditions. Among others, Grotowski with the philosophical notion of Daoism the recognition that the relation of opposites in endless process is an indivisible totality. This thesis explores how Grotowski overcomes the actor’s duality in relation to Daoism. Its aim is to show what current artists may need in their search for an essence of the actor’s art.
Olatunju Samson Sotimirin
Music in African Theatre: The Content Analysis of Selected Plays by Wole Soyinka and Femi Osofisan
Traditional African Theatre is characterised by a vibrant oral tradition, fusing folklore, myth, music, mimesis, song, poetry, dance and other expressive resources in a powerfully affective performance. This paradigm is aesthetically transferred to the emergent literary drama many critics have acknowledged the vigorous blend of oral and literary resources. Such dramatists as Wole Soyinka and Femi Osofisan, in particular, have appropriated this tradition of orality by extensively deploying music and dance in their literary theatre both as narrative and aesthetic devices .However, while practically every aspect of the works of these Nigerian dramatists has received much scholarly attention, the way in which they engage music and dance as narrative and affective devices is largely elided .This research proposes to address this gap in the study of modern African theatre by examining the ways in which Wole Soyinka and Femi Osofisan effectively deploy musical resources in their works to offer a multi-dimensional experience to audiences.
Arabella Stanger
Merce Cunningham, William Forsythe and the Choreography of Space
The choreographic work of Merce Cunningham and William Forsythe is located in their respective practice within a history of formal space in European and North American theatrical dance. Extending from the contention that the spatial system of classical ballet provides a compositional point of departure for both artists, the thesis shows how a structural classicism underpins their major innovations in the field of contemporary dance. Methodological emphasis is placed on the conjunction between a formal and a socio-historical explanation of the ways in which choreographers organise space. Key formal antecedents to both Cunningham’s and Forsythe’s aesthetic are identified and accounted for in the cultural, social and political landscapes that fostered their production. From the nascent danse d’école under Louis XIV’s absolutist rule in seventeenth-century France to Forsythe’s appropriation of devices from digital culture for his Improvisation Technologies (1999), each spatial aesthetic is understood to be socially and historically rooted. This project is funded by the AHRC.
Emily Stone
The Impact of Neil LaBute’s Scripts on the Working Practices of Playwrights and Actors
The question of playwright Neil LaBute’s impact and the extent to which his dramatic perspective transforms landscape involves exploring the issues of how actors engage in creative reciprocity with the playwright. This practice-as-research includes Bash: Medea Redux, directed by Joe Salvatore which forms a discussion of Stanislavski’s method via LaBute’s collaborative work. Emily is performing the one-act monologue, Medea Redux and develops a subjective model to examine similar aspects between the roles of playwright and actor. How does Stanislavski’s System strengthen an actor’s technique and what are the elements that best define LaBute’s material?