Anna Furse

Staff details

Position Professor

Email a.furse (@gold.ac.uk)

Phone +44 (0)20 7919 7538

Professor Anna Furse directs the MA in Performance Making, supervises practice PhDs, Co-Directs the interdisciplinary Centre of the Body, Department Research, serves on the Editorial Committee of Goldsmiths Press, Academic Board and Council. An award-winning director and published author of theoretical and creative works, her many productions have been commissioned and performed internationally in a 40-year career funded by ACE, AHRC, British Academy, British Council, the EU Collaborative Arts Partnership Programme and Awards from the Wellcome Trust for her research that braids medicine and performance. She is currently on the Advisory Board of Digital Theatre Plus, External Examiner at Rose Bruford College, co-Director of the Performance Studies Laboratory PeARL, Art and Design School, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, and Artistic Director of her company Athletes of the Heart: www.athletesoftheheart.org; www.https://www.gold.acuk/theatre-performance/staff/a-furse/

Academic qualifications

BA in Drama and French, University of Bristol 1976
PGCE Drama, Goldsmiths 1978
PhD in Performance and Medical Imagery, Leeds Met 2011

Teaching and Supervision

Anna supervises practice research in a broad range of body-related issues including costume, maternity, storytelling, medicine, choreography and performance methodologies.

Research interests

Anna teaches performance making and performance analysis and an MA theory option she recently launched in Performance and Medicine, drawing on her research into a range of medical topics including infertility, hysterias, death and the status of the cadaver, with specific interest in public perceptions of anatomical/psychological interiority. Her academic work draws on her professional career: one of a handful of women directors in the UK in the early 1980’s, she pioneered the fusion of European physical theatres and feminist issues with her company BloodGroup, touring internationally with a London home at the ICA. Artistic Director of the new writing company Paines Plough 1990 - 1995, she directed international touring productions and pioneered the now accepted practice of writers collaborating across disciplines and in site specific contexts with her School Without Walls and Pre-Text Laboratories. Bi-lingual in French, she created a major production to inaugurate a new venue in Chalon Sur Saone in 1992, worked as Consultant at the Comédie de Caen, and presented her productions at the Théâtre de La Métaphore, Lille and the Théâtre de Gennevilliers, Paris. A director of over fifty-five new works and published playwright, she was among the first of her generation to straddle dance and theatre, from her early training at the Royal Ballet School and subsequent involvement with new dance as performer, founder member of Chisenhale Dance Space, activist, writer and editor with New Dance Magazine; as chosen participant in Grotowski's 'paratheatre' experiments in the 1970s; as apprentice/translator at Peter Brook's ICTR in Paris in 1971. She continues to produce new performance projects, recently a 3-year Residency with CREATE Ireland's EU-funded Collaborative Arts Partnership Programme (CAPP), Live Collision Festival, Dublin. A frequent keynote speaker at international conferences, Anna publishes widely and is an invited consultant with external HEIs and organisations.

Publications and research outputs

Performance

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2019. To the Moon and Back. In: "To the Moon and Back", Barbican, London & Cambridge Junction, United Kingdom, April - June 2019.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. Shocks (To the System). In: "SHOCKS (TO THE SYSTEM)", Craiglockhart Campus, Napier, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 18 November 2018.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. Anna Furse Performs An Anatomy Act: A Show and Tell. In: "Anna Furse Performs An Anatomy Act: A Show and Tell", Chisenhale Dance Space, London, United Kingdom.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. Anna Furse Performs An Anatomy Act: A Show and Tell - UK and International Touring 2018. In: "Anna Furse Performs An Anatomy Act: A Show and Tell - UK and International Touring 2018", Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, April-June 2018.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2017. Other People's Shoes. In: "Other People's Shoes", Javeriana, Colombia, 20/03/2017 - 25/03/2017.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2016. The Anatomy Act. In: "The Anatomy Act", Live Collision Festival, Dublin, Ireland, November 2016.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2016. Performance Making Intensive Laboratory with Anna Furse. In: "Other People's Shoes / Public Talk / Weekend Symposium on Activism", Michael Cacoyiannis Foundation, Greece, 7/7/2016-17/7/2016.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2014. When We Were Birds. In: "When We Were Birds", Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Palermo, Italy, 28 July 2013 - April 2014.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2011. Gorgeous. In: "Gorgeous", Theatre Centre, United Kingdom, 1999-2011.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2011. SEA/WOMAN. In: "SEA/WOMAN", Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex, United Kingdom, January - Feburary 2011.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2009. Sick of Love. In: "SUSPENSE Adult Puppetry Festival", Rosemary Branch Theatre, London, United Kingdom, 2009.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2009. In the Realm of the Senses. In: "Suspense", London, United Kingdom, 2009-2011.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2008. DON JUAN.WHO? / DON JUAN.KDO?. In: "FeEast 2008", Riverside Studios, London, United States, 2008-2011.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2007. Don Juan Who?. In: "DON JUAN.WHO?/DON JUAN.KDO?", Mladinsko Theatre, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2007-2008.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2006. GLASS BODY: Reflecting on Becoming Transparent. In: "GLASS BODY: Reflecting on Becoming Transparent", Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, 3/9/2006 - 4/1/2007.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2003. YERMA'S EGGS. In: "YERMA'S EGGS", Riverside Studios/UK science venue Explore-at-Bristol, 5/28/2003 - 10/1/2003.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2002. Augustine (Big Hysteria). In: "Augustine (Big Hysteria)", The Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, United Kingdom, 1991- 2002.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 1999. The Peach Child. In: "The Peach Child", United Kingdom, 1999-2008.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 1997. Happy Days Beckett in Short. In: "Belfast Festival at Queens Catalogue", Belfast, United Kingdom.

Show/Exhibition

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2019. OTHER MOTHERS. In: "OTHER MOTHERS", Cambridge Junction, United Kingdom, May 2019.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2019. MUSCLE. In: "MUSCLE", Crawford Art Gallery, United Kingdom, 2019 -2020.

Project

Furse, Anna F. D.. November 2016 - January 2019 The Theatre of Our Bodies.

Furse, Anna F. D. and Plahuta, Marko. 2006-2008 Cyber Studio.

Article

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2021. Staying in Touch. Teoriia Mody: Odezhda, Telo, Kulʹtura [Fashion Theory: Dress, Body and Culture](62), pp. 25-44.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2014. Hospital Drama: Visual Theatres of the Medical Rendezvous from Asylum to Hospital with Reference to Specific Works by Anna Furse. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 39(3), pp. 238-257. ISSN 0308-0188

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2011. In Every Litre of Seawater There are Two Tablespoons of Salt… On Making SEA/WOMAN. Women: A Cultural Review, 22(4), pp. 411-427. ISSN 0957-4042

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2010. Don.Juan.Who?/ Don.Juan. Kdo?: From Cyberspace to Theatre Space. Gender Forum, 31(n/a), e-e. ISSN 1613-1878

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2008. Committed to the Other: The Ethics of Puppetry. Puppet Notebook, 13, pp. 20-21. ISSN 1745-1086

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2003. Art of A.R.T. Gender Forum: An Internet Journal for Gender Studies, 6, n/a-n/a.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2000. Bleeding, Sweating, Crying and Jumping. Performance Research, 5(1), pp. 16-31.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 1994. Augustine (Big Hysteria): Writing the Body. Contemporary Theatre Review, 2(1), pp. 25-34. ISSN 1048-6801

Book

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2020. Performing Nerves: Four Plays, Four Essays, On Hysteria. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781138389366

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2011. Your Essential Infertility Companion. London: Thorsons. ISBN 978-0-00-711954-7

Furse, Anna F. D.. 1997. AUGUSTINE (Big Hysteria). London: Routledge. ISBN 978-3718659357

Book Section

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2021. Hysteria in Pictures. In: Johanna Braun, ed. Hysterical Methodologies in the Arts, Rising in Revolt. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 73-104. ISBN 9783030663599

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2020. Jorge Crecis. In: Jo Butterworth and Lorna Sanders, eds. Fifty Contemporary Choreographers. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780367376789

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2020. Foreword. In: Maryclare Foá; Jane Grisewood; Birgitta Hosea and Carali McCall, eds. Performance Drawing: New Practices since 1945. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, viii-ix. ISBN 9781788313841

Furse, AFD. 2020. Foreword. In: Maryclare Foá; Jane Grisewood; Brigitta Hosea and Carali McCall, eds. Performance Drawing, New Practices Since 1945. London: Bloomsbury, viii-ix. ISBN 9781788313841

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2020. Birth, Copulation and Death: Feminist Theatre and Performance Practice across Four Decades. In: Jan Sewell and Clare Smout, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Women on Stage. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 487-506. ISBN 9783030238278

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2016. Convulsive Beauty. In: Mark Long, ed. Nobody Knows But Everybody Remembers. Artsadmin. ISBN 978-0-9565621-7-3

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2016. Yerma's Eggs 2003. In: Lena Šimić and Emily Underwood-Lee, eds. Live Art and Motherhood: A Study Room Guide on Live Art and the Maternal. London: Live Art Development Agency, pp. 9-11.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2016. Yerma's Eggs / Subfertility. In: Lena Simic and Emily Underwood-Lee, eds. Live Art & Motherhood: A Study Room Guide on Live Art and the Maternal. Live Art Development Agency, pp. 9-10.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2013. Independent Theatre as a Political Position. In: Rolf C. Hemke, ed. Theatre In The Arab World / Theater im arabischen Sprachraum. Gemany: Theater der Zeit, pp. 104-107. ISBN 978-3-943881-28-8

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2013. Retracing Our Steps... On When We Were Birds, A Work in Progress. In: Nicola Shaughnessy, ed. Affective Performance and Cognitive Science: Body, Brain and Being. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, pp. 57-68. ISBN 978-1-4081-8577-3

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2011. Being touched. In: John Matthews, ed. A life of ethics and performance. Cambridge: Cambridge scholars press, pp. 45-68. ISBN 978-1443828710

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2011. Making A Spectacle of Herself: Charcot’s Augustine and the Hysteric Dance. In: Johannes Birringer and Josephine (Hg.) Fenger, eds. Dance & Choreomania. Leipzig: Henschel, pp. 197-210. ISBN 978-3-89487-710-1

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2011. Making a Spectacle of Herself: Charcot’s Augustine and the hysteric dance. In: Johannes Birringer and Josephine Fenger, eds. Dance & Choreomania. Henschel. ISBN 9783894877101

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2008. The Peach Child. In: , ed. NT Connections 2008: New Plays for Young People. London: Faber and Faber, pp. 377-415. ISBN 978-0571244898

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2006. Performing in Glass: Reproduction, Technology, Performance and the Bio-Spectacular. In: Geraldine Harris and Elaine Aston, eds. Feminist Futures? Theatre, Performance, Theory. Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 149-168. ISBN 9781403945327 HB 9781403945334 PB

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2003. Gorgeous: A Journey of the Body. In: Rosamunde Hutt, ed. Theatre Centre: Plays for Young People. Aurora Metro Publications, pp. 138-162. ISBN 0954233050

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2002. Those Who Can Do Teach. In: Maria M. Delgado and Caridad Svich, eds. Theatre in Crisis? Performance Manifestos for a New Century. Manchester; New York: University of Manchester Press, pp. 64-73. ISBN 978-0719062919

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2000. A Spectacle of Suffering. In: Graham Coulter-Smith; James A. Walker and Maurice Owen, eds. The Visual-Narrative Matrix: Interdisciplinary Collisions and Collusions. Southampton: Southampton Institute of Higher Education, pp. 73-77. ISBN 978-1874011095

Furse, Anna F. D.. 1997. Open Page (Vol 2) Theatre Women Lives. In: , ed. Open Page. Denmark: Odin Teatrets Forlag.

Conference or Workshop Item

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2019. 'The Theatre of our (dead) Bodies'. In: THE THEATRE OF OUR (DEAD) BODIES. University of Bath, United Kingdom 4 - 7 September 2019.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2019. 'Telling the Story of our Bodies, this will be an audio-visual presentation that animates a digital site: http://www.iamnotapieceofmeat.com/.'. In: Storytelling and the Body, Progressive Connections. Verona, Italy July 2019.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2019. 'The Theatre of Our Maternal Bodies'. In: Maternal Journal Workshop. Cambridge Junction, United Kingdom 27 May 2019.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. 'SHOCKS TO THE SYSTEM'. In: SHOCKS (TO THE SYSTEM) Symposium. Napier University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom November 2018.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. 'Our Bodies Our Selves'. In: Our Bodies Our Selves. Facultad de Artes Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia 10th - 17th September 2018.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. 'Being Touched - Theatre as Ethical Practice'. In: Encuentro Javeriano de Arte y Creatividad. Facultad de Artes Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia 11th September 2018.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. 'An Anatomy Act: On death, anatomy and the status of the cadaver'. In: Death and Culture II. University of York, United Kingdom 6-7 September 2018.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. 'Workshop: I Am Not A Piece Of Meat: Writing the Body'. In: CAPP Practice and Power. Create Dublin, Ireland 20th - 23rd June 2018.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. 'The Body Spectacular: Hysteria, Subfertility, Anatomy and the Prosthetic Gaze'. In: Neurohumanities Seminar Series. Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. 'Interiority: Writing the Body'. In: Interiority: Writing the Body. Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. 'Interiority: Workshop with Professor Anna Furse'. In: Interiority: Workshop with Professor Anna Furse. Crawford Art Gallery, Ireland.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. 'Keynote Address: Performance in the Medical Gaze'. In: Arts + Health Check Up Check In 2018. Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. 'Her Spectacular Body: hysteria, subfertility, anatomy and the prosthetic gaze'. In: Her Spectacular Body. Amsterdam University College, Netherlands 28th March 2018.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2018. 'Theatre as a Model of Collaborative Process and Ethical Framework'. In: Staging Europe - Europe on stage. Universite de Nantes, France 16th - 17th February 2018.

Furse, Anna F. D. and Kemp, Dawn. 2017. 'Interiority: an exploration of the inward gaze 3 interdisciplinary talks'. In: INTERIORITY An Exploration of the Inward Gaze. The Old Operating Theatre Museum, United Kingdom 15 - 16 September 2017.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2014. 'Artist Talk: Createʼs National Networking Day'. In: Createʼs National Networking Day. Live Art Development Agency, United Kingdom December 1st 2014.

Furse, Anna F. D.. 2014. 'Artist Talk on collaboration'. In: Success and failure in collaborative project and how they are measured from an artist, critics and participants perspective. Dublin, Ireland 1 December 2014.