Mischa Twitchin

Staff details

Position Senior Lecturer

Email m.twitchin (@gold.ac.uk)

Phone +44 (0)20 7919 7277

Dr Mischa Twitchin FHEA teaches courses on Polish Theatre, the legacies of Artaud, East European theatres, an under-graduate workshop on “touch”, and a post-graduate workshop, “Thinking Theatre”. His book, “The Theatre of Death – the Uncanny in Mimesis: Tadeusz Kantor, Aby Warburg and an Iconology of the Actor” is published by Palgrave Macmillan in their Performance Philosophy series; and examples of his own performance- and essay-films can be seen on Vimeo.

Besides this academic and artistic work, Mischa is a founder-member of the performance collective Shunt, and has also worked as a freelance lighting designer (at the Young Vic, the Barbican Pit, and the Royal Court, amongst other places). He has taught at various institutions, including Central School of Speech and Drama, the University of Kent, and Queen Mary, University of London, where he did his PhD and also held a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2014-17).

Research Interests

Mischa's main research interests include: European theatres of the avant-garde; Afro-European cultural politics; historical-theoretical questions of empathy and mimesis; Performance Philosophy; Memory Studies; and dialogues between anthropology, museum ethnography, and art. He would welcome PhD applications in any of these fields.

Publications and research outputs

Book

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. The Theatre of Death - the Uncanny in Mimesis: Tadeusz Kantor, Aby Warburg, and an Iconology of the Actor. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137478719

Edited Journal

Twitchin, Mischa and Lavery, Carl, eds. 2019. On Animism, Performance Research, 24(6). 1352-8165

Book Section

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. Baffling Dramaturgy: Between the Obvious and the Obtuse. In: Harry Robert Wilson and Will Daddario, eds. Rethinking Roland Barthes Through Performance: A Desire for Neutral Dramaturgy. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 157-170. ISBN 9781350330849

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. Beyond Satire: Friedl, Red Peter, and "the cultural level of the average European". In: Krist Gruijthuijsen, ed. On Peter Friedl. Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, pp. 235-250. ISBN 9783753301679

Twitchin, Mischa. 2020. Modernism, medium and memory. In: Thirthankar Chakraborthy and Juan Luis Vazquez, eds. Samuel Beckett as World Literature. Bloomsbury, pp. 87-99. ISBN 978-1-5013-5880-7

Twitchin, Mischa. 2020. A Dice Thrower. In: Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca and Alice Lagaay, eds. The Routledge Companion to Performance Philosophy. Routledge, pp. 326-329. ISBN 9781138495623

Twitchin, Mischa. 2020. Between 'Counter-movement' (Ingold) and 'Living with Ghosts' (Demos). In: Agnieszka Piotrowska, ed. Creative Practice research in the Age of Neoliberal Hopelessness. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 288-303. ISBN 9781474463560

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. Philosophical Phantasms: ‘the Platonic Differential’ and ‘Zarathustra’s Laughter'. In: Tony Fisher and Kélina Gotman, eds. Foucault's Theatres. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 110-118. ISBN 9781526135704

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. Shunt: A performance collective. In: Teresa Brayshaw; Anna Fenemore and Noel Witts, eds. The Twenty-first Century Performance Reader. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 468-473. ISBN 9781138785342

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. What chance failure? In: Tony Fisher and Eve Katsouraki, eds. Beyond Failure: New Essays on the Cultural History of Failure in Theatre and Performance. London: Routledge, pp. 37-54. ISBN 9780815370994

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. Kantor after Duchamp. In: M. Kobialka and N. Zarzecka, eds. Tadeusz Kantor's Memory: Other Pasts, Other Futures. TAPAC: Theatre and Performance Across Cultures (London, UK) and the Grotowski Institute (Wrocław, Poland).: Polish Theatre Perspectives (PTP). ISBN 978-1-910203-06-4

Twitchin, Mischa. 2014. On the "Difference between preaching an ideal and giving artistic form to the historical tension inherent in it". In: Will Daddario and Karoline Gritzner, eds. Adorno and Performance. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 67-82. ISBN 978-1-137-42987-2

Twitchin, Mischa. 2013. “On ‘the live effigy of man emerging out of the shadows...’”. In: Carole Guidicelli, ed. Über-Marionettes and mannequins: Craig, Kantor and their contemporary legacies. Lavérune: Institut Internationale de la Marionette/ L’Entretemps, pp. 273-291. ISBN 978-2-35539-169-9

Article

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. 'Do we still remember?' (Warsaw, June 2022). Contemporary Theatre Review, 33(1-2), pp. 162-165. ISSN 1048-6801

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. Between a “Poetical Phrase” and Being “Led into Error” in "The Interpretation of Dreams". Widok. Teorie i Praktyki Kultury Wizualnej / View. Theories and Practices of Visual Culture, 35, ISSN 2300-200X

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. Kantor’s encounters with a rhinoceros: ‘Costumology’ between material and metaphor. Studies in Costume & Performance, 8(1), pp. 11-34. ISSN 2052-4013

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. Enduring Touch. Performance Research, 27(2), pp. 72-80. ISSN 1352-8165

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. Addressing ‘the Cultural Level of an Average European’ (Kafka). European Journal of Theatre and Performance(5), pp. 146-177. ISSN 2664-1860

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. Lehmann's Voice(s). Communications of the International Brecht Society,

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. On Repair: Between Cosmopolitics and Decoloniality. Performance Research, 26(6), pp. 54-61. ISSN 1352-8165

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. Refracting Implication: The question of silence in (A)pollonia. Memory Studies, 15(3), pp. 579-594. ISSN 1750-6980

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. Review of "Theatremachine: Tadeusz Kantor in Context", eds. Magda Romanska and Kathleen Cioffi. Theatre Journal, 74(2), pp. 262-263. ISSN 0192-2882

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. Review of "No More Masterpieces: Modern Art After Artaud" by Lucy Bradnock. Contemporary Theatre Review, 31(4), pp. 510-511. ISSN 1048-6801

Twitchin, Mischa. 2021. ‘A blank page ... ’ or ‘Ten years since language left ... ’ (Artaud). Performance Research, 26(5), pp. 160-164. ISSN 1352-8165

Twitchin, Mischa. 2020. Review of 'The Polish Theatre of the Holocaust' by Grzegorz Niziolek. Contemporary Theatre Review, 30(4), pp. 568-570. ISSN 1048-6801

Twitchin, Mischa. 2020. Angels in Poland. Contemporary Theatre Review, 30(4), pp. 584-588. ISSN 1048-6801

Twitchin, Mischa. 2020. Review of "Necroperformance: Cultural Reconstructions of the War Body" by Dorota Sajewska (trans. Simon Wloch). Contemporary Theatre Review, 30(3), pp. 411-413. ISSN 1048-6801

Twitchin, Mischa and Lavery, Carl. 2019. On Animism: Introduction. Performance Research, 24(6), pp. 1-5. ISSN 1352-8165

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. This Artwork is Having a Rest. Performance Research, 24(6), pp. 6-15. ISSN 1352-8165

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. In and Out of the Dark: Exposing the ‘immersive’ theatrically. Performance Research, 24(4), pp. 142-148. ISSN 1352-8165

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. Skipping Between Text and Performance: Some Questions of "Realism". Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - INDECS, 17(2-A), pp. 265-271. ISSN 1334-4684

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. Monstrosity: the face of war. Performance Research, 23(8), pp. 88-94. ISSN 1352-8165

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. Concerning "the Eurocentric African Problem" (Meschac Gaba). Open Cultural Studies, 3(1), pp. 276-285. ISSN 2451-3474

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. Reflections on the Disclosing - or Framing - of Things. Konteksty, 2018/4(323), pp. 273-278. ISSN 1230-6142

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. The Voice of Things. Antropologia Museale(43), pp. 7-11. ISSN 1971-4815

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. Letters from Europe. Performance Research, 23(4-5), pp. 453-455. ISSN 1352-8165

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. The Estonian Theatre Festival, Tartu 2018: A 'Tale of the Century’. European Stages, 12,

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. How Estonian is it? Contemporary Theatre Review, 28(2), pp. 264-268. ISSN 1048-6801

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. Sites of Research or ‘no layers of the onion’: Phantom Europe. O A R: The Oxford Artistic and Practice Based Research Platform, 1, ISSN 2399-5092

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. Loving Memory: Anamnesis and Hypomnesis. Performance Research, 22(1), pp. 136-140. ISSN 1352-8165

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. On the Contexts Festival of Ephemeral Art (Sokolowsko) [Review]. The Theatre Times,

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. A View from the 2015 Malta Festival (Poznan) [Review]. Contemporary Theatre Review, 26(2), pp. 278-280. ISSN 1048-6801

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. "We Have Somehow to Believe That Culture Will Save Us." (Interview with David Lan). Yearbook German ITI, pp. 63-67.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare? Art School (Exhibition Catalogue), pp. 197-207. ISSN 0-6110000015-4-611-15

Twitchin, Mischa. 2015. "The Post-Traumatic Theatre of Grotowski and Kantor: History and the Holocaust in Akropolis and Dead Class" by Magda Romanska; and "Tadeusz Kantor Today", eds. Katarzyna Fazan, Anna Burzynska, and Marta Brys. [Review]. Theatre Research International, 40(3), pp. 341-342. ISSN 0307-8833

Twitchin, Mischa. 2015. Re-Enchantment. FIMFA Festival 15th Anniversary Programme (Lisbon), p. 7.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2014. Mise-en-scene: Beckett's 'Field of Memory'. Critical Stages (Journal of International Theatre Critics Association), 10, ISSN 2409-7411

Twitchin, Mischa. 2014. Performing European Memories: Trauma, Ethics, Politics by Milija Gluhovic [Review]. Contemporary Theatre Review, 24(3), pp. 404-405. ISSN 1048-6801

Twitchin, Mischa. 2013. On ‘Man and Machine’ at the 2013 Malta Festival, Poznań [Review]. Contemporary Theatre Review, 23(4), pp. 614-616. ISSN 1048-6801

Twitchin, Mischa. 2013. Anachronism. Materials #2 [The Theatre Issue! (150 pages)], 2,

Twitchin, Mischa. 2013. In Search of an Audience. Theatrama, 1, pp. 13-18.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2012. “What kind of play is it?”. Puppet Notebook (Journal of British UNIMA), 22, pp. 24-25. ISSN 1745-1086

Twitchin, Mischa. 2012. “Making Sense of ‘Seeing’”. Frakcija Performing Arts Journal, 62-63, pp. 166-177. ISSN 1331-0100

Twitchin, Mischa. 2011. "Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life" by Kenneth Gross [Review]. Puppet Notebook, 19, p. 23. ISSN 1745-1086

Twitchin, Mischa. 2008. “Shunt”, an article on Shunt and the ‘avant-garde’. Théâtre/Public, 191, pp. 51-53. ISSN 0335-2927

Twitchin, Mischa. 2008. “The Invisible Theatre of Antonin Artaud”. Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, 4(3), ISSN 1557-2935

Twitchin, Mischa. 2007. “On the Dreamwork of Hearing”. Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, 3(3), ISSN 1557-2935

Conference or Workshop Item

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. 'What’s Hamlet to us? (Or us to Hecuba?)'. In: "Acting, Reacting, Enacting. Theory and Practice in Performing Arts." ANTS Conference 2023. Latvian Academy of Culture Theatre House, Latvia 3-4 November 2023.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. 'Translation, memory, and an “aesthetics of care”'. In: Post-Socialist and Comparative Memory Studies (PoSoCoMeS) Conference. University of Tallinn, Estonia 20 - 23 September 2023.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. 'On Relationality and Repair: Museums in the Time of Restitution'. In: Memory Studies Association Annual Conference. Newcastle, United Kingdom 3-7 July 2023.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. 'Concerning the "wisdom" of dramaturgy'. In: "Dimensions of Dramaturgy", 6th EASTAP Conference. University of Aarhus, Denmark 14-18 June 2023.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. 'The Space Between'. In: Theatre in Exile. Slovak Theatre Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia 18-19 May 2023.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2023. 'Remembering (in) the absence of memorials'. In: Memories of the Shoah. Universita Ca'Foscari, Venice, Italy 11-12 May 2023.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. 'On the Subject of Chance Remarks'. In: Performances in the Contemporary. Institute of Philosophy, University of Porto, Portugal 12 December 2022.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. '"A kind of warning to the West" - Vaclav Havel today'. In: Kosovo Theatre Showcase, 2022, panel: Theatre Beyond Our Own Backyard. Prishtina, Kosovo 25 - 30 October 2022.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. 'Do we remember?'. In: Online Launch of Memory Studies 15(3). Institute of Art History and Visual Culture, Tallinn, Estonia 29 September 2022.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. '"...striking on stone clocks" (Mandelstam)'. In: Why Remember? Peace, Conflict and Culture Conference. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-8 July 2022.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. 'Disturbing things'. In: Museums as Spaces of Cultural Translation and Transfer Conference. Tartu University, Estonia 10-11 May 2022.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2022. 'Sprechen Sie Loewe?'. In: Peter Friedl: Report 1964–2022. KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany 23 February 2022.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2021. 'Terezin - Photographic Memories'. In: Memory Studies Association Fifth Annual Conference. Warsaw, Poland 5-9 July 2021.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2021. 'Giving a local habitation to the dead'. In: Colloque International de Lomé: Sépultures, deuils et incarnations. Université de Lomé, Togo 1 – 3 February 2021.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2020. 'Mnemotechnics and the Discrete Voice'. In: Memory for the Future: Thinking with Bernard Stiegler. University of Leiden, Netherlands 3 – 4 December 2020.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2020. 'On the ‘heritage’ of objects: between racism and restitution'. In: RAI Conference 2020: Anthropology and Geography - Dialogues Past, Present and Future. London, United Kingdom 15 – 17 September 2020.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2020. 'On the Memory of Ethnography'. In: Ethnographic Returns. University of Gothenburg, Sweden 30 June 2020.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2020. 'Refracting Implication: the Uses of Silence'. In: Prisms of Silence. Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, Estonia 21-22 February 2020.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. 'Terezin - contemporaries'. In: Arts Working Group of the Memory Studies Association Seminar. Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom 13-14 December 2019.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. 'The Voice of Things'. In: Arte e Antropologia: Oggetti fuori posto, oggetti che parlano. Antonio Pasqualino International Museum of Marionettes, Palermo, Italy 15-16 October 2019.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. 'Red Peter and Josephine'. In: Shared Memory(ies): Second EASTAP Conference. School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, Portugal 23 -25 September 2019.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. 'Performance, Parable, and Paradox'. In: Memory Studies Association Third Annual Conference. Complutense University, Madrid, Spain 25-28 June 2019.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. 'Tragic consequences'. In: Between Myth and Memory: Contemporary Politics and the Performance of History. University of Surrey, United Kingdom 25 April 2019.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. 'Considering Square Circles'. In: London Theatre Seminar. University of London, United Kingdom 28 March 2019.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. 'Toxicity at Work'. In: Performance Philosophy Biennial Conference. University of Amsterdam, Netherlands 14-17 March 2019.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2019. '"Time crystals"'. In: Global Traces Conference: Art Practice, Ethnography, Contested Heritage. University of Oslo, Norway 7-8 February 2019.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. 'Theatre 'between returns to diversity' and 'memory laws''. In: Decentering the vision(s) of Europe, EASTAP Conference. Theatre de la Cite, Paris, France 25-27 October, 2018.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. 'On “a discourse related to the historical dynamics of its time” (Araeen).'. In: Re-imagining the Museum in the Global Contemporary, annual ICOM-ICME conference. National Museum. Tartu, Estonia 9-12.10.2018.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. 'Indifference or irony?'. In: TaPRA annual conference. University of Aberystwyth, United Kingdom 5-7 September 2018.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. '"In the name of your image" (Senghor)'. In: Memory and Performance in African-Atlantic Futures conference. University of Leeds, United Kingdom 31 August-1 September, 2018.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. 'A "museum of world cultures": the writing of a phantasm'. In: EASA 2018 Conference. Stockholm, Sweden 14-17 August 2018.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. 'On 'the eye that listens' (Claudel)'. In: Art, Materiality and Representation. SOAS and the British Museum, United Kingdom 1-3 June 2018.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. 'On 'drawing unexpected analogies' (Attia); or on 'living with ghosts' (Demos)'. In: Creative Practice: Research in the Age of Neoliberal Hopelessness. University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom 10-12 May 2018.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2018. 'Between Truth and the Inexplicable'. In: Theatre and Memory Wars. Vytautus Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania 26-28 April 2018.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. 'What's Wrong with Participation?'. In: The Avant-Garde: Aesthetic Strategies and Participatory Art. Cricoteka, Krakow, Poland 8-10.12.2017.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. 'In and Out of the Dark'. In: Theatricality and the Arts Symposium. Lancaster University, United Kingdom 23-24 September 2017.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. 'Exposing ‘People’'. In: TaPRA. University of Salford, Manchester, United Kingdom 30 August-1 September 2017.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. 'Of What Stuff Are European Dreams Made On?'. In: Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity Symposium (an EASA Network). Free University of Berlin, Germany 17-19 July 2017.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. 'On ‘observing oneself as an instrument of observation’ (Levi-Strauss)'. In: First Colleex Workshop on Ethnographic Experimentation (an EASA Network). Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal 13-15 July 2017.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. 'On Some ‘Documents of Euro-African Contact’ (MacGregor)'. In: Afroeuropeans: Black Cultures and Identities in Europe Conference. University of Tampere, Finland 6-8 July 2017.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. 'Between Phantom and Phantasm'. In: Performance Philosophy Conference. Academy of Sciences and Academy of Performing Arts, Prague, Czech Republic 22-26 June 2017.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. 'Digital Catoptrics'. In: Re-Performing Symposium. Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL, United Kingdom 18 June 2017.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. 'Modelling International Relations: Ethnographic Museums and the ‘Authority’ of Objects'. In: European Workshops in International Studies. University of Cardiff, United Kingdom 7-10 June 2017.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. '“The ‘missing people’: philosophical masks and Afro-European encounters”'. In: Africa of the Past: Africa of the Future Conference. SOAS, United Kingdom 5th-6th May 2017.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2017. '‘The Mirror and the Corpse…’: Some Reflections on the Phantasm of the Subject'. In: Narratology and Its Discontents Conference. Academy of Dramatic Arts, University of Zagreb, Croatia 6th-8th April 2017.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. '"We went with this text to Stuttgart"'. In: European Theatre Persepctives Conference. Wroclaw, Poland 7-9 Nov 2016.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. '"What gets differentiated - or repeated - in an 'ontology of performance'?"'. In: Performance Philosophy "Repetitions" Conference. Ljubljana, Slovenia 21-24 Sept 2016.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. '"Between Documentation and Living Archive: What Becomes of the Avant-Garde?"'. In: Konteksty Festival. Wroclaw-Sokolowsko, Poland 30 June - 1 July 2016.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. '"'Object Lessons' at the British Museum's Africa Galleries"'. In: European Association of Social Anthropologists Conference. Milan, Italy 20-23 July 2016.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. '"Future Pasts"'. In: Africa Research Day conference. London, United Kingdom 25 May 2016.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. '"Loving Memory: Anamnesis and Hypomnesis"'. In: Cambridge Interdisciplinary Performance Network seminar. Cambridge, United Kingdom 9 May 2016.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. '"Pedagogic Materials: Tylor and Godard"'. In: Show and Tell Symposium, Materials in Practice Study Group. Conference, United Kingdom.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2016. '"This Craze for Explicitation..."'. In: Samuel Beckett and World Literature Conference. Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom 4-5 May 2016.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2015. 'Animating Phantasms: Pensive Phantoms'. In: Present's Disjunctive Unity conference. Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany 26-28th November, 2015.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2015. '"Between the Rubbish Dump and Eternity"'. In: Today is Tadeusz Kantor. Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2015. 'What is 'Living' in Archives?'. In: Kantorbury, Kantorbury. University of Kent, United Kingdom 18-19th September, 2015.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2015. 'Animating Masks'. In: TaPRA Interim Conference on Foucault. Kings College, University of Lonodn, United Kingdom 4th July, 2015.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2015. 'On Shunt'. In: Conference on Troupes, Collectifs, Compagnies. La Comedie de Valence, France 1st-3rd April, 2015.

Twitchin, Mischa. 2015. 'Performing Presence: Interpreting Catastrophe'. In: ITI Greece Conference on the Twenty-First Century Performer. Hellenic Centre of the ITI , Athens, Greece.