Congratulations to our first year students, Jon-Luke Goodman and Cai Kennedy, who have successfully applied to this year's Clive Barker Award. Clive Barker was a pioneering theatre studies scholar. He worked with Arnold Wesker and Joan Littlewood and wrote influential books such as Theatre Games. He worked at Warwick from 1976 until he retired in 1993. This award is designed to provide practical and financial support for Theatre and Performance Studies students who plan to create a piece of extra-curricular performance, with a view to submitting this work to the Edinburgh Festival or a similar public platform.

Their project is provisionally titled The Awakening of Spring and will offer a modern adaptation and de-contextualisation of the play that inspired Spring Awakening; challenging traditional staging and theatrical conventions with heavy elements of technology, performance art and promenade elements. Taking Frank Wedekind’s 1890 play and transposing it into a 21^st Century setting, inspired by the current movement in the light of the death of Sarah Everards’s tragic death. This abstract non-linear deconstruction will also be scrutinising the media, exploring social media and how this relates to physical, domestic and sexual violence.

The students will receive up to £600 to help mount the work and will be given access to rehearsal space and technical support.

Well done Cai and Jon-Luke. We look forward to seeing how this project develops!

Theatre and Performance Studies at Warwick is inviting applications from eligible students for Commonwealth Shared Scholarships to study our new MA Applied Theatre: Arts, Action, Change.

Candidates will need to have applied, and received an offer, for the degree by 26^th March 2021. You can apply here https://warwick.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/taught/courses-2021/appliedtheatre/.

Selected applicants will then be nominated and work with us to draft their application for the scholarship, and will need to submit a separate application online direct to Commonwealth Scholarships by 9^th April 2021 https://cscuk.fcdo.gov.uk/scholarships-filter-search/ 

Level of support provided

• Course fees will be covered

• Airfares to and from the UK (must be booked in line with CSC’s travel policy)

• Grant to contribute to study-related costs (exact amount to be confirmed)

• Tuberculosis test fees at a pre-determined amount set by the CSC where required by UK Visas and Immigration

• Excess baggage allowance on return home up to the specific rate as set by the CSC

• Disability Support Allowance for personal living costs (if eligible)

• For Scholars who are widowed, divorced, or a single parent, child allowance of £478 per month for the first child, and £118 per month for the second and third child under the age of 16 (at 2020/2021 rate)

• Stipend (living allowance) at the rate of £1116 per month

• Warm clothing allowance of £433

Candidate eligibility

Candidates are expected to hold a first degree at either first class or upper-second class level, or at lower-second class level plus a Master’s degree. The CSC cannot assess work experience in lieu of this minimum academic qualification. Pre-sessional English courses are not supported by this programme. Universities must therefore confirm that candidates are sufficiently fluent in written and oral English to pursue their studies immediately and ensure that they meet the English language requirement set by UK Visas and Immigration. To apply for these scholarships, candidates must:

• Be a citizen of or have been granted refugee status by an eligible Commonwealth country, or be a British Protected Person

• Be permanently resident in an eligible Commonwealth country

• Be available to start their academic studies in the UK by the start of the UK academic year in September/October 2021

• By October 2021, hold a first degree of at least upper second class (2:1) standard, or a second-class degree and a relevant postgraduate qualification (usually a Master’s degree).

• Not have studied or worked for one (academic) year or more in a high-income country (for CSC purposes this is classified as a country which does not appear on the DAC list of ODA recipients.

• Be unable to afford to study in the UK without this scholarship (note the university may be asked to state its procedures for verifying applicants’ financial status).

• Commit to return to their home country within one month of the end date of their scholarship

Please note These eligibility criteria are current as of October 2020 and are subject to minor changes.

Eligible countries

Bangladesh; Cameroon; Eswatini; The Gambia; Ghana; India; Kenya; Kiribati; Lesotho; Malawi; Mozambique; Nigeria; Pakistan; Papua New Guinea; Rwanda; Sierra Leone; Solomon Islands; Sri Lanka; Tanzania; Tuvalu; Uganda; Vanuatu; Zambia

Last week Olivia Kershaw was selected to sing as part of the following event:

SING FOR MENTAL HEALTH: Starring Emma Hatton, Aisha Jawando and Rebecca Trehearn

A night of Musical Theatre to raise money for charity, headlined by West End leading ladies, Emma Hatton, Aisha Jawando and Rebecca Trehearn and featuring New UK Musical Theatre writing and emerging talent! This concert will raise funds for Applause for Thought and Industry Minds to offer mental health support in our industry. Please give what you can: https://donorbox.org/sing-for-mental-health-raising-funds-for-industry-minds-and-applause-for-thought 

Streaming live on December 16^th. Curtain up at 7.45pm!

The show also features music by new UK Musical Theatre writers, Darren James Clark, Tim Sutton, Eamonn O’Dwyer, Amir Shoenfeld, Gus Gowling, Emily Rose Simons, Poppy Burton-Morgan, Caroline Wigmore and Jennifer Green

Plus, emerging talent selected from our competition held by The Sing Space:

selected by the writers… Lizzy Parker, Madeleine MacMahon, Bridgette Amofah, Joanna Clarke, Rebecca Scott and Ros Ford

selected by casting director, Debbie O'Brien…. Bethany Bartholomeusz and Olivia Chloe Kershaw