Theatre & Performance Studies News
In Memoriam - Professor Jim Davis
It is with a very heavy heart that we write to let you know that Professor Jim Davis passed away on Saturday 4th November following a stroke. Everyone who had the pleasure of encountering Jim will appreciate that this is a huge loss for his family, friends, colleagues, collaborators and the wider research community. He was a fantastic scholar and unwavering champion for the discipline and theatre historiography. He was such an important part of the Theatre and Performance family at the University of Warwick and will be missed for his leadership, mentorship, friendship and unfailing sense of fun and mischief.
Jim Davis joined Warwick in 2004 as Head of Department (2004-2009) after eighteen years teaching Theatre Studies at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, where he was latterly Head of the School of Theatre, Film and Dance. In Australia he was also President of the Australasian Drama Studies Association and member of the Board of Studies of the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Prior to leaving for Australia he spent ten years teaching in London at what is now Roehampton University. He co-organised many conferences including for the International Federation of Theatre Research (IFTR) in New South Wales and at Warwick. He convened Historiography Working Groups for both IFTR and for TaPRA. He served as an editor for the journal Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film.
He published widely and with considerable critical acclaim in the area of nineteenth-century British theatre. His most recent bookComic Acting and Portraiture in Late-Georgian and Regency England (2015) won the TaPRA David Bradby Prize for Research in International Theatre and Performance in 2017 and was shortlisted for the 2015 TLA George Freedley Memorial Award. His other publications include Theatre & Entertainment (2016), Dickensian Dramas: Plays from Charles Dickens Volume II (2017) and European Theatre Performance Practice Vol 3 1750-1900 (editor, 2014). He was also joint author of a study of London theatre audiences in the nineteenth century Reflecting the Audience: London 1840-1880 (2001), which was awarded the 2001 Theatre Book Prize. He contributed numerous chapters including essays on nineteenth-century acting to the Cambridge History of British Theatre and on audiences to the Cambridge Companion to Victorian and Edwardian Theatre. He also published many articles in Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, Theatre Notebook, Essays in Theatre, Themes in Drama, New Theatre Quarterly, Nineteenth Century Theatre, Theatre Research International and The Dickensian. He was also responsible for many of the theatrical entries in The Oxford Readers' Companion to Dickens and contributed to the Oxford Encyclopaedia of Theatre and Performance, The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Stage Actors and Acting and the New Dictionary of National Biography. For several years he wrote an annual review of publications on nineteenth-century English Drama and Theatre for The Year's Work in English Studies.
An event to celebrate Jim’s life and work was held on 6 January 2024 12pm-4pm in the Studios in the Faculty of Arts Building on the University of Warwick's campus.
Stages of Violence Research Network
Dr Bobby Smith is collaborating with co-researchers, practitioners and arts organisations to explore the relationships between performance and violence through an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project - the 'Stages of Violence Research Network'. Collaborators include Mashirika Arts and IRIBA Center (Rwanda), Amani People’s Theatre and Dr Michael Owiso from Maseno University (Kenya), Derry Playhouse and Kabosh (Northern Ireland) and Dr Maeline Le Lay (co-investigator, CNRS France).
Website Launched exploring climate crisis with young people in the UK and Uganda
Breathe in –
With one breath, what concerns you most about the climate crisis?
Breathe out
Breathe in –
With one breath, who needs to change?
Breathe out
Breathe in –
With one breath, what can you do?
Breathe out
The air that we breathe connects us - with each breath we take, we inhale oxygen that sustains us and pollutants that endanger us. The products we consume, the ways we travel, the forests we decimate – our local actions have global implications.
Dr Bobby Smith has collaborated with young people, Highly Sprung Performance Company (UK), Rafiki Theatre (Uganda) and the visual artists Becky Warnock and Ashley James Brown to explore the local and global challenges of the climate crisis.
The project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council's 'Engaging Young People with Climate Research' funding stream. It resulted in an experimental, online artwork titled With One Breath. The website brings together physical performance, photography and visual arts as well as creative writing to offer provocations for action on the climate crisis. Young people in the UK and Uganda participated in a series of workshops which aimed to bring together participatory practices drawing on photography and Theatre of the Oppressed methods. It is hoped that this short project can feed into longer-term initiatives which build on the learning that has taken place.
You can explore the website here https://www.withonebreath.world/
Commonwealth Shared Scholarships Available for MA Applied Theatre: Arts, Action, Change
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 26th 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 9th 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
ONLINE SYMPOSIUM: THEATRE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS - 23rd SEPTEMBER 2021
- What are the implications of the recent 'global turn' in development studies for those of us involved in theatre and performance projects that relate to development outcomes?
- Might the renewed focus 'global partnerships', as outlined by the Sustainable Development Goals, offer new possibilities to work together? Or is it just more of the same empty rhetoric?
- In terms of attempts to create more equal and mutually beneficial projects, what might success look like?