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Theatre & Performance Studies News

In Memoriam - Professor Jim Davis

Prof Jim DavisIt 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.

There will be an event to celebrate Jim’s life and work on 6 January 2024 12pm-4pm in the Studios in the Faculty of Arts Building on the University of Warwick's campus. Anyone is welcome (colleagues, friends, alumni etc). This will be a hybrid event, so if you cannot attend in person, but would like to join us online, that's also possible. Please RSVP to Dr David Coates - D.J.Coates@warwick.ac.uk

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Commonwealth Scholarship available for MA Applied Theatre: Arts, Action, Change at Warwick

We are delighted to announce that a Commonwealth Shared Scholarship is available for the MA Applied Theatre 2024/25.

This scheme supports a student from the global South to study for this degree at Warwick. In order to be considered, candidates must apply to Warwick and to directly to the Commwealth Shared Scholarships Scheme. The deadline for applications is 14th December 2023 and more information can be found on theCommonwealth Shared Scholarships website.

Candidates will need to check that their qualifications and nationality are eligible for the scheme before applying

Tue 28 Nov 2023, 15:53 | Tags: Student Research Postgraduate Funding

Collaborative Doctoral Award - 'Theatre and the Aristocracy: Passion, Patronage, Power and Politics, 1771-1893'

Drury Lane Theatre
Dr David Coates has worked with Nicola Allen (Archivist at Woburn Abbey) to set up a Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) with the Bedford Estates. This means that they have secured a funded PhD position to start in October 2024. The project that they will co-supervise will interrogate the complex relationships between theatre and the aristocracy in the long nineteenth century. There is flexibility in the CDA's design, enabling the chosen candidate to find their own area of interest within this broad topic. They're now looking for prospective candidates to apply for the position, and David would be delighted to hear from anyone interested (D.J.Coates@warwick.ac.uk). Full details on the project can be found by clicking on this news story.

Wed 26 Jul 2023, 10:23 | Tags: Research Postgraduate Funding Dr David Coates

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


Alison Porter Receives Support from the Space Theatre, Docklands

Last month doctoral candidate Alison Porter made an appearance as a panellist on The Space Theatre Docklands 'Live at 5' 50th broadcast on Facebook.
The Space is small theatre in Docklands which champions new writing (patron Sir Ian McKellen). They've been running a crowd funding campaign with a target of £15k as part of #saveourtheatres. Last month they met the target and Alison appeared on a panel with a group of playwrights and actors who will be sponsored by the campaign funds to talk about their work. As Adam Hemming (Artistic Director) says in the interview, Alison has been working with the Space for a while both as a playwright and also as a reader of play submissions, so it's great that she is able to be involved with them again. Her support package will involve receiving dramaturgical advice and guidance from their literary manager, Mike Carter, as she develops Land of Eagles - a set of verbatim monologues about Human Trafficking from Albania
Find out more about Space and their work on Facebook and on their website:
Mon 09 Nov 2020, 12:41 | Tags: Research Postgraduate Industry Funding

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