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.
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
A Window on Applied and Socially Engaged Performance at Warwick – 24th February 5-6pm.
Join us online to find out more about the projects and research we are leading, the kinds of applied and socially engaged work that takes place at Warwick, and the communities we are connected to. We will explore what it means to be involved in social action through theatre and performance today, and what challenges and possibilities we are presented with.
We will begin the event by hearing from a panel of practitioners and academics at Warwick. They will share examples of their recent practice and research. We will then open up for a discussion relating to applied and socially-engaged performance.You will also be able to ask further questions you may have concerning the MA Applied Theatre: Arts, Action, Change.
The panel will include:
Max Dean, a PhD researcher at Warwick and Director at C&T, one of the Associate Companies for the MA. C&T combines applied theatre methodologies with digital technologies to explore and grow creativity with children and adults.
Saul Hewish, one of the country's leading practitioners in the use of drama and theatre with offenders. In 1999 he co-founded RideOut (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation), which develops innovative and experimental arts-based projects within the criminal justice system.
Professor Nadine Holdsworth, whose research spans questions of representation, participation, citizenship, political change and cultural value. She explores how theatre, performance and arts-based methodologies can be used to illuminate pressing social issues and marginalised groups.
Dr Yvette Hutchison, a South African academic whose work focuses on Anglophone African theatre, dance and intercultural performance. She has taught on and worked in various theatre for development and community theatre projects in Africa and the UK.
The session will be chaired by Dr Bobby Smith, a researcher and practitioner whose current work focuses on applied theatre and global development.
Confirm your attendance here https://your.warwick.ac.uk/form/spotlightontheatre
PhD candidate Sky Herington wins the prestigious TaPRA Postgraduate Essay Prize
In December 2020, it was announced that Sky Herington has won the Theatre and Performance Research Association's prestigious Postgraduate Essay Prize. Sky's essay is called 'Grotesque Bodies & Subversive Healing: The Politics of the Belly in Two Plays by Sony Labou Tansi'.