Research Themes
RESEARCH THEMES
Our research is characterised by its international reach and its commitment to robust critical enquiry. Our research explores a wide range of contemporary theatre and performance practice as well as their lineages, cultural histories and relationship to social, institutional and socio-economic contexts and conditions. Our research is deeply invested in the politics of performance and the myriad ways it can challenge and critique dominant orthodoxies. It adopts many approaches, perspectives, methods and techniques including community-based projects, ethnographic research, performance analysis, archival research, practice-as-research, performance pedagogies and technology enabled networks. Dynamic interdisciplinarity is a notable feature of our research culture that ranges from outputs intersecting with psychiatry, psychoanalysis and philosophy to those that emerge from our long-standing collaboration with Politics and International Studies here at Warwick. Our research is centred on the following themes:
'Ethics, Politics, Praxis’
Our research is grounded in the belief that theatre and performance can offer unique perspectives on the most urgent socio-political questions facing the world today. We offer far-reaching investigations into such complex issues as migration, political populism, activism, the climate emergency, madness, religion, homelessness, inequality, diversity and inclusion, and citizenship and participation. Our research in this area often combines written outputs alongside innovative activities such as the development of community projects, workshops, games, educational tool kits, apps and websites to ensure wide participation and reach.
‘Cities, Places, Environments’
Our research is concerned with encountering, remembering, and sensing cities and/or landscapes and their representation in visual and performance cultures. It addresses responses to resonant places and spaces such as woods, farms and isolated communities. Work under this theme also focuses on questions of the regional, national, transnational and intercultural in terms of shifting identities, cultural exchange and the wider contexts of exile, colonialism, neoliberalism and globalization. Our research in this area often encompasses creative research methods and outputs including guided walks, exhibitions and performance, alongside more traditional written formats.
'Memories, Histories, Futures’
Our research considers questions of history, historiography and the centrality of memory in theatre-making in local, national and global contexts. It addresses neglected histories such as comic acting and amateur theatre-making. Our research explores how individual and collective memory, difficult histories and potential futures are negotiated in and through various modes and aesthetics of performance including in everyday life, contemporary theatre, public events and memorial sites. Our research in this area encompasses written scholarship as well as other outputs including community events, policy documents and exhibitions.
‘Theory, Aesthetics and the Popular’
Our research is invested in the application of critical thinking, theory and a close analysis of the aesthetics of multiple forms of historical and contemporary theatre and performance. This area encompasses research that examines questions of theatricality; theatre spectacle and spectatorship; authorial presence and absence; the aesthetics of care; embodied activism; gendered citizenship and the relationship between indigenous identities, materiality and language. Our research in this area often utilizes creative research methods and outputs including performance, applied theatre projects and dramaturgical interventions, alongside more traditional formats.
'Creative Industries and the Value of Culture’
Our research investigates how participating in culture enriches lives and produces enormous personal, social and community benefits. It engages with and explores the impetus behind and value of a diverse range of cultural outputs including amateur theatre, public art and performances of Shakespeare, as well as theatrical events that take place in a wide range of spaces that span heritage sites, naval bases, psychiatric hospitals, community garden projects and urban environments. Our research in this area often combines written outputs alongside activities such as community projects, workshops and performance.