Research Themes
Our research is characterised by its historical range that stretches from ancient Greek theatre to the present day and its broad geographical reach. Our research encompasses theatre, performance, dance and cultural ecosystems and infrastructures in Africa, Central, East and South Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America and the UK. Our research explores a wide range of contemporary theatre, performance and art practices as well as their lineages, cultural histories and relationships to institutional and socio-economic contexts and conditions. Our research is deeply invested in robust critical enquiry into the politics of performance and the myriad ways it can challenge, critique and disrupt dominant orthodoxies. It adopts many approaches, perspectives, methods and techniques including archival research, community-based projects, collaborations with creative practitioners, practice research, ethnography and performance analysis. Dynamic interdisciplinarity is a notable feature of our research culture that benefits from intersections with philosophy, sociology, cognitive science, art history, political theory, gender studies, medical humanities, psychiatry, psychoanalysis and queer theory. Our research is underpinned by a commitment to openness, ethical practice and integrity in scholarship and collaboration.
Our research is centred on the following research clusters:
Transnational Performance Cultures and Networks of Exchange
Our research focuses on questions of the local, regional, national, transnational and intercultural in terms of shifting identities, mobilities, migrations, notions of citizenship and cross-cultural exchange. It entails interrogations of performance, visual art, festivals, biennials, museums and cultural heritage, diplomacy and development. Our research is concerned with material issues of power within the broad sweep of global theatre, its histories and the flow of ideas, cultures and resources. This research critically engages with wider contexts of imperial expansion, colonialism, neoliberalism, geo-cultural politics and globalisation. Our research in this area combines written outputs alongside collaborations with artists and international HE institutions, summer schools, public engagement events and networks.
Society and Social Justice: Activism, Socially Engaged Art and Change
Our research is grounded in the belief that contemporary performance modes – including theatre, dance, live art and comedy - can offer unique perspectives on the most urgent socio-political questions facing the world today and contribute creative approaches to grass-roots political movements, activism, education, solidarity and social action. We offer far-reaching investigations into the possibilities and limitations of how applied, socially engaged and co-created theatre, performance and community practice intersects with complex issues including legacies of violence and peacebuilding, the climate crisis, disability, homelessness, global development and citizenship. Our research in this area combines written outputs alongside collaborations with the creative sector, schools and the third sector that has resulted in workshops, exhibitions, co-created artistic outputs, educational resources and digital projects.
Embodied Health: Bodies, Brains and Emotions
Our research is invested in critical enquiries into the politics and representation of madness, psychiatry, trauma, emotions, care and the senses in theatre, performance, the arts and the everyday. It foregrounds creative practices that offer affirmative, reparative and emancipatory possibilities for individuals and communities. Our research examines alternatives to biomedical understandings of mental life and explores how the arts can challenge dominant orthodoxies of psychiatric thinking and practices. Our research is concerned with the pervasiveness of skin in the social and sensorial imagination and with how it functions as the site/sight/sound/taste/smell of spectatorial engagement, (dis)connection, and cross-sensory experience in performance, contemporary dance and live art. Our research in this area combines written outputs alongside practice research, industry consultancy and public engagement workshops and events.
Methodological Interventions: Critical Historiography
Our research engages with a range of critical perspectives and methodological approaches to disrupt dominant narratives and re-examine historical materials and hierarchies. This includes focus on cultural materialist, feminist, queer, de-colonial, abolitionist and aesthetic theory to examine how theatre, performance and visual cultures navigate their material, social, political, and economic conditions. It entails research in archives, heritage sites and oral history work to unearth marginalized and neglected theatre histories, as well as creative interventions to highlight exilic, migrant, feminist and queer dramaturgies and artistic practice taking place in theatres, galleries, community settings, on the streets, in the home and in everyday life. Our research in this area combines written outputs alongside archival projects, collaborations with heritage organisations and public engagement events.