Theatre and Performance Studies News
TOP STORY: TaPRA 2025 Conference to be hosted at Warwick
We're delighted to announce that the annual Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA) conference will be hosted by Theatre and Performance Studies at Warwick between 27 and 29 August 2025. The conference will mark both the 20th birthday of TaPRA and the 50th anniversary of Theatre and Performance Studies at Warwick. Our conference keynotes, plenary panels, artistic activity, conference dinner and programmed events will speak to the themes of milestones and markers, focussing on celebrations, festivities, spectacle and joy. We'll look forward to welcoming you to Warwick next year!
To keep up to date with the conference plans, please visit our dedicated TaPRA pages here.
DEATH OF PROFESSOR MICHAEL BOOTH (1931-2017)
The School is sorry to announce the death of Michael Booth, who served for ten years from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s as the first Professor of Theatre Studies at Warwick. Michael was a leading scholar on nineteenth-century British theatre, many of whose publications are still essential reading for academics and students working in the area today. His many books included English Melodrama, Hiss the Villain, English Plays of the Nineteenth Century (5 volumes), Victorian Spectacular Theatre, Victorian Theatrical Trades and Theatre in the Victorian Age. He also co-edited an anthology of essays on Edwardian theatre. He is remembered at Warwick for his collegiality, his early consolidation of Theatre Studies within the university and his strong support of Warwick Arts Centre. He was also extremely supportive of and generous to fellow researchers and early career scholars working on nineteenth-century theatre studies.