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.
Mask Workshop - Mon 19 - Thur 22 March (10.00-13.00 each day)
Mask workshop
with Giulia Filacanapa and Boris Dymny, assisted by Léandre Ruiz
Mon 19 - Thur 22 March (10.00-13.00 each day)
Department of Theatre & Performance Studies
University of Warwick
The mask is traditionally an enhancing instrument that extends the actor’s body and makes it hybrid, not dissimilar to the computer-generated avatar animated by a performer. Can the masks of the commedia dell’arte and their associated techniques of improvisation help us to understand and develop the theatrical potential of the avatar? Can masks enhance the performer’s creativity? In order to help investigate the relationship between the artefacts and practices inherited from the commedia and the digital technology of the avatar, we will explore the world of theatrical masks, and in particular the characters of the commedia dell’arte.
We will examine the ‘code’ of commedia masks, with the objective of discovering ‘narrative gesture’. As with historical commedia dell’arte, where the characters communicated in many different dialects, we will weave different languages to create short multilingual plays. It won’t be necessary to understand every word in order to understand the story: the body language, gesture, geometry of the stage and emotions of the characters will be enough. During this workshop we will undertake training, improvisation exercises, writing sessions, and onstage trials.
Dr Giulia Filacanapa is the founder and director of the theatre company GenteGente !! The company promotes the creation and the dissemination of theatre masks. Giulia obtained a double PhD in History of Theatre (University of Florence) and Italian Study (University Paris 8) in 2015 (her dissertation concerned the renaissance of the commedia dell’arte in the 20th century in Italy and France). She is currently an Assistant Professor at University Paris 8, and with Dr. E. Magris has managed The Augmented Stage: actor's techniques, creative practices and training methods, a three-year project funded by the Labex Arts-H2H (2015-17). In 2016 she created the experimental research programme Masks and Avatars as part of this larger enquiry.
Boris Dymny is a director, actor, and writer. He trained in physical and mask theatre with Samovar, Mario Gonzalez and Carlo Boso. He founded Di Mini Teatro in 2012 to conduct research and practice with masks, and the company’s activities include training courses and social action theatre (for example working with traveller communities).
Léandre Ruiz is a performer with GenteGente!! directed by Dr. Giulia Filacanapa, with whom he has been working since the creation of the company. Since 2013 he has developed and participated in applied performing arts projects, mostly with teenagers in the medico-social field. Following a BA degree in theatre, he is currently studying for a Masters degree in the department of dance studies at Paris 8 University, focusing on pedagogy and movement analysis.
This workshop is part of the Mask and Avatar project, which includes a phase at Warwick, culminating in a mask/mocap Engagement Day with performances (G55) on Friday 23 March 2018.
To sign up, please email Kate Brennan (c.brennan@warwick.ac.uk). Please note that numbers are limited, and places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.