Overview
We are very saddened to announce the death of our colleague Honorary Professor of Drama Dr John Somers. Colleagues around the world know John’s work in Applied Drama and community theatre, ‘Drama which has a job to do’, as he would say.
John founded the MA in Applied Drama at Exeter, the Exeter Applied Drama Research Conference, and was the founding editor of the journal Research in Drama Education. His first commitment was to Drama in Education, which he embraced when training to be a teacher at Loughborough College and developed in his work at a Birmingham secondary modern. Moving into academia, John’s work diversified into developing applied theatre, working extensively with colleagues internationally, particularly in Finland, Turkey, Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Brazil. Often working with interdisciplinary colleagues, he developed interactive theatre programmes on a range of social issues for young people and community audiences. Among the many prestigious awards John received for his work were the National Institute of Mental Health in England (NIMHE) Positive Practice Award and a Special Recognition Award from the American Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) for leadership in community-based theatre and civic engagement.
John was an astonishing colleague – indefatigable for the discipline, for his students, and a remarkable creative force. He inspired and enabled hundreds of colleagues across the world to continue to make live theatre about things that mattered. It is a legacy that will endure through the practices and values of the many people who worked with him.
We are planning to mark John’s legacy as part of our next annual pre-sessional research event in the Department of Communications, Drama, and Film in September 2024. More information to follow.
Research
Publications
Books
- Drama as Social Intervention (2006) (Ed with Michael Balfour), Captus Press, Canada.
- Performing Poetry (2004), (with Linda Pagett), 119 pp, NATE, London.
- Drama and Theatre in Education: Contemporary Research, (1996), (Ed), 230 pp, Captus Press, North York.
- Drama in the Curriculum, (1994), 198 pp, Cassell, London. (This has been reprinted once and editions in Polish, Portuguese and Turkish are in preparation).
Chapters in books:
- Somers, J. ‘Theatre in communities: a bonding agent’ in Drama w STOP-KLATCE, Stop Klatka, Warsaw, 2010, pp 106-120
- Somers, J. et al, (2010) ‘Raising Awareness in Schools’ in Promoting Recovery in Early Psychosis, Shiers, D. et al (Eds) London:Blackwell
- ‘Theatre as Communal Work: Intervention in rural communities’ in Theatre and Education at Centre Stage; Govas, .N (Ed) Athens 2009, pp 360-369.
- ‘The Relationship between DiE (Drama in Education) and Performance’ in Theatre and Education at Centre Stage; Govas, .N (Ed) Athens 2009, pp 417 –421.
- ‘Drama and Wellbeing: Narrative Theory and the use of interactive theatre in raising mental health awareness’ in Dramatherapy and Social Theatre: necessary dialogues. Jennings, S (Ed) Routledge, 2009, pp. 193-202
- ‘Community theatre as communal work’ in Arts Education and beyond, Anna-Lena Østern & Hannah Kaihovirta-Rosvik (Eds) Åbo Akademi University Press, 2008
- ‘Community Theatre in Rural Devon: an alternative model’ in Creating a Theatre in your classroom and Community Warren, B (ed), Captus University Publications, North York, (2002) pp. 351-369.
- ‘Drama Learning’ in Beyond the Soundbite, LA, The Getty Centre, 2001, pp 108-116
- ‘Discovering Seminal Stories’: Community Theatre as Cultural Memory’ in Performing Democracy (2000) Haedicke, S & Nellhaus, T. (eds) Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press.
- ‘Drama e História: Projeto Peste Negra’ in Ensino do Teatro: Experiências Interculturais (1999) Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil.
- ‘Measuring the Shadow or Knowing the Bird: evaluation and assessment of Drama in Education’, in Evaluating Creativity, (2000) Sefton-Green, J. and Sinker, R. (Eds), London, Routledge, pp. 107- 128.
- ‘How Teachers Choose What to Do in Drama Lessons’ in Drama and Theatre in Education: International Conversations, (1999)Saxton J, & Miller C (Eds) Victoria (Canada) University of Victoria Press, AERA & IDERI.
- ‘Research and the Teaching of Drama’ in Grady, T. and O’Sullivan, C. (Eds) A Head Taller, (1998) Trentham Books, Birmingham.
- ‘The Nature of learning in Educational Drama’, in Drama and Theatre in Education: contemporary research, (1996), 14 pp, North York, Captus Press.
Papers in Journals:
- Somers J, (2010), ‘Community Theatre: a search for identity’, in Mailout, March 2010, pp28-29.
- ‘Interactive theatre: Drama as social intervention’ in Music and Arts in Action, Vol 1, No 1 (2008)
- Somers, J., Roberts, G., Dawe, J., Passy, R., Mays, C., Carr, G., Shiers, D., Smith, J. (2007) On the Edge: a drama-based mental health education programme on early psychosis for schools. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 1: 168–176
- ‘How many Rachels do you know?’ in Veterinary Times, Vol 36, No. 35, 18 09.06 (with P. Crawford and N. Short) pp. 24-25
- Arts - Therapies - Communication Vol 3, (2005), European Arts Therapy, Different approaches to unique Discipline opening regional portals, Ed, Line Kossolapow, Sarah Scoble, Diane Waller, Lit Verlag, Munster. (Distributed in UK by Global Books Marketing, 38 King Street, London 2E 8JT)
- ‘Jukebox of the Mind: an exploration of the relationship between the real and the world of drama fiction,’ in Papers from an International Conference of Drama Education, North Taiwan Arts Education Institute, Taipei, (2003) pp. 53-74;
pp. 76-81 - ‘Umysl jako szafa grajaca: rzeczywistosc I fikcja dramy’ in Opieka, Wychowanie, Terapia, Warsaw: IPSiR, 4/2003 (56) pp17-21
- ‘Drama Making as a Research Process’ in Contemporary Theatre Review, Vol 12, Part 4. pp. 1-15 (2002)
- ‘Into the Fictional World’ in Theatre In Education: art form and learning tool, Attica Press, Athens (2002) pp. 163-168;
- ‘Story, Intertextuality and Drama in Education,’ Birmingham: NATD Journal, Vol. 18, Issue 1. 2002, pp. 64-70
- ‘The Effectiveness of One In-service Education of Teachers Course for Teachers’ Practice,’ in Journal of Inservice Education, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2002, pp. 95-114 (with Eva Sikorova)
- ‘The Use of Theatre in Education in Health Education’, Somers, J. & Cousins, H (2001) New England Theatre Journal, Vol: 12 2001 pp. 1-26
- ‘Vliv jednoho modelo dalsiho vzelavani ucitelu na jejich praxi’ in Pedagogicý výzkum nových mozností ve vzdelávání, (2001), Ostrava University, pp 133-146
More information
External Recognition
2010, Nov/Dec Creation of four day workshop of leading Czech academics on researching aspects of drama and theatre; Interactive Theatre programme, Brno University, Czech Republic.
2010, Nov/Dec Creation of original Interactive Theatre programme, Brno University, Czech Republic.
2010, November Keynote presentations and four workshops, Applied Drama Practitioners Forum, Warsaw, Poland.
2010, October Opening presentation, research seminar, Newman University College, Birmingham.
2010, September Keynote presentation and two extended workshops at the ‘17th International Creative Drama Congress’, Istanbul, Turkey;
2010, May Presentations and workshops at Tampere Centre of Practice as Research, Finland;
Presentation and workshops and creation of new Interactive Theatre programme, Vaasa Central Hospital, Finland.
2009, October Opening presentation, research seminar, Newman University College.
2009, September Presentation to Medical General Practitioners on The Arts and Wellbeing.
2008, March Runaway a film collaboration with Pangea TV nominated for Media Innovation awards.
2008, March The Theatre and Community, Honiton and the Arts Lectures, Honiton Library.
2008, February On the Edge commissioned by the Time to Change national mental health initiative to tour in 2009 - 2011.
2006, October International ISPS conference, Birmingham ICC, ‘On the Edge’.
2006, September Invited speaker, Creative Industries in Rural Areas conference, Lancaster University;
2006, January Visiting lecturer/theatre director, University of Warsaw.
2005, December On the Edge won the National Institute of Mental Health in England (NIMHE) Positive Practice Award. It was also joint winner of the NIMHE Service User Involvement Award.
2005, December Keynote speaker, ‘Drama and Well-being’ conference, Warsaw.
2005, December Workshop leader, ‘Stop Klatka’ Conference, Warsaw.
2005, December Keynote speaker, ‘Drama and Discrimination conference, Warsaw.
2005, October Keynote speaker, Littoral Seminar, University of Bath.
2005, September Keynote speaker, Greek Drama Network, Thessaloniki, Greece.
2005, September Invited speaker, inaugural Theatre Research Conference, University of Athens.
2005, September Theatre Director, Greek Drama Network, Thessaloniki, Greece.
2005, September Theatre Director, Aristotle University, Greece.
2005, September Keynote speaker, Greek Drama Network, Athens, Greece.
2005, September Theatre Director, Greek Drama Network, Athens, Greece.
2005, September Workshop leader, ISAACS Conference, Manchester.
2005, January Invited keynote speaker, national drama seminar, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
2005, June My play On the Edge, won the Southern Region Health and Social Care Ward for its contribution to mental health awareness.
2004, November Invited to become a member of the Working Group of the Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education and Training.
2004, December Invited to make keynote presentation, international theatre conference, Athens, Greece.
2004, November Keynote speaker and workshop leader, Hungarian National Drama association, Budapest, Hungary.
2004, November Keynote speaker, National conference on Crime Prevention and the Arts, Budapest, Hungary.
2004, November Keynote speaker, international conference ‘What do we Fear’, Warsaw University, Poland.
2004, October Invited to become a member of the Steering Group of the new British and Irish Theatre Research Association.
2004 Invited member of Advisory Committee of the Greek Drama Education Journal.
2004, September Invited to become a member of the Advisory Group for the In Place of War three-year AHRB funded theatre project.
2004, September Invited presentation, Theatres of Science, University of Glamorgan
2004, September Tuning into Psychosis Conference, University of Manchester (90-minute presentation
2004, July Keynote speaker, International Children’s Theatre Festival, Tokyo, Japan.
2004, July Guest Director, National University of Arts, Seoul, S. Korea.
2004, July Keynote speaker and workshop leader, Taipei, Taiwan.
2004 July Invited Special Interest Group Leader, International Drama and Theatre in Education Association World Congress, Ottawa, Canada.
2004 May My play ‘The Living at Hurford’ was the subject of a ‘Farming Today special on BBC Radio 4.
2004, April Keynote speaker, Getting in Early, Getting it Right, Early Intervention in Psychosis Conference, Buckfast Abbey. My play ‘On the Edge’ was performed at this conference.
2004 March Guest speaker, Graduate School, University of Bristol.
2004 March Keynote speaker and workshop leader, International Association for Theatre for Young People (ASSITEJ) Warsaw, Poland.
2003 November Exeter Learning City Award for contributions to Applied and Community Drama.
2002 In recognition of my contributions there, I was made a member of faculty at Warsaw University.
2002 Juror for AATE Research Award
