Postgraduate research in Drama

James Woodhams

Thesis title: Space to Imagine: the effect of using unconventional theatre space on a young audiences imaginative engagement?
Supervisors: Dr Katie Beswick, Professor Jane Milling
Start year: 2017
Expected year of completion: 2022
(Part-time)

Theatre for Young audiences is a key access point for young people to encounter theatre. David Wood stated the key to any production for young audiences is to ignite their imaginations (Wood & Grant, 1997). However without for many communities and young people, Theatre buildings are not inviting and inclusive environments, many seeing them as too expensive, to ‘snobby’ and to stuck in old ‘social etiquette’. Due to this many young people first encounter live theatrical experiences in school, community halls, library and other performance settings. My thesis researches at TYA practitioners use of unconventional theatre space and analysis the effect on a young spectator imaginative engagement with the performance. My other research interests are looking at puppetry,  Borg theory and performance practice within The field of Theatre For Young Audiences

Sophia Edlund

Thesis title: Voicing Thelxis: Kulning, Lulling, and Siren Song as Practices of Vocal Attraction
Supervisors: Dr Konstantinos Thomaidis and Dr Adrian Curtin
Start Year: 2018
Expected year of completion: 2022

The engine of my thesis is ‘thelxis’, which is an ancient Greek concept to describe the act of enchanting an audience. My voice-based Practice-as-Research (PaR) investigates the notion of voicing ‘thelxis’ as a process and a practice to understand more about how and why we come to be pulled towards specific sounds in voice. My PaR is inspired by interspecies communication in herding calls, the act of lulling infants to sleep, and contemporary approaches to the mythological Siren Song. 

Zhiyue Hu

Thesis title: Representing East Asian identities in 21st Century British Theatre
Supervisors: Professor Rebecca Loukes and Dr Michael Pearce
Funding: China Scholarship Council

The Drama Department has a strong history of research on representation of different cultures and identities. My research looks at the performance practice and events related to representations of East Asian identities in the 2010s (that has just passed us by!), from high-profile productions to independent solo performances including my own practice. My position as an East Asian theatre practitioner informs my research in a range of ways.

Faye Rigopoulou

Thesis title: ‘May we entertain you?’ Ageing Female Vocality in Musical Theatre
Supervisors: Dr Konstantinos Thomaidis, Professor Jerri Daboo
Start Year: 2018
Expected Year for Completion: 2022

The canonical roles that derive from the expectations of (strenuous) physiovocal performances necessitated by (and permeating) late 20^th- and early 21^st-century musical theatre entangle performers and audience in a fine audio-visual experience. However, it is likely that the same constituents and expectations of these roles constrain the ageing female performer to implicate in an antagonistic ‘strife’ with what it appears as a preference to youth. What is perceived as ‘a suitable part’ for ageing female musical theatre performers? Is musical theatre rigid towards intergenerational approaches? And what happens to the ageing female vocality when that corporeal voice no longer fulfils the expectations of that musical theatre? My research looks into the artistic and creative vocal presence of ageing female musical theatre performers and the context within which identities of ageing musical theatre characters are constructed, staged, and articulated.

Giorgia Ciampi

Thesis title: Practicing affectivity: a phenomenological study of the contemporary actor’s affective expression
Supervisors: Professor Rebecca Loukes, Professor Giovanna Colombetti, Dr Thomas Kampe (Bath Spa)

My research explores the relationship between the actor's affective experience and expression across traditional and contemporary theatre practices, employing a philosophical phenomenological and enactive approach. Drawing in particular from my long-term practice in the traditional forms of Kutiyattam Theatre (Kerala, India) and Noh Theatre (Kanze School, Japan), my aim is to problematise received assumptions on emotions as universal, innate and pre-wired subconscious processes independent from cognition and transcending socio-cultural structures. I propose that the study of selected under-represented cultural theatrical approaches will enrich the philosophical understanding of affective processes as well as inspire more affectively granular contemporary performer training practices.

Francesco Bentivegna

Thesis title: The human-cyborg dialogue
Supervisors: Dr Konstantinos Thomaidis, Dr Bryan Brown

Start year: 2016
Expected year of completion: 2022
(Part-time)

I am a musician, a comedian, and a singer. Before starting my PhD in 2016, I have finished my studies in cinema, theatre, and music at the University of Bologna, obtaining a BA and an MA in Drama Disciplines, with a focus on Voice Studies. I have been artistic director for Poverarte Festival in Bologna, where I curated the Electronic Music Section, and resident DJ in clubs around Italy and the UK. I am interested in Voice Studies, Experimental Theatre and Music, Artificial Intelligence, Xeno- and Techno-feminism, and Posthumanism. With my PhD and my practice – I am the lead singer of the Avant-pop electronic project Mr Everett – I explore the figure of the cyborg and technology at large, its influence in vocal kinships and contemporary practices of relationality. My research focus on artificial voices, digitally augmented voices, queer voices, and their position in contemporary performance, analysing it from a techno-feminist perspective.

Josip Martinčić

Thesis title: Cultural Authority of Theatre Critics in Late 19th Century London
Supervisors: Professor Kate Newey, Dr Adrian Curtin
Start Year: 2019
Expected year of completion: 2022

Late 19th century was a period of significant change. London society chose to claim the word modernity and the concept of 'new': New Journalism, new drama, 'new woman'. Theatre critics operated between these terms and started to shift their reviews accordingly. My research looks at the role of social power and authority within these reviews as documents of historical evidence. Interconnected personal and public relationships created bias and had an effect on the cultural capital, as did the reviewer's gender, sexuality and class. Suppressed voices in theatre criticism haven't been given scholarly attention, and my research aims to rectify this.