What's on
Performances, workshops, events and seminars are shown on this page, where they're of interest to Communications, Drama and Film students.
Please remember that coursework-related events may not appear until a week before the event, so please check back regularly.
Wed 01 May
Start time: 16:30Research Seminar: Reclaiming mime from the condescension of posterity
Presented by: Mark Evans and Simon MurrayLocation: TS2 Alexander Building, Thornlea, New North Road, Postcode: EX4 4LA Show on Map
This seminar will be presented in the form of a performative conversation between Mark and Simon around the themes, ideas, perceptions, contexts, personalities, histories and controversies enshrined in their recently published book, Mime into Physical Theatre: a UK Cultural History 1970 – 2000. They will consider why this period can justifiably lay claim to be highly significant in the development of embodied theatre practices in the UK, initially signed as mime but, increasingly by the 1990s, as physical or visual theatre. A moment – or moments – when the radical movements of the late ‘60s and ‘70s met Thatcherism and the early seeds of neo-liberalism. They will reflect on how and why mime as a perceived practice has often been the object of derision or disdain from both the university sector and – in a different way – within popular culture. Mark and Simon will consider the complex cultural conditions which framed and gave rise to these practices, and some of the key figures (both artists and other cultural workers) and organisations involved in performing and enabling this work.
Drawing upon their own experiences as professional performers and theatre makers in the 1980s and ‘90s, and later as academics, they will offer a blend of analysis, history, personal stories and documentation in relation to mime and its bastard and unruly child, physical theatre. Their conversation will reflect on the intersections between gender, class, sexuality and race in the making and performing of this work, the significance of often heated debates about training for mime and physical theatre and the reasons for the campaigning zeal of mime activists in the late ‘70s and ‘80s in Scotland, Wales and across the UK, including the South West. They will particularly identify organisations such as the Mime Action Group (MAG), the International Workshop Festival (IWF), the Scottish Mime Forum (SMF), the Centre for Performance Research (CPR) and the London International Mime Festival (LIMF) as playing key roles in the shape, dramaturgies, aesthetics, promotion and cultural politics of these projects and activities. Together, the authors will take a passionate but critically reflective glance at the heterogeneous range of embodied performance practices which have had huge influence on theatre making into the 21st century and to the present day.
Mark Evans is Professor of Theatre Training at Coventry University. He has written widely on movement, actor training and physical theatre. His publications include: Movement Training for the Modern Actor; Jacques Copeau; Frantic Assembly (with Mark Smith); Performance, Movement and the Body; The Routledge Companion to Jacques Lecoq (with Rick Kemp); and a critical introduction to The Moving Body by Jacques Lecoq.
Simon Murray is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow, having retired from teaching contemporary theatre and performance last October. He was co-founder/co-editor (with Jonathan Pitches) of the Theatre, Dance and Performance Training journal and has been a professional theatre practitioner. He was Director of Theatre at Dartington College of Arts between 2004 and 2008. His disparate writings include publications on Jacques Lecoq, physical theatres, lightness, WG Sebald, performances in ruins and democratic education in the Seychelles.
Thu 02 May
Start time: 18:00T3 Festival
Theatre is Dead - A Love Poem To Theatre
Director: Howard Gayton
Location: RS1 Roborough Studios, Prince of Wales Road, Postcode: EX4 4SB Show on Map
Andromedas and Thorax, the Spirits of Tragedy and Comedy, look down from the spirit realm, perplexed: Actors no longer come to them for inspiration. Theatre is in fact, dead! In a desperate attempt to kick theatre's corpse back to life, the Spirits incarnate in the physical realm to re-ignite the ancient ceremonies and awaken the magic of theatre's earliest beginnings.
The World Premier of Columbina Theatre’s new dark comedy, written by Peter Oswald (Globe, NT, Bristol Old Vic, Marylebone)
"The Language was incantatory, the story beautiful – I was spellbound and inspired throughout.” audience reaction to Columbina’s 4.5 star show – Egil.
Fri 03 May
Start times are 14:00 and 18:00T3 Festival
Theatre is Dead - A Love Poem To Theatre
Location: RS1 Roborough Studios, Prince of Wales Road, Postcode: EX4 4SB Show on Map
Andromedas and Thorax, the Spirits of Tragedy and Comedy, look down from the spirit realm, perplexed: Actors no longer come to them for inspiration. Theatre is in fact, dead! In a desperate attempt to kick theatre's corpse back to life, the Spirits incarnate in the physical realm to re-ignite the ancient ceremonies and awaken the magic of theatre's earliest beginnings.
The World Premier of Columbina Theatre’s new dark comedy, written by Peter Oswald (Globe, NT, Bristol Old Vic, Marylebone)
"The Language was incantatory, the story beautiful – I was spellbound and inspired throughout.” audience reaction to Columbina’s 4.5 star show – Egil.
Fri 03 May
Start time: 17:00T3 Festival
After you
Co-Directors: Supervisor: Schaefer,Kerrie; Hillman,Rebecca. Project initiator: Viola Cheng
Location: RS3 Roborough Studios, Prince of Wales Road, Postcode: EX4 4SB Show on Map
Will it be "you" after "you"?
This performance is part of my PhD research on applied theatre for university students on the prevention of intimate partner violence, and it will serve as the first practice of my research.
The aim of the performance is an auto-biographical solo performance exploration of the damage that second-hand IPV has on a child and the struggle to form healthy relationships in later life. Transform the IPV experience through concrete performance to form healthier relationships. The solo performance is characterized by a fusion of auto-ethnography and storytelling techniques. The performer presents a profoundly intimate account, incorporating personal anecdotes derived from either their own encounters or those of others. The tale delves into the trajectory of an individual who has experienced intimate partner violence (IPV),shedding light on the intricate range of emotions involved, the recurring pattern of abusive behavior, and the obstacles encountered when attempting to escape from an abusive partnership.This fusion of autobiography and solo performance allows the performer to stand as both a creative practitioner and a researcher, exploring their own identity and sharing their story through dance or other artistic mediums.
Wed 08 May
Start time: 15:00Employability Salon #1 - Equity and Fin Irwin
Location: TS1 Alexander Building, Thornlea, New North Road, Postcode: EX4 4LA Show on MapFind out more about how the industry works, with Elin from Equity and Fin, co-director of intoBodmin.
Elin Meredydd is the National and Regional Organiser of Equity Wales & South West. Equity is the performing arts and entertainment trade union, and campaigns on behalf of actors and creative practitioners, including directors and stage managers.
Fin Irwin is a cultural entrepreneur. A Drama graduate from Exeter University (2005), Fin set up the Bike Shed Theatre in Exeter in 2010, was inaugural programmer at The House in Plymouth in 2014 and most recently founded the cultural and community organisation intoBodmin CIC in Cornwall, where he has raised nearly £1.5m to purchase and refurbish their venue, The Old Library. Fin is no stranger to forging his own path in the creative industries sector, from having an idea, to launching it and making it sustainable, Fin will talk about his journey and some of the lessons he’s learnt along the way.
Wed 08 May
Start time: 16:30Research Seminar: What is there left for art to do?
Presented by: T. Sasitharan (Sasi)Location: TS2 Alexander Building, Thornlea, New North Road, Postcode: EX4 4LA Show on Map
There is nothing new under passing the sun. If there is a truth universally acknowledged in art and theatre it is that originality, genuine novelty and creativity, “newness”, although possible, is very difficult to achieve. The grandest of visions, the boldest of ideas, the most radical points-of-view, have all been stated and tried and done before. Today, when we know so much more than has ever been known, when the smart phones in our pockets and handbags can access all the knowledge we have ever known, what is there left for art to do? What is the responsibility of the artist, the art teacher, in the age of super computers, Artificial Intelligence and climate catastrophe? This talk posits that one responsibility is to look back at past art practice, recover traditions, the tried and tested ways of making art, and repurposing these for the here and now. So that we too can rekindle the hope of originality, of novelty and of the radically “new” in art. So that in this unprecedented, globalized moment of hyper-capitalism, corrosive conservatism and cultural antipathy, art can answer the old woman who asked Anna Akhmatova: “Could one ever describe this?” Art has a hope of “describing this” only if it questions the status quo, challenges social structures, respects diversity, embraces difference, includes the marginalized and regains the power to transform the viewer. The single most powerful potential of art to do this resides in the artist’s capacity to “look back” with the full force of imagination.
About Sasitharan: T. Sasitharan (Sasi), co-Founder and director of ITI was Artistic Director of Substation (1995-2000), Singapore’s only independent arts centre, and was Theatre and Visual Arts critic of The Straits Times (1988-1995). From 1983 to ‘88, he taught Philosophy at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Sasi is author of articles ranging from commentaries and essays to reviews of performances and exhibitions, and international catalogue texts. He speaks at conferences on arts, education and creativity. Over 45 years he’s been a theatre practitioner - actor, performer, director, producer, and teacher. He received the Cultural Medallion, Singapore’s highest arts award, in 2012, the Third Harvard Fellow, Harvard Club of Singapore in Mar 2022, and the NUS’ Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Distinguished Arts and Social Sciences Alumni Award in May 2022.
The Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI), in Singapore, trains exceptional theatre artists. Formerly called the Theatre Training & Research Programme (TTRP), ITI was founded by Cultural Medallion recipients Kuo Pao Kun (1939 – 2002) and T. Sasitharan. The practice-centred training “immerses” students in four traditional Asian theatre forms (Noh, Beijing Opera, Kutiyattam and Wayang Wong), juxtaposed with contemporary actor training. The three-year, full-time programme with a distinctive intercultural methodology, teaches skills in performance and theatre-making and offers actors diverse resources to work across cultural, linguistic, social and national boundaries. ITI - the post-colonial theatre school par excellence.
Wed 15 May
Start time: 15:00Employability Salon #2
Location: TS1 Alexander Building, Thornlea, New North Road, Postcode: EX4 4LA Show on MapSpeed-dates with directors/entrepreneurs (Nikki Sved, Wendy Hubbard, Anna Kiernan, Tony Lidington)
Mon 20 May
Start time: 16:30Research Seminar: Poetic streams, singing, and selfhood: on liminality, creative practice, and power in sean-nós song and oral poetic performance
Location: TS2 Alexander Building, Thornlea, New North Road, Postcode: EX4 4LA Show on MapProfessor Tríona Ní Shíocháin and Dr. Séamus Barra Ó Súilleabháin (aka Súil Amháin)
Wed 22 May
Start time: 15:00Employability Event #3: Commercial Theatre
Location: TS1 Alexander Building, Thornlea, New North Road, Postcode: EX4 4LA Show on MapMeet Martin Berry (the new artistic director at the Northcott) & Roisin McCay-Hines (recent graduate and theatre director)
Wed 29 May
Start time: 10:00Commedia dell'Arte Taster
Location: TS1 Alexander Building, Thornlea, New North Road, Postcode: EX4 4LA Show on MapCommedia is the original actor’s theatre: It’s physical, it’s madcap, it’s a social commentary, and it is freakin’ awesome!.
This one-day workshop (10am - 5pm) will cover:
- How to perform with a mask: a very freeing experience for performers!
- The myriad characters: Servants, Lovers, Captains, and the Masters/Mistresses.
- The use of Space.
- Development of Narrative.
Led by Howard Gayton (Ophaboom Theatre, East 15 - London, ESMAE – Portugal, Goldsmith’s – London) the workshop is FREE, and open to all students in the Communication Drama and Film department.
Spaces limited to 20 people. Come dressed in comfortable studio clothes.
Wed 29 May
Start times are 16:00 and 18:00T3 Festival
King Leir and His Three Daughters
Location: RS2 Roborough Studios, Prince of Wales Road, Postcode: EX4 4SB Show on Map
‘King Leir and his Three Daughters’ is a dramatic narrative that retells a famous story with roots in fairy tales from around the world, which has been explored using Michael Chekhov’s approach (including his Psychological Gesture) and eurythmy, a discipline that Chekhov deemed essential for his approach to actor training.