Blog from QMUL's School of English and Drama (SED)
Author: All Things SED Editor
I am the Web and Marketing Administrator in the School of English and Drama. Amongst my various roles, I run the School's website (www.sed.qmul.ac.uk) and its Twitter feed (@QMULsed). I also manage the running of the School's Open Days and draft promotional materials.
For two years after you graduate you can use the careers service including interview practice, help with job searches and application advice and preparation.
3 Events in the School and Queen Mary at large
The School of English and Drama and the wider college organise 100s of events every year with most being accessible to you once you’ve graduated.
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Our contact details if you want to let us know any news or have any questions – we love hearing from you.
During office hours they can be contacted in cases of mental health emergencies, whether these involve students or staff. Outside office hours please use the QM emergency number (0207 882 3333), or call 999.
Rupert and Suzi have been trained to listen non-judgementally, recognise warning signs of crisis and mental health conditions, and know about and can advise on professional help within Queen Mary, and where it is available from other providers. Their training can also help them recognise situations where someone may be in immediate danger when we should call 999 or 0207 882 3333 on campus.
Suzi and Rupert can be contacted during the SED Admin Office opening hours (Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm, and 2pm to 5pm) as follows:
2. Disability and Dyslexia Service (DDS): Offers support for all students with disabilities, specific learning difficulties and diagnosed mental health issues.
We have a smorgasbord of fresh new talent and experienced industry professionals coming up in these 3 festival in Spring-Summer 2018 at Queen Mary University of London.
As the graduating students of Queen Mary University of London prepare to depart campus and join the outside world. Plunge Festival is the final showing of work, featuring a rich variety of performance, installation, durational and site-specific projects.
IPP festival of MA and MSc performances, taking place over this coming weekend (19-20 May 2018). The festival will conclude with drinks in the foyer outside FADS (Arts Two) after the last performance on the Sunday. It would be wonderful to see you there.
This day meeting at the Linnean Society in Burlington House, Piccadilly marked the tercentenary of the death of James Petiver FRS, an important but often overlooked professional apothecary and compulsive natural historian in 18th-century London.
Petiver made significant contributions to multiple fields of natural history, above all botany and entomology. An assiduous correspondent and collector, he successfully cultivated sources of natural historical intelligence and material from the Americas to the East Indies.
On the 300th anniversary of his death, the meeting set out to remember James Petiver:
as a practising natural historian of substantial abilities and merit
as a collector and cataloguer of natural historical specimens with enduring significance
as a writer of both manuscript correspondence and published natural historical texts
as an apothecary whose professional and private scientific interests mutually informed each other
as a social networker both within London and across the globe
as an historical figure whose legacy has been contested and which is ripe for reconsideration
Speakers from universities and the museum sector assessed Petiver’s life and legacy by deploying a range of historical and scientific disciplinary perspectives. Topics addressed by the presentations included Petiver’s medical practice, his abilities and significance as a natural historian, his relationships with mariners and merchants (including slave-traders), and his innovative attempts to reach new audiences through book publication. The meeting was also privileged to welcome a direct descendent of James Petiver’s sister, Jane.The event was organised by Dr Richard Coulton (QMUL) and Dr Charlie Jarvis (Natural History Museum). Research presented at the meeting is due to be published in a forthcoming special issue of Notes and Records of the Royal Society (spring 2020).
Wednesday 6 June 2018, 18:30
Arts Two Lecture Theatre, QMUL – Mile End Campus
The School of English and Drama invites you to our annual Lisa Jardine lecture for 2018.
Thursday 3 May, 19:15
Camden People’s Theatre, Euston
In this debut storytelling performance, Drama graduate Hannah Maxwell makes a prodigal’s return to the musty vibrancy of amateur dramatics – embroiling her family
for four generations.
Please join us on International Dawn Chorus Day to listen to the bird life of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park while walking between three performances interpreting birds through speech, song and instrumentation. Produced by Ella Finer (Drama) for the QMUL Centre for Sound Cultures, directed by Rhiannon Moss and Kester Richardson.
Wasafiri is launching their special ‘Refuge’ issue, guest-edited by writer and journalist Bidisha. Enjoy lively debate and poetry readings from contributors, Olumide Popoola, Lisa Luxx, Sophie Herxheimer and guest editor Bidisha at an evening promising a celebration of creativity in expressing the urgency and terror of the refugee crisis. RSVP on Eventbrite here
Split Britches Unexploded Ordnances (UXO) 15-19 May, 19:45
The Pit at The Barbican
Combining a Dr Strangelove-inspired performance with a daring forum for public conversation, this show by Lois Weaver (Drama) and Peggy Shaw (Drama Fellow)’s company Split Britches explores ageing, anxiety, hidden desires and how to look forward when the future is uncertain.
Hari Marini (Drama) presents her third collaboration with the Centre for Catalan Studies at QMUL as the finale of this event championing the performance work of artist Joan Brossa.
Theatre Sense Friday 25 May, 09:30-17:30
Battersea Arts Centre, Clapham Junction
2018 marks 20 years since Battersea Arts Centre’s groundbreaking x season, which set the tone for experiments in audience immersion, lighting and sound design by some of the most exciting artists and companies in British theatre. The Theatre Sense symposium, organised by Martin Welton (Drama) will reflect on the history of these developments, and their cultural impact at BAC and beyond, in a series of dialogues between artists and academics.
Lunchtime seminar: Professor Miri Rubin (QMUL) ‘Ecclesia and synagoga’ Wednesday 30 May, 12.30-2pm
ArtsTwo 2.18, QMUL – Mile End Campus SAVE THE DATE
15-18 May: PbRP Festival of Performance (15th & 16th at Oxford House and 17 + 18 at QM) 19-20 May: MA Festival of Performance 7 June: MA English Conference 11-16 June: Peopling the Palace(s) Festival 15-16 June: “Heresy and Borders”, at Senate House. Keynote from Anshuman Mondal on “Hate Speech, Free Speech and Religious Freedom”. Register here See all of our events coming up
Nadia Valman (English) has won the Lucy Hawking Award for Public Engagement at the Queen Mary Engagement and Enterprise Awards.
Ella Finer (Drama) has been selected as one of Sound and Music’s 2018 cohort of Composer-Curators.The first programme of its kind in the UK, Composer-Curator nurtures the determination and enthusiasm of those changing the face of live music touring from the grass roots up.
Isabel Rivers (English)’s book Vanity Fair and the Celestial City: Dissenting, Methodist, and Evangelical Literary Culture, 1720-1800 will be published in July. Order online at www.oup.com with promotion code AAFLYG6 to save 30%! Isabel also contributes to The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan.
Jaclyn Rajsic (English) won Course Rep Champion at the Education Awards this year.
Shahidha Bari (English) was on BBC2’s Front Row Late devling into the notion of the artistic ‘genius’ and critiques Maxine Peake’s movie Funny Cow. Watch it online here
Richard Coulton (English) held a successful event Remembering James Petiver about an important but often overlooked professional apothecary and compulsive natural historian in 18th-century London with the Linnean Society.
1. Drama graduate Finn Love (right above) has been appointed as LADA’s new Programmes Manager and Joseph Morgan Scofield (left above) has been appointed as the new Coordinator at Live Art Development Agency. Read more
2. The Guardian launches Celestial Motion – a new virtual reality experience captured at Queen Mary’s new motion capture studio by our artistic associates Alexander Whitley Dance Company.
4. Mojisola Adebayo, Ella Finer (both Drama) and artistic associate Karen Christopher have all contributed to The Creative Critic: Writing as/about Practice. The book is co-edited by Drama Teaching Associate Katja Hilevaara.
Share your dissertation hand in selfie with the hashtag #youcanttouchDISS (tag us!) for a chance to win £50 Amazon voucher and a badass certificate!
Competition closes: Friday 11 May 2018 at 5pm. 1 entry per person and you must use the hashtag & tag us on Twitter, Instagram or email us sed-web@qmul.ac.uk. 1 x winner will be chosen at random from all valid entries.
Yesterday BBC World Service made available the radio programme tracing a day in Takumã Kuikuro’s life in the Ipatse Village, home of the Kuikuro people in the Xingu region.
The show was recorded by Mark Rickards during a research trip to Xingu in May 2017 with Paul Heritage and Jerry Brotton last year as part of People’s Palace Projects’ indigenous artistic residency programme funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Newton Fund and Global Challenges Research Fund.
PPP is core funded as a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England and by QMUL.
Join us for provocative discussions, displays, workshops and screenings exploring how memory is produced in relation to material, objects and places
Join artists and researchers from Queen Mary University of London as we think together about the role of objects in the production, conservation and recollection of our individual memories, and those of our communities. A particular focus will be migrant and refugee art, and the challenges of producing and conserving a home and identity in circumstances of displacement.
Explore questions such as what does the ‘making’ in placemaking actually involve? What is the role of sensuality in the making of memories? How can digital technologies of mass production coexist with artisanal modes of making, and what is their relation to the production of cultural heritage?
Drop in to explore installations and exhibitions which will be on display daily or join us for a series of events and activities over our five day residency at Tate Exchange.
Displays (open every day):
Recordings from the Xingu
Enter our oca and embark on a journey to the Ipatse Village, home of the Kuikuro indigenous people in the Xingu region of Brazil. See photographs and listen to ambisonic sound recordings of the community’s daily life and traditions, and watch a video fly-through of scan data from around the Ipatse village, produced by Factum Foundation. The display will include a Virtual Reality installation by Brazilian coder Clelio de Paula about his residency in the Xingu (Sunday only, from 1-5pm).
Alda Terracciano’s Zelige Door on Golborne Road
Drop in and experience this interactive, multisensory installation which explores various aspects of Moroccan heritage and culture, each requiring a different sense to be experienced. It uses Augmented Reality and technologies related to the senses, to construct a living museum of cultural memories that reflects both the challenges of gentrification, and communal visions of a utopian space within the city.
Globe: Here Be Dragons and Fertig
Globe, on display in Tate Exchange, is a copper sphere housing four cameras. Artist Janetka Platun rolled Globe through the streets of East London recording journeys and conversations with the public about home and migration, territory and boundaries. The footage inspired two films: Here Be Dragons (27 mins) and Fertig (6 mins), which will be screened on a loop in the space.
Ink drawings by Sophie Herxheimer
Explore a display of ink drawings by artist Sophie Herxheimer which document the experiences of refugees.
Come along to a screening of this powerful documentary about young Afghan refugees in Greece who transform discarded lifeboats and lifejackets into bags.
Drop in for a day of events exploring the Kuikuro indigenous people’s project to record and preserve the cultural heritage of their village in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil.
Queen Mary Summer School 2018 London Performance Past and Present 16 July 2018 – 3 August 2018
QMUL – Mile End
We are offering our first ever summer school for students who want to get under the skin of London theatre and performance – past and present. Creative Economy Networks: research, policy and exchange (UK-Brazil) Tuesday 1 May, 9.30am-6pm
This event will bring together research, policy and industry perspectives to explore the role of exchange in creative economy businesses and its impact on the sector. Particular focus will be given to new research and policy drawn from recent UK-Brazil collaboration and exchanges led or facilitated by the British Council, Network and People’s Palace Projects. Keynote speakers are:
Sarah Drinkwater, Head of Campus London, Google for Entrepreneurs
Eduardo Saron, Director, Itaú Cultural (São Paulo, Brazil)
APRIL DIARY
Literature and the philosophy of the comic
Friday 6 and Saturday 7 April
Graduate Centre GC601, QMUL – Mile End
A workshop organised by Katie Fleming (English) on literature and the comic including speakers:
Katie Fleming, “Comic Timing”
Huw Marsh (English), “Like a monkey with a miniature cymbal: Magnus Mills and the comedy of repetition”
Matthew Bevis, “Laughable Poetry”
Sara Crangle, “Mina Loy, satire, sentiment & sacrifice”
Jean-Michel Rabaté “Laughtears: Kafka & the birth of modernist laughter”
S A L O N – LONDON: SUNDAY with Erín Moure and So Mayer Sunday 8 April, 4pm, Free
The Brunswick Centre
Our very own Susan Rudy (English) invites you to the next S A L O N London event this Sunday. It will expore Queer and Feminist poetry and will feature a reading by Erin Moure, moderated by So Mayer.
News
Our very own Lois Weaver Wins WOW Women in Creative Industries Award
Professor Weaver’s win is in recognition of ‘four decades of commitment to work engaging the widest possible public in feminism and human rights through performance’. Lois was nominated in a hotly contested category, alongside author Kate Mosse and sculptor Rachel Whiteread. Read more
Drama student Daniella Harrison has won the National Student Drama Festival: Theatre Record Critics Award. She wins for her superb work in theatre journalism.
Our new outreach project Show & Tell – is GO!
The project will feature a series of events with inspiring talks from influential and accessible people within academia and the creative industries. Events will be aimed at school and college students aged 16-18. If you’d like to get involved please email Charlie Pullen via: showandtell@qmul.ac.uk.
Documentary featuring our very own Jerry Brotton (English)is nominated for a BAFTA
Jerry featured as a key talking head interviewee on Elizabeth I’s Secret Agents.
Shakespeare to remain according to a vote at The Great Shakespeare Debate
A marvelous evening of debate around whether we should ‘Kill Bill’ in the name of decolonisation took place on Tuesday 26 March and here are the results…
Call for Papers: Theatricality, Performance, and the State – Queen Mary 7-8 June
“’The State must wither away.” Who says that? The State…’ He assumes a cunning, furtive expression, stands in front of the chair in which I am sitting – he is impersonating ‘the State’ – and says with a sly, sidelong glance at an imaginary interlocutor: ‘ I know I ought to wither away.’
Benjamin with Brecht, 22 June, 1938
“In order to work,” Samir Amin remarks, “capitalism requires the intervention of a collective authority representing capital as a whole. Therefore, the state cannot be separated from capitalism.” While seemingly self-evident, this insight sits at odds with a tendency in theatre and performance studies and in political theory towards what Mitchell Dean and Kaspar Villadsen, following Foucault, have diagnosed as ‘state-phobia’ (2016). In this framework, the state figures as an outmoded analytical category, to be replaced by neoliberal market forces and other de-centred analytics of power. Thus, theatre and performance – as well as the ‘creative economies’ more broadly – come to be evoked as either unwittingly complicit in the retraction of the state from governance and welfare (Bishop, 2012), or conversely held up as either instantiations of civil society (Jackson, 2011) or as an oppositional public sphere that has the potential to escape the state’s long arm (Balme, 2014).
While these interventions all offer useful insights into performance’s relationship to neoliberal governance models, the recurring oversight of the role of the state in its imbrication with both performance and discourses of theatricality runs the risk of eliding this relationship altogether. Yet, since Plato at least, the dangers and uses of theatre to real or idealised states has been a recurring feature in philosophical, governmental and political discourses. Moving beyond the focus on ‘anti-theatrical’ prejudice (Barish, 1981) which often informs the analysis of these discourses, what else might be uncovered through reflecting on the usefulness of theatre and performance for articulations of theories of statehood? Additionally, as posited by Amin, if the state cannot be separated from capitalism, what might be the value of discussing performance and theatre through (re)considering the state as central to the relationship between theatre and capitalism? Conversely, how might theories of performance and theatricality allow for a renewed understanding of the state’s position in globalized capitalism? Following on from this, how might reading the globalised economy alongside the ‘planetary extension of the state’ (Lefebvre, 1975) expand understandings of theatre’s political function across regional sites? How do states participate in the performance of the “world-configuring function,” (Balibar) of borders, especially considering the living legacies of colonialism and decolonization and the contemporary prevalence of geopolitical isolationism and border regimes? Can the state continue to be thought of a site of progressive struggle?
This conference aims to address an epistemological lacuna by bringing the modern state back to centre stage in thinking about and through theatre, theatricality and performance. We invite scholars to reflect on how the state limits, organizes, supports, and develops theatre and performance, but also on how theatricality and performance, as conceptual models, offer productive ways to think and understand the modern state and its apparatuses. We encourage a wide array of theoretical and empirical approaches to this subject and invite varied disciplinary modes including history and historiography, labour studies, geography, political economy, philosophy, literary and cultural theory and theatre and performance studies.
Suggested topics can include:
The state as censor / the state as defender of freedom of speech
The state’s active role in the development and regulation of theatre institutions and organizations
The state’s performance of itself (as military, as territory, as police, as justice, as ruler)
Theatre and sovereignty
Gendered, racialized, and other forms of state violence
Statelessness and its performances
The dialectic of nation and state
The performative desire for a state in histories of decolonization
States’ instrumentalisation of reproductive labour
Riots, strikes and other modes of collective organizing against the state’s legitimacy
The borders of the modern state
Absolutism’s legacies/ Absolutism’s others
Confirmed keynote speaker Dr. Tony Fisher, title TBC
Tony Fisher is Reader in Theatre and Philosophy, at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and its associate director of research. His monograph, Theatre and Governance in Britain, 1500-1900: Democracy, Disorder and the State was published in 2017 by Cambridge University Press. He is also co-editor (with Eve Katsouraki) of Performing Antagonism: Theatre, Performance and Radical Democracy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) which examines the theory of agonism in relation to political performance. He is currently co-editing two further volumes, Theatre, Performance, Foucault! with Kélina Gotman (Kings) for Manchester University Press; and – also with Eve Katsouraki – Beyond Failure: New Essays on the Cultural History of Failure in Theatre and Performance for Routledge. Tony has published essays on theatre, politics, and philosophy in a number of journals, including Performance Philosophy Journal, Cultural Critique, Performance Research, and Continental Philosophy Review.
The convenors welcome proposals for traditional papers of 20 minutes in length, practice research demonstrations, panels and performances . Please email all abstracts (no more than 300 words in length), an additional few sentences of biographical information and details of the audio-visual technology you will need to make your presentation to Faisal Hamadah (f.hamadah@qmul.ac.uk) or Caoimhe Mader-Mcguinness (c.madermcguinness@kingston.ac.uk). The deadline for the submission of proposals is Monday 30th April 2018.
An exciting and unprecedented new MA Live Art will begin in September 2018*, convened by the Drama Department at Queen Mary University, London in collaboration with the Live Art Development Agency (LADA).
This house proposes that the inclusion of Shakespeare in the higher education curriculum and theatre and arts programming obstructs decolonization.
Join students, performers, policy makers, scholars, teachers, artists and artistic directors to debate what place Shakespeare has in education and the arts today.
How has writing from and about South Africa travelled beyond the borders of the country? How has it made readers feel, and why might this continue to matter? Using key examples from the past 130 years, the lecture will survey the trajectory of South African writing as a category, ask how and why some texts have become well known internationally while others have not, and consider the importance of the personae that South African writers have (or been thought by readers to have) adopted, as well as the significance of the material forms that texts have taken—the guises, or indeed ‘personae’, under which they have travelled. Texts from and about South Africa—not to mention readers encountering them—have had to find ways to grapple with questions about the appropriateness or otherwise of representations of the country’s diverse people and complex politics. (Appropriate can, after all, be an adjective and a verb.) This lecture will therefore also grapple with the politics of speaking—and writing—positions, including this lecturer’s own. It will address South Africa’s often problematic place in postcolonial studies, and will argue for the continuing relevance of the study of the country’s literature here and now.
Current students and recent graduates can book a bespoke careers appointment to help with: finding jobs, making your applications better and even interview practice.
Opportunities, Calls for Participation & Volunteering
We are looking for the UK’s most motivated and talented aspiring event producers to become part of our FREE professional development programme, Young & Serious for participants aged 18-25.
Young & Serious is an exceptional opportunity for young people to build their professional network alongside career development, gaining experience of working within the arts, music and events sectors. Participants will have the chance to attend industry events, talks and workshops, work with exciting national & international artists and programme and deliver music activity. Participants will also work towards a Bronze Arts Award accreditation throughout the year.
As part of the programme, young people will be invited to take part in a FREE professional development residency in London (20th-22nd April 2018), which will form an integral part of the year long training course.
To find out more and details on how to apply to take part, please click here serious.org.uk The deadline for applications is the 26th March 2018.
Wilton’s is looking for small to mid-scale companies (graduate companies only, current student companies will not be eligible) who are creating a piece of new work and would like to enter the Wilton’s Edinburgh Festival Award 2018 scheme.
We are looking for work that will have not have been produced before the Edinburgh Festival, which is new, exhilarating and fits in with Wilton’s mission to produce world-class original, contemporary theatre.
The winner will receive two weeks free rehearsal space in Wilton’s AALP Studio Monday – Thursday (10.00 – 22.00) w/c 16th and w/c 23rd July.
There may also be the opportunity to try out the show in Wilton’s Cocktail Bar or the Hall.
To enter please fill in the application form, available on our website wiltons.org.uk and return it by Monday 23rd April 2018.
The judging panel will be made up of Wilton’s Executive Director Holly Kendrick and Wilton’s Associates Steph Street, Justin Audibert, Rachel Bagshaw and Richard Beecham.
We were delighted to hear from BA & MA Drama graduate Edd Hobbs about Brexit Means Brexit a show he’s producing.
Here’s what Edd had to say:
I have been working as an independent producer since completing my BA and MA with QMUL Department of Drama, and I’m currently producing PS/Y’s Hysteria programme (ps-y.org).
I’m writing to invite you to the premiere of a new dance commission by UK-based Palestinian choreographer Farah Saleh, investigating the collective mental health of UK residents after the EU Referendum. The project has been developed in collaboration with chartered psychologist Victoria Tischler, Professor of Arts & Health and Head of Dementia Care Centre, University of West London.
The performance is taking place on Friday 23 March 2018 – 7:30pm, at Siobhan Davies Studios.
Tickets are normally £5 but we offering a further 25% discount for QMUL students. Before completing check out in Eventbrite please click ‘Enter Promotional Code’ and type the code ‘student’.
How can audiences contribute to the future of theatre?
How should new technologies be used to shape the way theatre appears and feels for audiences?
If you’re a theatre-goer who is interested in how audiences might play a part in the future development of the form, then we would like to invite you to participate in a project run jointly by Queen Mary University of London and RIFT theatre company. We are looking for 20 audience members to take part in a study of immersive theatre experience centred on RIFT’s VOID, a performance for a solo spectator commissioned for this year’s Vault festival.
What will it involve
We are looking for 20 audience members to participate in piece of immersive theatre for a solo spectator. You will receive a free ticket for the performance, and a £10 theatre voucher. In return we ask that you agree to some limited video and data recording of your experience, and a post-performance interview with a member of Queen Mary’s research team. Following the performance, you will also receive a copy of the recordings as a unique record of your experience.
If you would like to be involved, please email your name and contact details to: stagingatmospheres@gmail.com stating your preference for attending a performance on either 17th or 18th March. As the performance can only accommodate one spectator at a time, there are a variety of slots available between 18.00-20.00 on Saturday 17th March and between 18.00-21.15 on Sunday 18th March. If you have a particular preference, please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Please be aware that some of the performance includes accounts of consent issues and sexual trauma.
How long will it take
The performance lasts thirty minutes, and each interview will take no longer than twenty minutes.
Will my responses be confidential
The interviews will contribute to a research project funded by the Arts an Humanities Research Council; this process has been scrutinised by QMUL’s ethics committee, and all details will be fully anonymised in any public or academic material. You will be free to withdraw if you wish to.
Support the WOW Women in Creative Industries award-winning Professor Lois Weaver at the Barbican in May!
“Combining a Dr Strangelove-inspired performance with a daring forum for public conversation, this show explores ageing, anxiety, hidden desires and how to look forward when the future is uncertain.
The stage features a round table, doomsday images projected on a screen, echoing the War Room in Stanley Kubrick’s film. In our Situation Room, twelve audience members are invited to become a Council of Elders to discuss the global issues of the day, as the company weave in satirical insights and spirit-lifting humour.
Adopting the characters of a bombastic general and ineffectual president, Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver of Split Britches lace this interactive piece with both playful urgency and lethargy, encouraging discussion about the political landscape.”
Current students and recent graduates can book a bespoke careers appointment to help with: finding jobs, making your applications better and even interview practice.
A London-based performing arts venue that work around cultural diversity and creativity are looking for a Programming Assistant to join their team. Could it be you? >> http://bit.ly/2FHypgA
“We are pleased to announce two new job opportunities with Pacitti Company.
Participation Producer
The Participation Producer is responsible for supporting the development of SPILL Festival’s mass participation public engagement events and the Think Tank public programme. The Participation Producer will work to deliver an exceptional year-round programme of work that engages, educates and invigorates the local community and ensures meaningful development for local audiences.
Administration Assistant
As the Administration Assistant, you will play a pivotal role in the Company, helping the running of a wide range of administration duties, occasionally acting as the first point of contact for enquiries for SPILL Festival, the Think Tank or Pacitti Company overall.”
Opportunities, Calls for Participation & Volunteering
RIFT Theatre’s Void – call for participants in audience research project
17th and 18th March
•How can audiences contribute to the future of theatre?
•How should new technologies be used to shape the way theatre appears and feels for audiences?
If you’re a theatre-goer who is interested in how audiences might play a part in the future development of the form, then we would like to invite you to participate in a project run jointly by Queen Mary University of London and RIFT theatre company. We are looking for 20 audience members to take part in a study of immersive theatre experience centred on RIFT’s VOID, a performance for a solo spectator commissioned for this year’s Vault festival.
What will it involve
We are looking for 20 audience members to participate in piece of immersive theatre for a solo spectator. You will receive a free ticket for the performance, and a £10 theatre voucher. In return we ask that you agree to some limited video and data recording of your experience, and a post-performance interview with a member of Queen Mary’s research team. Following the performance, you will also receive a copy of the recordings as a unique record of your experience.
If you would like to be involved, please email your name and contact details to: stagingatmospheres@gmail.com stating your preference for attending a performance on either 17th or 18th March. As the performance can only accommodate one spectator at a time, there are a variety of slots available between 18.00-20.00 on Saturday 17th March and between 18.00-21.15 on Sunday 18th March. If you have a particular preference, please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Please be aware that some of the performance includes accounts of consent issues and sexual trauma.
How long will it take
The performance lasts thirty minutes, and each interview will take no longer than twenty minutes.
Will my responses be confidential
The interviews will contribute to a research project funded by the Arts an Humanities Research Council; this process has been scrutinised by QMUL’s ethics committee, and all details will be fully anonymised in any public or academic material. You will be free to withdraw if you wish to.
Thursday 26 April 2018
Speakers from universities and the museum sector assessed Petiver’s life and legacy by deploying a range of historical and scientific disciplinary perspectives. Topics addressed by the presentations included Petiver’s medical practice, his abilities and significance as a natural historian, his relationships with mariners and merchants (including slave-traders), and his innovative attempts to reach new audiences through book publication. The meeting was also privileged to welcome a direct descendent of James Petiver’s sister, Jane.The event was organised by Dr Richard Coulton (QMUL) and Dr Charlie Jarvis (Natural History Museum). Research presented at the meeting is due to be published in a forthcoming special issue of Notes and Records of the Royal Society (spring 2020).
