Right Mess Theatre are here to bring you an evening of Cabaret
splendour as they raise funds to bring their new show Alcatraz to New
Horizon Youth Centre for homeless young people. You can find out more
about New Horizon and the work they do here.
The line up includes Elf Lyons, Hannah Maxwell, Kayla MacQuarrie & Emily Howarth.
Alcatraz by Nathan Lucky Wood is a thrilling play about family and
social care that follows Sandy on her daring, Christmas mission to
emulate Clint Eastwood and bust her gran out of lock-up. It will
premiere at the Vault Festival 2019.
To enter simply email us your photo sed-web@qmul.ac.uk or use the hashtag #SED2019 and tag us on Instagram or Twitter. The photo theme could be themed around:
winter wonderland style scene
a highlight from your festive break
books you’re looking forward to reading in 2019
performances you’re looking forward to in 2019
Competition is open until 31 January 2019 at 17:00 GMT.
Photo above ‘Bushey Park’ by Matthew Mauger (photographer and Senior Lecturer in English and e-Strategy Manager at QMUL)
Written by our BA Drama alumnus Reece Connolly, his show Chutney is having a full run at off-West End venue The Bunker.
“The world’s shaking. I’m seeing the murder in everything. A cat crosses my path, I fantasise about throwing a grenade at it.”
Gregg and Claire are a power couple. Well-to-do and up-and-coming. They’ve got the house. The car. The careers. They’re living out their parents dreams in blissful suburbia.
They also have an insatiable desire to murder animals.
This mutually discovered urge threatens to gut their world to its very core.
CHUTNEY is a pitch black comedy about love, happiness, and unleashing the beast within. Watch the fur fly.
An alternative cabaret night hosted by our very own PhD Drama graduate Daniel Oliver celebrating neurodiversity, featuring performers whose minds work a little differently…
Line up
Daniel Oliver: The cabaret night will be hosted by Daniel Oliver, a performance artist who makes participatory performances that aim to embrace dyspraxia.
Mawaan Rizwan: Mawaan is an actor, writer and comedian. He’s written for the New York Times and his comedy videos on YouTube have amassed over 18 million views.
Vijay Patel: Vijay Patel will present Asperger’s Question Time. A space where you (the audience) will be able to ask him any questions you like, any questions on your mind, think everyday, not any questions about his Asperger’s. He will have some things in place for his access, such as a respite, some care in case he might leave.
IndoorGoblin: ‘A solo project performed on keyboard, IndoorGoblin hopes to present the imagination clouds through a mixture of musical creations, combining spoken word with story-singing, hypnotic piano loops and glittery glockenspiel melodies.’
Don Biswas :Award winning ‘left wing conspiracy theorist with dyspraxia!‘ Twice winner of the London Comedy Store Gong Show.
Khia Spencer: Khia is a dancer and artist who has been identified with dyspraxic mind and ADD…
Join Rosie Vincent a BA Drama Gradutate to celebrate her identity as a Type 1 Diabetic as she attempts to transform the mass of her medical waste from the past 2.5 years.
On 14th November millions of people will come together to raise awareness of living with Diabetes for World Diabetes Day.
Rosie Vincent has been a Type 1 Diabetic for over 14 years. Je m’appelle Diabetic combines ritual, object, and projection to present the challenges of living with diabetes as well as celebrating the resilience of Rosie’s diseased body.
This piece reconnects the medical waste that is produced by the condition with Rosie’s own body to honour it as the means to keep her alive despite its hostile appearance.
Show and Tell is a series of TED-talk style events where speakers from the arts, humanities and creative industries tell their stories at Queen Mary University of London. Find out more: bit.ly/showandtell18
This episode features Wasafiri magazine editor Susheila Nasta, Medieval broadcaster Hetta Howes, podcaster Raifa Rafiq, researcher Emma Shapiro and puppeteer Edie Edmundson. Full biogs below.
The show is introduced by Beverley Stewart and hosted by Charlie Pullen from the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary.
Charlie Pullen
Charlie Pullen is a PhD candidate and Teaching Associate in English at Queen Mary University of London, where he researches education in the work of various early twentieth-century novelists, including H.G. Wells, D.H. Lawrence, and Dorothy Richardson. His background is in widening participation and outreach and he writes for Times Higher Education.
Susheila Nasta
Professor Susheila Nasta, Prof of Modern and Contemporary Literature at QMUL, Emerita at Open University is a renowned critic, broadcaster and literary activist. Editor-in-chief at Wasafiri, the magazine of international contemporary writing, which she founded in 1984, she has published widely on South Asian Britain. www.wasafiri.org
Hetta Howes
Dr Hetta Howes is a lecturer in Medieval Literature at City, University of London. Her research specialises in women’s devotion in the Middle Ages, and as a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker she is committed to sharing that research with a wider audience.
Raifa Rafiq
Raifa Rafiq is a trainee solicitor at one of the leading international law firms in the UK. She is also creator and co-host of the Literature and popular culture podcast Mostly Lit – named by the Guardian and the BBC as one of the top podcasts of 2017. mostly-lit.com
Emma Shapiro
After graduating with a BA in English and French from Queen Mary, Emma Shapiro was awarded a scholarship to complete an MA in London Studies, where she specialised in the Trinidadian writer Sam Selvon’s London fiction. Following her studies, Emma worked as a voluntary researcher for the Migration Museum project and as the graduate trainee at Pembroke College Library, Cambridge, where she curated an exhibition on the poet and co-founder of the Caribbean Artists Movement, Kamau Brathwaite, working in collaboration with the George Padmore Institute.
Edie Edmundson
Edie is a puppeteer and theatre maker who graduated from Drama at QM in 2015 and went on to train at the Curious School of Puppetry. Since then she has worked with Emma Rice at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Puppet Theatre Barge. She also writes and directs her own work, and is co-founder and associate director of Wondering Hands Theatre. She is currently puppeteering in ‘The Butterfly’s Spell’ at the Puppet Theatre Barge and is puppetry director for ‘The Comedy of Errors’ at the RSC.
In the white cube of studio, the city is invisible, but can be seen in many ways.
Laura Bradley and Drew Egan (A-Kin)
Manipulated Labour Film and Drama Studio
An exploration of individual and dual identities through the presentation of struggle in the physicalisation of emotional labour. A collaborative work in progress by a queer, feminist couple; performance artist Laura Bradley and experimental audio and visual artist Drew Egan (A-Kin).
Anna Dean
Gaze Prism Film Studio
Anna Dean is a feminist performer, artist, and writer, working the dialectics of gender and (e)motion. Gaze Prism 1:11:22 addresses the tension between voyeurism and self-reflection.
Refracting the gaze between her live, reflected, and projected body, Dean occupies this gaze in order to claim autonomy in her own image —a gaze that is as much about herself as about the spectator.
Dani Surname
Tell the truth but tell it slant RR2 ALL-DAY
Celebrating the people I’ve worked with through QM and contemplating how performance, photography and truth are slippery – an exhibition of performance photography featuring QM students, graduates and lecturers.
Helena Banerjee
The Cicada Sighs Pinter Studio
A smol cicada sits in the leaves. It bends at the knees. The Sisyphean task of a squawk and a scream (Poor smol cicada, will you ever be free?)
Maria Pullicino
Stand-Up Pinter Studio
Observational comedy about the upcoming trump protest from an American-British dual citizen.
Livvy Lynch
Big Bird Pinter Studio
An audio-visual work-in-progress exploring human as animal – specifically, woman as pigeon.
Andrew Bourne
The Sofa Surfer’s Guide To Graduation Pinter Studio
Conceived in the back room of a Morrison’s café amidst a mountain of dirty dishes; No it’s not my life story, but a handy dandy pocket sized guide to living your best (ish) graduate life.
Francesca and Matilda
Mother of Expectations Film and Drama Studio
Invented and measured by man. Swimming constantly, reaching for the surface whilst trying to stay afloat. What are we doing with our lives?
Emily Howarth
Dumped Film and Drama Studio
‘Dumped’ is a one woman, musical, comedy shit-storm about the first time your heart gets smashed into a million tiny pieces, and the songs that make you feel less alone with your crazy, crazy break-up thoughts.
Red Hot Frizz
The Bevdel Test Film and Drama Studio
Using different beverages as a catalyst, Red Hot Frizz explore the stages and experiences of female friendship. From capri-suns to vodka, join us on our quest to uncover its importance.
Conall Borowski
The after-party Film and Drama Studio
The essence of The after party is a performer reading texts over music then filing it away. It is an after party for a party that didn’t happen, it is an after party for all the parties that have happened.
Luke Higgins
When it rains, I bore Pinter Studio
A short excerpt from a work-in-progress piece of live art. In this second performance as DJ Earthworm I will construct ‘a happening’ using the experiences of teaching children growing up in the big smoke.
MEGANDALEX
A fifteen-minute sketch Pinter Studio
This is a fifteen-minute sketch. We’re very proud to present a fifteen- minute sketch.
Justin Bieber
Justin Time for Christmas Pinter Studio
He’s a young, international pop sensation and he wants you to join him for one intimate, festive evening.
Chloe Borthwick is a performance artist and drag king whose current work delights in celebrity fandom and queer fantasy.
Ema Boswood
Ema Boswood Retrospective Pinter Studio
Ema Boswood is making her much anticipated return to Queen Mary, this time to re-enact selected segments of her previous works: from pre-uni (including exerts from her teenage diary) to during uni (some of the cringiest things to have ever graced the Pinter stage) to post uni (her acclaimed performance Ghost Sexxx) to WHATEVER’S NEXT!
She’s written this summary before she’s made this piece, so who tf knows tbh.
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.
The best way to find out is follow us on social media or email us to sign up to our newsletter.
Our contact details if you want to let us know any news or have any questions – we love hearing from you.
A new and exciting series of talks for school and college students hosted by the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London.
Show and Tell brings together influential academic teaching staff and industry professionals to deliver engaging and accessible talks for young people interested in working in the arts and possibly studying humanities subjects at university. Queen Mary staff working in a range of disciplines will share their cutting-edge research in short, thought-provoking presentations, and they will be joined by alumni offering insights into the work they do now in jobs across the creative sector.
Much like a TED Talk, these events are designed to be as entertaining as they are informative: they will provide a unique experience for school and college students to learn about the research being produced in universities and the careers graduates pursue after their studies.
Over the course of one evening, students can expect to hear from four speakers working in university disciplines including English, Drama, History, and Geography, and from industries such as journalism, theatre, fashion, and museums and galleries. They will also have the chance to network and meet the speakers and their peers over refreshments at a reception where they can discuss the evening’s talks, ask more questions, and find out about the journeys that current and former students have made to university and the world of work.
Show and Tell is primarily aimed at students aged 16-18 who are currently studying at A Level or equivalent at schools, sixth forms, and colleges, but we would welcome GCSE students too. This is a widening participation project and we hope it will encourage students who come from backgrounds that are underrepresented in higher education to think of applying to study arts and humanities degrees at Queen Mary and other Russell Group universities.
We are keen to hear the views of teachers so that we can make this project as effective as it can possibly be. Please help us make Show and Tell a success by getting in touch and telling us what you think makes university outreach events work for you and your students. You can tell us what you think by completing our questionnaire here: https://goo.gl/forms/EkmXCKC5m9hN4kxS2.
If you are student who would like to attend, or an alumnus who would like to speak at a Show and Tell event, please also contact us to find out more.
‘Ferocious feminism, dirty desire, queer culture and resistance: Steakhouse Live are pleased to announce the programme for their 2018 Festival, taking place at Rich Mix and Toynbee Studies on the 24th & 25th of February.
Steakhouse Live is one of the few DIY platforms for radical performance practices in the UK today. Back with a force, their 5th festival edition will feature 20 live performances from international and UK based artists with work that cuts across theatre, performance art, visual art, cabaret, dance and all that’s in between.
Performances include Queen Mary alumni Oozing Gloop, Edythe Woolley and current tutors Eirini Kartsaki and Daniel Oliver.’
1. Daniel Oliver / Chiperlatartaparty
Happening Now in the Future. Don’t eat the sausages.
2. Eirini Kartsaki / Ladder
Eirini will have sex with a ladder and give birth to plywood.
3. Oozing Gloop / The Gloopshow Episode 1
A 45 minute stream of consciousness: a love song and saga of a green gal, a scarlet lady and their boyfriend; the revolution.
4. Edythe Woolley / FISHY
This is a performance looking around plastic pollution in the ocean and the plastic pollution in our bodies.
In my second year I took Renaissance Drama with the wonderful Kirsty Rolfe and for a weeks we had the pleasure to be lectured by Jerry Brotton. His speciality being maps, we had fascinating lectures in regards to mapping the renaissance globe and how early modern london viewed foreigners in plays such as Tamburlaine The Great. In June earlier this summer I went travelling through Italy for three weeks visiting cities from Naples to Rome, Pompei to Venice and while I was in Florence I came across a familiar face, or rather name. In the book shop inside the famous Uffizi Gallery, home to Botticelli’s ‘The Birth of Venus’ and Caravaggio’s ‘Medusa’, I came across our very own Jerry Brotton and his publication ‘A History of the World in Twelve Maps’. I couldn’t believe it! My travelling partner and another tourist we had met at the gallery didn’t believe me either that I had been taught by the man himself however on the first page it read ‘Professor at Queen Mary, University of London’. Of course I had to buy the book, and thoroughly enjoyed reading it on the train between Florence and Venice. I could hear Jerry’s voice as I read to myself, recognising his turn of phrase. No matter where you go in the world, QM apparently will go with you!
Alex Legge
Thanks to QM & Air Supply, I now work for artists & organisations that I admired & studied during my time there. Love you QM! #SEDstories ❤️
A post shared by Rima 🌲🌳 uk. (@pardonmywritings) on
Eleanor Rose Morrissey
One of my best QM memories: seeing Antony & Cleopatra with brilliant friends at the Globe, laughing as the heavens opened on us in true British style #theatre #shakespeare #theglobe #britishweather
Jessica Kendrixs
Studying English Literature i knew I would come across amazing novels written in periods beyond my life time and in places I never knew existed. I was always amazed by the novels I learnt each year and the beautiful stylistic techniques that each author individually created towards their work. However one book that resonated with me was My Place by Sally Morgan that I studied in Postcolonial Literatures in second year. The autobiography explores the young protagonist Sally telling us about the moment she discovered her aboriginal heritage, and understanding the decisions her mother and grandmother took to provide a safe home for their children. This book explores relationships, something I realised was so important during university, and female empowerment which I am pleased to have discovered a great department that continues to strengthen women (and men) to reach their greatest potential. Sally had an amazing support network with her family and I realised that I have one too with not only my family but the friends I made at university and also in the academics I met across the three years. I learnt a lot about myself but also others around me. My fellow students all see the literary works differently and it amazed me that one book can create hundreds of perspectives. I started university young and naive and looking for a place to belong. Sally at the end of the novel had discovered her place within a community that many have ignored for decades. She cemented the history of Aboriginals and the stolen generations into the public sphere, with Australian school children reading her book in their school curriculum. I discovered my place within the amazing SED community and the school of english and drama have cemented this new breadth of understanding and knowledge into my mind and heart. #SedStories
Zaina Brabani
Books, glorious books! One of the best things about studying English Literature is that so much of our time is spent just reading books, something that we would do as a pastime! Seeing some of the books I’ve read during my time at Queen Mary really makes me realise how far we’ve all come. You don’t always realise how day by day, your thinking is changing, but when I look back at the kind of thinker I was when I first came to QM and how my thinking is now, I realise that a lot has changed.
Besides the books, I love how I’m surrounded by teachers and students who love books and literature just as much as I do, and most of all, that they love to think critically. On no other course could you possibly have passionate, heated discussions about fictional characters! My best memories are having really meaningful discussions which left me thinking long after the lecture/seminar is over. Thank you to all the staff and students who make SED what it is and who have helped me to give expression to my thoughts, feelings and ideas through your inspiration in lectures and seminars.
Lucy Sofrouniou
There was so much reading to do, my cat learnt to become a living bookmark.
Anna Lily Dean
Rosie Vincent
Drama at Queen Mary has taught me to never apologise for my own work. If you come to study here, expect to make pieces that you’re embarrassed to tell your mum about but excited to tell your friend about. For example – An exhibition showcasing 52 vomit images captured on the streets of London. A.k.a. ‘London is Vomit’. ???????????????? #sedstories #bacstransfer #londonisvomit #qmul
Francesca Cross
After spending a year abroad, being a part of QMTC really helped me settle back into QM and meet new people. Being on the committee added a whole new dimension- it was like a full time internship, with all the responsibility that comes with it. Despite countless moments of thinking ‘oh my gosh, Edinburgh isn’t going to happen. I’m going to be the first treasurer in 22 years to not take everyone to Edinburgh fringe’, I managed it! The best thing about the trip was the people. We truly are like a family and certainly made a million memories. I promised myself that during my MA at QM I wouldn’t get involved with QMTC because of the time it takes up but I’m not sure I’ll be able to resist! Now over with the cringey stuff! Let’s end with a few of my favourite quotes from the fringe: ‘I’m on me holibobs’, ‘you can basically do everything’, ‘wooooow’. ❤ u guys xxx #SEDstories #fringe #Edinburgh #qmul #QMTC
Peter Whitehead
The time that the Arthurian Lit lecture had GoT spoiler slides. And that time Run the Jewels explained Hegel. Brilliant. #sedstories https://t.co/EJxuACdk5W
Here’s some great jobs you can apply for in August!
Don’t forget if you’re a recent graduate or current student you can book an appointment with our careers team to talk through what’s out there, check your CV or application form or even have a mock interview.
This year we’re delighted to see so many of our students and friends up at the world’s biggest arts festival.
QMTC
This year Queen Mary Theatre Company is taking 4 shows up to Edinburgh Fringe for 2017 until 26 August 2017.
Dead Men Tell No Tale: Join Captain Dreadfist and his crew as they attempt to awaken the mighty Titan of the Depths from his slumber.
Space Dogs The true story of Russian stray dogs, Strelka and Belka, lifts off in this historical comedy-drama chronicling the Space Race during the Cold War.
WAGGO The bizarre high-school experience no-one can relate to…WAGGO is an energetic, absurd, coming-of-age comedy.
Givin’ It Some ‘Givin’ It Some’ is a fun, fast-paced, dirty, edgy, enlightening insight into the taboos of sex – today.
At graduation we honour the work of people in our field with Honorary Degrees and Fellowships.
This year there were a record four people given these honours:
Kazi Ruksana Begum – Fellowship
Kazi Ruksana Begum is the producer of A Season of Bangla Drama, a dazzling festival of Bengali culture. Working with QMUL she has helped the university connect with the local Bengali community and form partnerships with students, researchers, policymakers and artists.
Peggy Shaw – The award of Doctor of Letters (DLitt)
New York born Peggy Shaw (Actor, writer and producer) is one of the most important feminist and lesbian perfomance makers of the 20th and 21st centuries. She and Lois Weaver (QMUL) have made work together since the 1970s including the WOW (Women One World) festival and with their theatre company Split Britces.
Virginia Simpson – Fellowship
Virginia (Gini) Simpson is an arts strategist who hot houses new artists through initiatives such as ‘The Sick of the Fringe’. She was Head of Learning and Participation at the Barbican, Head of Media Arts at SPACE in Hackney and has been a pioneer in bringing new-media arts to the forefront of the creative industries.
Daljit Nagra – Fellowship
Daljit is one of contemporary Britain’s most successful, well-known, and critically acclaimed poets. His fourth collection British Library, was published by Faber and Faber in 2017.
Graduating from University can be a very exciting and sometimes scary time.
We’re here to help with some advice about your next steps including jobs and further study.
References
Your tutors can give references but please remember to ask their permission before putting any details in a job application etc. Their email addresses are in their staff profiles.
Just extended until 4 September 2017 at 17:00 BST.
We are inviting current SED students and graduates to share their experience of studying at Queen Mary through video and photography to win some big cash prizes!
Theme
What’s your SED story? Film yourself or take a photo of something that represents your time studying at Queen Mary. If using a photo, please include a caption with your story.
Prizes
Grand prize winner will win £250
5 x highly commended prizes of £50
10 x runner up prizes of £10
Each winner’s work will be used to show the School to the world and will be exhibited in a prominent location within the ArtsOne building.
How to enter
Simply use the hashtag #SEDstories with your picture or video on Twitter or Instagram or use the online form below.
The competition now closes on Monday 4 September 2017 at 17:00 BST. Please note that the School of English and Drama reserves the right to use all entries to promote the School on the Queen Mary and SED website, in publications, on School and Queen Mary Social Media accounts with credit of course.
Entries must be made by using the hashtag #SEDstories or using the entry form. You can only enter if you’re a current School of English and Drama at QMUL student or alumnus. Entries must be received by the closing date 31 July 2017 at 17:00 BST extended until Monday 4 September 2017 at 17:00 BST. You can enter as many times as you like and each photo or video will count as one entry. Winners will be selected by a panel of judges and you will be notified by email or direct message on social media if you win. Please note that the School of English and Drama reserves the right to use all entries to promote the School on the Queen Mary and SED website, in publications, on School and Queen Mary Social Media accounts with credit of course.
