8/3/2019 Dramatic launch for new Drama and Theatre research centre : 22/09/2009

1/2

1/24/11 Evernote Web

1/2https://www.evernote.com/view/754c07f1-831f-4e6c-a327-dc6121fd2a59?locale=en_US#n=754c0

Royal Holloway, University of London

Thursday, November 24 2011, 10:56 AM

More News >

Dramatic launch for new Drama and Theatre research centre :

22/09/2009

Dramatic launch for new Drama and Theatre researchcentre

A new international research centre has been launched

by the Department of Drama and Theatre at Royal

Holloway, University of London, which will provide

intellectual and structural support for research projects.

The Centre for International Theatre and Performance

Research was launched on 18 September with a sell-out

guest lecture by Professor Joseph Roach, from Yale

University, followed by theatrical demonstrations and

performance poetry in the Colleges unique Boilerhouse

Theatre.The Centre will help both staff and PhD students develop

critical thinking around topics focused on theatre and

performance with an international slant. It will also

provide domestic and international collaboration with

research centres, projects, local performing arts bodies

and their interpretive communities.

Professor Helen Gilbert will lead the new Centres flagship

project, Indigeneity in the Contemporary World:

Performance, Politics, Belonging, which has received

!2.36 million in funding from the European Research

Council (ERC) for the next five years. The projects

research team will explore the various meanings of

indigeneity, focusing on Australia, the Pacific Islands,

the Americas and South Africa. Researchers will examine

cultural representations and social practices in modes of

performance across a broad range of media, from film and theatre to political protests and festivals. They will

also host yearly symposia and conference events and develop an educational DVD and an international

exhibition.

Professor Roachs public lecture, The Return of the Last of the Pequots: Disappearance as Heritage, was a

major success. Attended by a diverse local audience as well as leading scholars from around the world who

were gathered for a symposium on Indigeneity the following day, it sparked engaging discussions on subjects

as diverse as mythology, philosophy and sociology. Professor Roach is Sterling Professor of Theatre andEnglish, as well as Director of the World Performance Project at Yale University. The lecture was chaired by

Professor Helen Gilbert and recorded on podcast.Professor Katie Normington, Royal Holloways Dean of Arts, comments, The Centre is an important strategic

innovation for the College. It brings together strands of work at Royal Holloway, such as performance,

ethnomusicology and post-colonial studies, and has the potential to bring together scholars and practitioners

from around the world.

The Centres launch was concluded with a selection of performances, which featured a demonstration of Core

Training techniques; the chanting and dancing of Noh Theatre by Royal Holloway PhD student Diego

Pellecchia and performance poetry from award-winning Aboriginal writer Dr Romaine Moreton. Alison Hodges

practice-based research into Eastern European-influenced Core Training techniques helps actors to developphysical processes. Alison, who is a Reader in Theatre Practice, has been successfully running her research

group at Royal Holloway since 2005.

8/3/2019 Dramatic launch for new Drama and Theatre research centre : 22/09/2009

2/2

1/24/11 Evernote Web

2/2https://www.evernote.com/view/754c07f1-831f-4e6c-a327-dc6121fd2a59?locale=en_US#n=754c0

To view the podcast of Professor Roach's talk, visit: http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2009/09/joseph-roach-

the-return-of-the-last-of-the-pequots-disappearance-as-heritage/

Back