The College has a vibrant, robust and inclusive research culture that reflects our institutional distinctiveness: vocational, diverse, and collaborative. Practice-based and scholarly research is the focus of all undergraduate and postgraduate training.
An international approach to research
Our perspective is international and multicultural, with the potential for intercultural performance in both discipline-specific and interdisciplinary contexts. Practice-based and scholarly research resulting in a variety of outcomes is complemented by research that informs pedagogy or interfaces reciprocally with the theatre industry.
Research activity located in six centres
- The Stanislavski Centre (see below)
- Rose Bruford International Research Centre for Voice and Speech
- Clive Barker Research Centre for Theatrical Innovation
- Multicultural and Intercultural Performance Research Centre
- New Writing Research Centre, which embraces new work, translation and adaptation
- Technology and Performance Research Centre.
- Several of the centres are connected to a number of Special Collections – for example the unique David Bolland Kathakali Film Archive, housed in the Learning Resources Centre – which serve as both primary and secondary sources for research
- The scholarly journal New Theatre Quarterly is published by Cambridge University Press in association with the College.
As a specialist college of theatre and performance, our facilities provide an extensive laboratory for practice-based research. We collaborate with artists, practitioners, scholars, cultural commentators, theatre journalists and critics, companies, venues, arts organisations, conservatoires, colleges, universities, and research networks throughout the UK, Ireland, Continental Europe (east and west), India and North America.
Research is shared through the College’s annual Symposium, annual Cultural Industries Fair, conferences, expert seminars (such as with Robert Lepage above), exhibitions, installations and performances, and outside the institution in appropriate events, venues, forums and publications.
The Stanislavski Centre
The Stanislavski Centre at Rose Bruford College is a unique initiative within the UK to create a home for both academic research and practice/performance events based upon the work of Konstantin Stanislavski. The Centre, which is located within the college’s Learning Resources Centre, houses a collection of books and other printed material (mostly in the Russian language), a photographic archive of more than 200 images and a small collection of material on video and DVD, most of which relate to Stanisla’s own productions at the Moscow Art Theatre. The Routledge/Theatre Arts Archive, core research material for Routledge’s new Stanislavski edition, is also housed in the Centre.
Originally conceived by Professor Jean Benedetti (former Principal of the College, an internationally renowned expert and author of several major books on Stanislavski’s work), the Centre has hosted a series of important lectures, workshops and other events, and is currently planning a future programme of workshops, lectures, performances and master-classes.
The Centre’s materials are available to all staff and students, and other scholars may gain access to the collection for research purposes by prior arrangement.
, Director
Advisory Board
The Stanislavski Centre’s work is guided by an Advisory Board, which includes some of the w’s most distinguished academics and practitioners working in this area.
Current board members inlude:
Prof Jean Benedetti (Hon Patron)
Prof Anatoly Smeliansky
Prof Sergei Tcherkasski
Prof Richard Hornby
Prof Laurence Senelick
Marie-Christine Autant Mathieu
Katie Mitchell
Declan Donnellan
www.stanislavskicentre.org.uk
For more information on the Research Centres, their projects, researchers, associates, outcomes and related activities, visit the College’s research website:
Theatre Futures
Director of Research:
Professor Nesta Jones
Senior Research Fellow:
Professor Simon Trussler
Visiting Research Fellow:
Dr Aleks Sierz
www.inyerface-theatre.com
Research Assistant:
Andrew Eglinton BA, MA
Come Together Festival: tradition, innovation and change
Our annual Symposium focuses on student and staff research, putting practice on display and demonstrating how it lies at the heart of all artistic endeavours at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. Over the years Symposium has become a College fixture, a time to stop and reflect on how we can make theatre that is adventurous and surprising, and a time to experiment to the full. It is also a seasonal rite of passage for our students.
Symposium 2010 heralds the third and final year of our research project The Festival Adventure. We are reflecting on the notion and purpose of 'festival' with particular regard to celebrating diversity and building communities. To investigate further we have extended the week to include a Community Day on Saturday when people from Sidcup and neighbouring areas will join our festivities.
Day 1
Sir Richard Eyre, former Artistic Director of the National Theatre and a noted director of stage, film, opera and television, was the keynote speaker at the opening of the Symposium on Monday afternoon in the Rose Theatre. Sir Richard was invited by Dr Paul Fryer, Director of the College’s Stanislavski Research Centre. He spoke to a packed house about the values of enduring as a performer and theatre artist, about his own struggles early on as an actor and the reasons he turned to directing instead. In a moving and highly eloquent presentation, Eyre uncovered aspects of his own working methods as a director and adaptor of dramatic material, talking about the shaping process that happens in the rehearsal room with actors, designers and technicians. The rest of day saw devised work, such as We Are Not Happy Clowns performed by company Fake ID; Apocryphal Theatre’s Because then I would be safe.., about fame culture; Mirabai, a new opera by Barry Seaman and Marian Al-Roubi; a variety of performance and technical workshops and lighting installations including The Faery Solar System in The Rose Theatre and the Balloon Effect in the College grounds. The day ended with a ‘silent disco’ in the Symposium Rainbow Room.
Day 2
British playwrights Simon Stephens, Sarah Beck, Atiha Sen Gupta, Lucy Kirkwood and Joy Wilkinson talked about plays and playwriting in the Spiegel Space, chaired by RBC Visiting Research Fellow, Dr Aleks Sierz. In the evening Simon Stephens' powerful play Herons played to a packed audience as did In a Thousand Pieces the award-winning verbatim drama on women forced into the British sex trade by the all female The Paper Birds Theatre Company. The Spoils, 'a simultaneous performance project' written by Steven Dykes with an original musical score by Paul Englishby, was streamed live around the world as it unfolded in real time across different rooms in Lamorbey House.
Workshops on performance, puppetry, drawing, composing, silent movie music, African dance, drag kings & drag queens, kinetic arts and puppets dominated the day’s studio events. Rose Bruford College students also presented their work under the guidance of Punchdrunk and Ynopsis theatre companies. Punchdrunk returned to the College following its magical installation inspired by John Masefield’s poem ‘The West Wind’ at last year’s Symposium.
Day 3
Complicite, on a surprise visit, ran an inspiring performance workshop led by Douglas Rintoul. Over the past three days, Bijou Cinema showed ‘shorts’ during the lunch hour and in the evenings longer films were projected on Lamorbey House’s façade creating an open-air cinema. The Lecoq-trained Theatre Ad Infinitum presented its latest piece, Odyssey, a reworking of Homer’s ancient Greek myth directed by Nir Paldi and performed by award-winning George Mann. The show was met with rapturous applause in The Barn Theatre. Harvey Grossman, renowned for his knowledge and personal friendship with historic theatre genius Edward Gordon Craig, came from Antwerp to give one of his unique Craig workshops. There was strong Kantor-inspired work in Oedipages by European Theatre Arts (ETA) students under the direction of Andrea Cusumano and in the presence of the legendary Richard Demarco (who first brought Kantor and his Cricotcompany to the Edinburgh Festival in the 1970s). Stanislavski and Chekhov featured in many events on day three including how to teach Stanislavski from a panel of case study experts; designer/academic Professor Christopher Baugh talking about Chekhov’s theatre and house in Yalta; a talk on post-Stanislavskian acting by Alessio Bergamo and a delightful performance of Chekhov’s On the Harmfulness of Tobacco by Philip Lowrie. Ian Rickson, formerly Artistic Director of The Royal Court Theatre, took students through a workshop on Chekhov’s The Seagull in the Rose Theatre. In the Barn Theatre Roddy Maude-Roxby brought three trunks of masks to manipulate and turn into play.
A feminist and post-feminist perspective on Women, Gender and Performance came from Sue Parrish of Sphinx Theatre, Jemma Macdonald, performer and Artistic Director of The Paper Birds Theatre Company, academic Dr Susan Croft, who curated the exhibition “Performing Revolutions” in The Barn Gallery, part of her Unfinished Histories research project on British alternative theatre, and the great stand-up theatre artist Claire Dowie (who also gave one of her unique workshops). Everyone loved the delicate shadow play and physical theatre work of Filskit Theatre’s The Living Canvas. Outside, there was tent theatre and a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party installation from Pocket Watch Productions. A fantastic lighting rig and system was the backdrop for bands The Kid Jones and Joey Suave, who ended the day’s Fest in the Rainbow Tent.
Day 4
As a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland grounded flights across Europe, Symposium was blessed with a backdrop of smooth and sunny weather, helped along by the likes of Shakespeare and Caribbean theatre. Lyn Darnley, Head of Voice, Text and Artistic Development at The Royal Shakespeare Company took participants through the purpose and energy of Shakespeare’s language. This was followed by a launch of the Rose Bruford International Research Centre for Voice and Speech and the Voicing Shakespeare Research Project. Rounding this out was The Shakespeare Band, experimenting with the Bard’s verse set to music—percussion and jazz, in particular. The result was a brilliant performance and lots of jamming with famous speeches and scenes. On visit from Jamaica throughout the week was the distinguished Eugene Williams, Artistic Director of the School of Drama at Edna Manley College in Kingston. His masterclass resulted in a compelling production later in the evening in The Rose Theatre about the murder of children with a great performance by Carol Lawes. A Caribbean party and light show then erupted in the College courtyard to round out the themes of verse and Jamaica. All in the memory of the great Jamaican playwright Trevor Rhone (scriptwriter for the film The Harder They Come), who died this year and was an early graduate and Fellow of Rose Bruford College.
Elsewhere things got physical as physicality in public places, kinaesthetics, Capoeira, intercultural performance training, salsa and African dancing got everyone on their feet and moving to a beat. Late at night there was limbo dancing in the Courtyard. And the beat could also be heard in the Sound Studios of the College where scoring for silent films continued alongside a workshop on writing good music with computers.
Although world class director, Deborah Warner, was not able to attend due to touring commitments, and Graeae Theatre and Andi Watson, Radiohead’s lighting designer, were prevented from coming for other reasons, the legendary company Forkbeard Fantasy, put animation, puppetry, film, sound and much else together to show how multimedia, at its best, is pure interaction. Wooden Fingers again played on the lawn. The Adventures in Drawing project continued to astound and make believers out of those who thought they could never draw a line.
Hot playwright Dennis Kelly delighted a packed Spiegel Space with tales of his astounding rise as a writer through mean adversity. Companies from within the College put on performances of Rocinante! Rocinante! and Looking for Hannah, and students and young artists who made a recent trip to India presented the results of their Rokeya Project, which examined the significant but largely unknown contribution of the early Bengali feminist writer Rokeya Sakwhat Hossain.
Day 5
Tradition, innovation and change have been the themes of this year’s Come Together Symposium. And we had all three on day five, the final day of Symposium.
As was the case all week, the day began slowly with everyone in workshops, including representatives from other institutions around the UK who gathered to discuss the Changing Curriculum - a coming together of the teaching tribe. But this was also a day about bringing the work of the week together into finished performances: all the mechanical theatre boxes and displays were wheeled out into the central Courtyard for a final check and then a captivating walkabout of the machines. Two extraordinary scenographic and lighting exhibits mesmerised audiences: Project S, with its criss-cross lighting extravaganza in a small studio space; and Invisible Ink, by Caroline Evans and Hansjorg Schmidt, a piece that used mirrors and perspective to create a miniature, reflective dream theatre of great delicacy. Lighting and sound and new approaches to technology featured throughout the week.
The silent movie music workshop, conducted by the inimitable Arun Ghosh (whose Quintet played in the Rainbow Room on Tuesday evening), set itself the task of providing a score to a 1920s German silent animated ‘shadow puppet’ film. Rock, jazz, cabaret and Balinese rhythms all mixed together with just a hint of Kurt Weill. This new underground art form now moved above ground and we could all see the wonders of music and image marrying in the dark. Also coming together was the work of OBRA Theatre resident at Au Brana, and the collaborative work of Ynopsis Theatre and Les Videographes’ Company (together with RBC students). These young, vibrant theatre makers are carving out new performance territory. Y nopsis’ piece, Deambulation, collided accident, mystery and confrontation into a memorable public spectacle.
The big talk today was provided by Stage Manager extraordinaire Sue Banner, who, in conversation with Mark Simpson, discussed how she has moved into large scale events management, running for example, the Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations up and down the avenue and in the skies above Pall Mall. A thrilling example of a high flying career that all our SMs should strive for. Other career talks took place elsewhere on campus.
The entire College gathered together in the afternoon to watch Third Year Actors and Actor Musicians preview the Showcase they will do before the Industry next week at the Soho Theatre. Funny, eclectic, musical and sexy, this Showcase, like others in past years, sets a new standard for Drama Schools.
As evening fell Simon Stephens’ Herons received a repeat performance, there were Whispers from a Wandering Tent, a devised piece for actors and puppets by Smoking Apples, a Symposium quiz, more Salsa and African dance until “The Whole Shebang” event brought the evening and Symposium to a finale with music, even more dance and unabashed revelry.
Director of Research and Symposium curator, Nesta Jones, presided over the closing ceremony and we all await, with great anticipation and excitement, next year’s event. But first...we have tomorrow’s Community Day organised by Kieron Vanstone.
Sincere thanks to all the crew and students who worked so hard to make Symposium a great success, despite volcanic eruptions in Iceland, home of our Student Union President whose voice was heard all week announcing events.
OUR STUDENTS PICK THEIR ‘BEST OF THE FEST’:
‘I'm sorry that Ian Rickson did not want observers in his workshop on The Seagull because it was absolutely amazing! By far the best thing all week. I feel so privileged to have been a part of it. My vote for best bit goes to that.’ – Javan Hirst
‘The highlights for me this week has to be either the installation by Apocryphal Theatre in the Barn on Monday about ‘celebrity’ or Tuesday's performance by Richard Sadler of Alan Bennett's Playing Sandwiches. Both were flawless. I spent a good two hours in the installation. The stand up comedy lecture and pastel drawing classes are also well worth a mention.’ – Andrew Read
‘It would have to be both the performances by the Wooden Fingers company. They were absolutely amazing, entertaining and so creative- the music I enjoyed in particular.’ – Alex ETA1
Article from The Stage 26/04/10
Nil by Mouth?
Last year the Society for Theatre Research commissioned a survey of the many projects, complete and under way, to create a spoken record of theatre history. It turns out that there are a surprising number of folk out there gathering vivid stage memories before they disappear, from performers, practitioners and plain old audience members. The survey’s compiler, Susan Croft, came up with details of no less than 40 existing projects, ranging from the generously funded scheme run by the British Library and Sheffield University to collections of dusty tapes still sitting in someone’s attic. Preserving people’s theatre recollections in audio and video interviews is a growing field, and an important one.
Susan’s report raised a lot of questions about methods and tactics. It demonstrated very clearly that the field lacked a set of common values and precepts, while many new and enthusiastic researchers were taking up their microphones without knowing much about the mistakes and breakthroughs made by their predecessors.
The next step was for STR to call a one-day conference, organised by Susan, which would demonstrate some current examples of oral theatre history research and seek to bring some order to future efforts. This has just taken place at Rose Bruford College, as the final event in a remarkably crowded seven days of workshops and performances by and for the college’s students, Come Together. Following appearances during the week by a clutch of leading performers and playwrights, a very professional group of researchers gathered to swap ideas.
They heard about projects large and small: telling the history of Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre, gathering the life stories of leading stage designers, restaging the first stirrings of performance theatre in Wales, collecting the memories of those involved in the early development of Asian theatre in Britain, mapping the growth of the sixties Fringe – the list goes on.
What came out of the day and its final ‘where do we go from here?’ session was a series of questions rather than a set of easy answers. How does a new researcher find out about what has already been recorded, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication? What is the best equipment to use, audio and video? What should the prospective interviewee know about how their recollections are going to be used? Who holds the copyright in such interviews? Where should they be deposited to achieve maximum visibility? How are they to be preserved? Does anyone know of a good, cheap transcription service? When is some boffin going to produce voice recognition software equal in accuracy to the latest OCR (Optical Character Recognition) programmes?
A suggested way to work towards answering some of these questions was to set up an on-line forum, to which those with the most experience of these problems could contribute from their own experience. It could carry Which-style reviews of equipment and user recommendations, specimen forms to guide both interviewers and interviewees on their responsibilities and ownership of copyright, and ongoing news of new projects being set up, new interviews being added to existing projects. It might also carry a directory of experienced interviewers willing to offer advice, even mentoring, to those wishing to start in the field. Unless anyone out there knows of such a forum already in existence, the Society for Theatre Research will in the coming months look at the possibility of hosting it on its website str.org.uk, where you can already find a complete, downloadable copy of Susan Croft’s original research document.
The day ended with an example of living oral history, a lecture-performance by Cindy Oswin recalling her experiences as a leading performer in the early days of the Fringe. As well as appearing with many of the key groups of the period – often without her clothes – Cindy has since conducted a fascinating series of interviews with Fringe luminaries, which are available to be heard in the British Library Sound Archive.
Ian Herbert