Selected Professional Practice & Industry Work
Afters (Director/Creator) Site-specific audio and dance work (will be presented in 2027)
Mourning is a Muscle, (Dramaturg/Outside Eye) Barry Fitzgerald, Carlow Arts Festival and Dublin Fringe (2026)
DYKE Systems Ltd. (Early development) Fag Packet, Edinburgh Fringe and UK Tour (The Stage’s Fringe Five) (2025)
Section 28 and Me, (Dramaturg/Outside Eye) Tom Marshman, Bristol Old Vic and UK Tour (2024)
Next Big Thing (Director) English Touring Theatre, workshop (2023)
GROOVE (Director/Creator), Shoreditch Town Hall and Contact Theatre Manchester (2022)
BRIGHTER (Artistic Director) online platform (2021)
And The Rest of Me Floats (Director/Creator), Bush Theatre and Birmingham Rep (2019)
Affection (Director/Creator), The Glory London, Stans Café Birmingham (2016)
Awards, Recognition & Media Profile
GROOVE was nominated for three OffWestEnd Awards.
And The Rest of Me Floats is published by Oberon Books and is included in the V&A National Video Archive of Performance.
Ben has received regular funding awards from Arts Council England and National Lottery as well as funding for impact and research.
Media coverage of Ben’s work and advocacy has appeared in publications including The Guardian, The Stage and Time Out.
Notable Articles:
lgbtq theatre is telling important stories, i-D 2017
Drag kings, karaoke and watermelons: smart new celebrations of queerness, The Guardian 2019
Podcast Appearence:
Making It with Temi Wilkey – Outbox Theatre Talks about Devising with Autobiography & LGBT+ Stories
Industry Collaborations & Partnerships
Professional and producing partnerships have included:
- National Theatre
- Birmingham Rep
- Bush Theatre
- Royal Court Theatre
- Bristol Old Vic
- Leeds Playhouse
- Southbank Centre
- English Touring Theatre
- Contact Theatre Manchester
- The Yard Theatre
Advisory and consultation work has included engagement with:
- National Theatre
- Spotlight
- Equity
Ben is associate artist with Prime Theatre
International collaborations have included projects and teaching activity with Zurich University of the Arts, Victorian College of the Arts (Melbourne), Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and Tufts University.
Teaching & Mentorship
Ben teaches across acting, theatre-making and performance programmes, with particular specialisms in:
- Actor training
- Devising and collaborative theatre-making
- Directing
- Dramaturgy
- Queer performance
- Practice research
- Professional development for performers and theatre-makers
Ben’s teaching draws on professional practice and research, integrating contemporary industry contexts with conservatoire training. Prior to joining Rose Bruford College, he held a range of academic leadership positions at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, including Programme Leader for BA Acting (Collaborative and Devised Theatre).
Ben has directed extensively in the conservatoire sector including new writing, reimagined classics, devised work, site-specific work, industry showcases and new musicals. He has commissioned new works from Kandinsky, Tonderai Munyevu, Pappy Show and has programmed and collaborated with directors including Neil Bartlett, Jaz Woodcock-Stuart, Daniel Bailey, Ellen McDougall and Philip J Morris.
Ben has delivered masterclasses and workshops for organisations including the National Theatre, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, University of Warwick, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and Chichester Festival Theatre. He has curated talks and workshops from leading voices in the industry including the Artistic Directors and casting directors from The National Theatre, The Royal Court, The Royal Exchange, Bush Theatre and Southbank Centre.
Research & Knowledge Exchange
Ben’s research focuses on queer theatre-making, dramaturgy, actor training and practice research.
His doctoral research, Dance-floor Dramaturgy: New Approaches to Making Theatre Queerly (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, 2024), makes an intervention into practices of theatre-making, dramaturgical frames, methods of audience engagement, and deeper representation of queer narratives and performers.
Much of this research is embedded within his work as Artistic Director of Outbox, where practice and research are developed in dialogue. Outbox make performance work that is transdisciplinary and intergenerational. Ben is currently developing Afters, an audio, dance and film installation which re-animates closed queer spaces in towns in the UK.
Ben regularly advises and contributes to discussions around inclusive casting practices and has worked with Spotlight, Equity and The National Theatre. He co-led the work on the Trans Casting Statement which gained national press attention.
Ben also writes about acting and is particularly invested in inclusive, expansive and cutting-edge approaches to conservatoire training. This is reflected in the curriculum and programming at Rose Bruford College.
Ben’s work contributed to the REF2021 Impact Case Study Improving Social Equality in the British Performing Arts Industries.
And The Rest of Me Floats: Capturing Queer Potentiality through a Dance-floor Dramaturgy (REF 2021 Practice Research Submission).
Publications / Research Outputs (selected)
And The Rest of Me Floats: Capturing Queer Potentiality through a Dance-floor Dramaturgy (REF 2021 Practice Research Submission)
Buratta, Ben (2020) Dance-Floor Dramaturgy: Unlearning the Shame and Stigma of HIV Through Theatre. Theatre Topics, 30 (02). pp. 57-68. ISSN 1054-8378
Ben has presented research at international conferences across four continents, including:
- International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR)
- Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)
- Drama HE
- Utopian Studies Society Europe
- Theatre and Performance Research Association (TAPRA)
Academic Qualifications
PhD, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (2024)
Dance-floor Dramaturgy: New Approaches to Making Theatre Queerly
MA Actor Training and Coaching (Distinction), Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (2007)
Additional
External Examiner, BA (Hons) Acting, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2025- 2029)
External Examiner, BA (Hons) Acting, University of Winchester (2021-2025).
Review Panel Member for BA Acting, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2024)
Trustee, Prime Theatre (2014-2019).
Associate Artist, Prime Theatre. (2014- present)
Available for research supervision in areas including actor training, theatre-making, dramaturgy, queer performance and practice research.