Dr. Joe Parslow

Head of Research & Postgraduate Provision

Summary

Joe Parslow is a researcher, writer and producer whose works centres on queer performance, with a focus on popular forms such as drag, cabaret and burlesque. Their current research includes a project involving Artificial Intelligence and drag performance as part of The Zizi Project in collaboration with Me The Drag Queen and AI artist Jake Elwes, and a monograph in development exploring Contemporary Queer Hopes.

They also have a keen interest in ethics and integrity for arts and humanities research, and practice research in performance, and have worked collaboratively at intuitional and national levels to lead developments in these areas. This work is about championing arts and humanities research and work in small and specialist institutions, recognising diverse ecologies of research in the UK and beyond.

They have shared research across three continents at academic conferences (including TaPRA, ATHE and IFTR) and given talks at the Tate Britain, the Bush Theatre and the Queer Performers’ Network. They have previously been Co-Convenor of the Queer Futures Working Group at the International Federation of Theatre Research (2018-2022) and continue to support the Working Group and are currently a General member of DramaHE (formally SCUDD) Executive Committee.

They have worked and continue to work closely with London’s drag and cabaret performance scene through informal mentorship and occasionally still producing events alongside Me The Drag Queen, including the infamous Not Another Drag Competition.

Teaching Area

Joe has taught across applied and socially engaged theatre, research methods, ethics and integrity, queer and popular performance, critical theory and more. Currently, they are open to approaches for PhD study in any areas around queer performance, gender and sexuality in performance, and socially engaged practices.

Qualifications

PhD, When The Lights Are Shining On Them: Drag Performance and Queer Communities in London, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama MA, Sexual Dissidence in Literature and Culture, University of Sussex BA (Hons) Drama, Applied Theatre & Education, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Memberships

DramaHE Executive Committee

Publications

Books

Their Majesty: Drag performance and Queer Communities in London, Abingdon: Routledge

Book Chapters

‘Dragging the Mainstream: RuPaul’s Drag Race and Moving Drag Practices Between the USA and the UK’ in Edward, Mark & Stephen Farrier. eds. 2020. Contemporary Drag Practices and Performers: Drag in a Changing Scene, London: Bloomsbury, pp. 19-31
‘Come Hear The Music Play: The Politics of Queer Failure and Practices of Survival’ in Fisher, Tony & Eve Katsouraki. eds. 2019. Beyond Failure: New Essays on the Cultural History of Failure in Theatre and Performance(Abingdon: Routledge), pp. 79-93

Peer reviewed articles

2023 Kings, Queens, Monsters and Things: Digital Drag Performance and Queer Moves in Artificial Intelligence (AI), in Contemporary Theatre Review (Special Issue: What’s Queer About Queer Performance Now), 33(1-2): 128-48 (TaPRA Early Career Researcher Prize Special Mention, ATHE Outstanding Article Award Honorary Mention)

2020 ‘Not Another Drag Competition: From amateur to professional drag performance’, Performance Research, 25(1): 18-24

Selected Conferences and Talks

Parslow, J. ‘Drag at the End of the World, Or Making the Apocalypse Fabulous’, International Federation of Theatre Research, Manila, July 2024

Parslow, J. and Farrier S. ‘Drag Things: Crossing into Non-Human/Non-Organic Drag Performance’, Drag! Queer Crossings in Global Contexts, ICI Berlin, March 2024 and Performance Studies International (PSi), London, June 2024.

Parslow, J. ‘everything I know about queerness I learned through death, or Addressing Queer Hope), Theatre and Performance Research Association, Leeds, September 2023

Parslow J. ‘Dragging AI, or Every Drag Queen Only Ever Wants To Perform With Her Own Deepfake Doppleganger’ , International Federation of Theatre Research, Accra, July 2023

Parslow J. ‘everything I know about queerness, I learnt through death, or Tracing Queer Hope’, International Federation of Theatre Research, Reykjavik, June 2022

Parslow, J. ‘I’ll be Back… With A Cocktail: Digital Drag Performance and Queer Moves in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Theatre and Performance Research Association, Online, September 2021

Parslow, J. and Sherill Gow. ‘Mobilising the Feminist and Queer Potentialities of Children of Eden, Song, Stage and Screen Conference, Online, April 2021

Parslow, J. ‘The politics and ethics of queer pedagogies in actor training’, Association of Theatre in Higher Education Conference, Orlando, August 2019

Parslow, J. ‘Growing Up Is A Drag: Rural Childhood(s), Queer Adolescence(s), And Gay Bar(s)’, International Federation of Theatre Research, Shanghai Theatre Academy, July 2019

Parslow, J. ‘Don’t fuck with us fellas: Low Forms, Messy Forms, Forms of Survival’, Association of Theatre in Higher Education Conference, Boston, August 2018

Parslow, J. ‘Stop Relying on [Those Bodies]: Local Drag Performance & Migrating Drag Practices, International Federation of Theatre Research, University of Belgrade, June 2018

Selected Professional Practice

Joe has worked extensively in drag, cabaret and queer nightlife in London as a producer and general drag performers assistant, taking on multiple formal and informal roles in these settings. Work produced ranges from monthly cabarets with USA-based performers from RuPaul’s Drag Race (203-2016), co-founding the bar and performance space Her Upstairs (2016-2018), co-producing drag training bootcamp Not Another Drag Competition (2016-present) and running large scale drag interventions at the Victoria and Albert Museum (2019, 2023). They continue to support drag and cabaret in their work through research, impact projects and knowledge exchange, as well as occasionally still getting stuck in and producing shows.

Additional Information

Email: [email protected]

Back to People

Useful links