Dr Joseph Dunne-Howrie

Area of Expertise

Joseph’s area of expertise centres around political, digital and participatory performance and is available for PhD supervision across these topics in addition to: performative writing, practice research paradigms, archives and performance documentation; performance art and live art, immersive theatre, intermediality, and interactive media; and postdramatic plays and site-based practice.

Qualifications

Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 2020-2022

University of Lincoln. PhD ‘Regenerating the Live: The Archive as the Genesis of a Performance Practice’, 2011-2015

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, 2012

University of Exeter. MA in Theatre Practice Distinction, 2008-2009

University of Exeter. BA (Hons) Drama 1st Class Hons. 2003-2006

Professional Practice

Joseph’s professional practice has seen him convene numerous conferences and events, including for the DocPerform and Gaming Democracy projects. He is a co-convener for the TaPRA working group Performance & New Technologies.

Joseph is a member of the steering committee for Hydrocracker, advising them on interactive and political theatre, and has a long-term collaboration with ZU-UK Theatre and Digital Arts company on projects including Audience as Document and the ACE-funded Elevate Labs – Body Brain Bingo. He has run practice research projects in Brazil, Greenland, and Finland.

He is the principal investigator on the interdisciplinary research project Gaming Democracy: Participatory Performance Strategies for Investigating Digital Far-Right Politics. This project explores the infiltration of extreme right-wing politics amidst the culture wars within the video game sector. You can follow @GamingDemocracy on X (formerly known as Twitter) for more information.

Joseph is writing Staging Free Speech: British Culture Wars and the Battle for Representation for the Palgrave Studies in Cultural Censorship series. It is the first monograph to investigate the theatrical materiality of the post-Brexit culture wars and examines how the identities of ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’ become present as political subjects through a repertoire of free speech acts in theatre, media, and politics.

Joseph maintains a blog on his website detailing his research work which you can read up on here – http://www.josephdunnehowrie.com/. You can also follow his work on Bluesky here – @drdrama.bsky.social.

External Duties

Joseph has previously taught at the University of East London, Mountview Academy and City, University of London.

He directed the DocPerform project with Dr Lyn Robinson at City, University of London from 2017-2021 https://documentingperformance.com/.

Joseph is also a reviewer for Palgrave Macmillan.

Publications

Conference Papers

Dreams of a Fourth World: Performance After Capitalism in the Work of Javaad Alipoor and Tim Crouch. TaPRA Annual Conference. University of Leeds, 30 August-1 September 2023

The Gaming Democracy Project: Virtual Democracy in the Age of Fascism IRL (In Real Life). From the Holodeck to the Metaverse: Interactive Speculative Narratives. Online, mixed reality, performing arts projects representing complex issues, addressing personal health and speculating about the future. Innovation Center of Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest, 10-12 November 2022

From Corporeal Flesh to Bio-Techno Hybrids: Internet Theatre and the Historical Consciousness of the Covid-19 Crisis. Changing Perspectives on Live Performance. Anglia Ruskin University (online), 8-9 October 2021

Internet Theatre: A Postmedia Analysis of To Be A Machine and Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran. IFTR Galway: Theatre Ecologies: Environment, Sustainability and Politics. University of Galway (online), 12-16 July 2021

Documenting Internet Theatre. Staging Viral Theatres. Viral Theatres Project, Free University, and the Humboldt University Berlin (online), 1 July 2021

Immersive Perspectivalism: Theatre in the Information Age. Zip-Scene. Analogue and Digital Immersive Spaces: Interactive Narratives – the Future of Storytelling and Immersion in Mixed Reality Mediums and Performing Arts. Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest, 10-12 November 2019

Immersive Perspectivalism: Theatre in the Information Age. Digital Performance and Documentation: Archives of Liveness and Absence. University of Galway, 24 October 2019

Communities of Crisis: Digital Spaces, Crisis Acting and Media Wreckage in The Destroyed Room. DRHA: Radical Immersions. Navigating between Virtual/Physical Environments and Information Bubbles. Watermans Arts Centre, 8-10 September 2019

Trans-Participation in the Infosphere. DocPerform 3: Postdigital. City, University of London, 16 May 2019

Towards a Post Immersive Manifesto. TaPRA: Immersive and Interactive Technologies and Live Performance VR/MR/AR Practices. University of South Wales, 6 April 2019

Invisible Spectacles. Critical Care: Audience in Immersive, Interactive and One-on-One Performance. London South Bank University, 31 March 2018

The DocPerform Project. Performance and Culture: Cities, Embodiments, Technologies. University of Malta, 7-9 March 2018

Secret Cinema and Hybridised Dystopias. TaPRA Annual Conference. University of Bristol, 5-7 September 2016

What is a Real Document, Anyway? 21 Century Research and Performance. University of Malta, 9-11 March 2016

Keeping Research Live. Intersections: Performance (…) Research. Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, 14-15 January 2016

The Live Has a Legacy. TaPRA: People and Processes: Behind the Scenes of Theatre and Performance. University of Manchester, 7 February 2015

Reimagining the Future Cityscape: How the Archive can Shatter the Olympic Dream. TaPRA Annual Conference. Royal Holloway, University of London, 3-5 September 2014

The Future of the Ruin. TaPRA Annual Conference. Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 4-6 September 2013

Encounters with Site, Memory and Performance: A Structured Discussion of Tracing the Pathway’s Methodology. Performing Documents. University of Bristol, 12-14 April 2013

Creating a Continuity of Performance Presence in the Archive. On Performativity. University of Wolverhampton, 14-15 June 2012

Navigating Kane’s City: Speakers in Crave as Fragments of Memory. Sarah Kane Symposium. University of Lincoln, 24 March 2012

Remembering the Past to Create the Future: The Audience as Document. Creative Exchanges: Performing Research. Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, 19-20 January 2012

Book Chapters

Hacking the Archives: The 2012 Olympic Legacy, Fun Palaces and Game Theatre. In Fryer, P. and Jones, N. (eds). Clive Barker and his Legacy: Theatre Workshop, Theatre Games. London: Methuen, 2022. www.doi.org/10.5040/9781350128507

Book Reviews

Performing Left Populism: Performance, Politics and the People. PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art. 46 (2), 2024 https://doi.org/10.1162/pajj_r_00715

Theater in a Post-Truth World: Texts, Politics, and Performance. Contemporary Theatre Review. 33 (4), 2024 https://doi.org/10.1080/10486801.2023.2257971

Theater of Lockdown: Digital and Distanced Performance in a Time of Pandemic. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 19 (1), 2023.  www.doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2023.2170625

Documenting Performance: The Contexts & Processes of Digital Curation and Archiving. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. Affiliated Issue TaPRA Performance and New Technologies Working Group: Inclusive Intermedialities, 16 (2), 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2020.1778840

Imagined Theatres: Writings for a Theoretical Stage. Drama Research 8 (1), 2018. https://www.nationaldrama.org.uk/drama-research-volume-09/imagined-theatres-writing-for-a-theoretical-stage/

Encounters with the Russian Avant-Garde. Stanislavski Studies. 5 (2), 2017. www.doi.org/10.1080/20567790.2017.1377933

Dramaturging Personal Narratives: Who Am I and Where is Here? Stanislavski Studies 4 (1), 2016. https://doi.org/10.1080/20567790.2016.1155367

Journal Articles

Internet Theatre and the Historical Consciousness of the Covid-19 Era. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 18 (1), 2021 https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2021.2005331

Networked Audience Participation: The Futurity of Post-Brexit Democracy in One Day, Maybe and Operation Black Antler (journal article). Studies in Theatre and Performance. Performance and The Right: Strategies and Subterfuges, 41 (1), 2021 www.doi.org/10.1080/14682761.2021.1964849

The Post-Immersive Manifesto (journal article co-authored with Jorge Lopes Ramos, Persis Jadé Maravala and Bart Simon). International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. Affiliated Issue TaPRA Performance and New Technologies Working Group: Inclusive Intermedialities, 16 (2), 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2020.1766282

Crisis Acting in The Destroyed Room. Performance Research. Staging the Wreckage, 24 (5), 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2019.1671720

Good Night, Sleep Tight (Remix) (journal article co-authored with Jorge Lopes Ramos and Persis Jadé Maravala). International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. Performance and VR Practice; New Work for New Environments, 14 (2), 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2018.1505385

Poor Traces of the Room: The Live Archive at the Library (journal article co-authored with Anna Makrzanowska). Performance Research. On Libraries, 22 (2), 2017. www.doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2017.1285574

The Beckett Collection at the University of Reading. Stanislavski Studies, 4 (3), 2016. www.doi.org/10.1080/20567790.2016.1234019

Stanislavski on Stage: The Benedetti Legacy (journal article). Stanislavski Studies, 3 (2), 2015. https://doi.org/10.1080/20567790.2015.1079046

The Archive is Present. Desearch, 3, 2013 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262179322_The_Archive_is_Present

Research Reports

Body Brain Bingo Evaluation: A Practice as Research Project Investigating Interdisciplinary Collaborations Between Academics, Artists and Activists Towards Projects Addressing Mental Health and Well-Being (research report co-authored with Jorge Lopes Ramos, Clare Qualmann and Persis Jadé Maravala). Available from: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/sites/culture/files/brain_body_bingo_evaluation.pdf, 2018

Mad Blud: A London Story (research report co-authored with Dominic Hingorani). Submitted to Theatre Royal Stratford East and the University of East London, 2011

Performing the Archive: Considering the Performing Arts Archive as a Tool and Provocation for Theatre Practice (research report). Submitted to JISC, 2011

Editorials

Is the World After All Just a Dream? (editorial co-authored with Lyn Robinson). Proceedings from the Document Academy, 5 (1), 2018 www.doi.org/10.35492/docam/5/1/1

Other Media

Pinkwashing Islamophobia in Performance. HowlRound Theatre Commons. 2024 https://howlround.com/pinkwashing-islamophobia-performance

There is Nothing Superficial About Performative Politics. Yorkshire Bylines. 2024  https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/there-is-nothing-superficial-about-performative-politics/

Turning Political Violence into Entertainment in Hate Radio. HowlRound Theatre Commons. 2023
https://howlround.com/turning-political-violence-entertainment-hate-radio

Hate Speech Allowed at the Battle of Ideas. Yorkshire Bylines. 2023 https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/society/hate-speech-allowed-at-the-battle-of-ideas/

How Javaad Alipoor’s Fourth World Trilogy Disrupts What We Think We Understand About History, Politics, and the Internet. HowlRound Theater Commons. 2023 https://howlround.com/how-javaad-alipoors-fourth-world-trilogy-disrupts-what-we-think-we-understand-about-history

Reality Theatre. International Arts Manager, 13 (8). 2017 https://internationalartsmanager.com/reality-theatre/

ZU-UK’s Directors on Artistic Leadership Post-Brexit. Theatre Bubble. 2017 https://www.theatrebubble.com/2017/04/zu-uks-directors-artistic-leadership-post-brexit/

Research Interests

Joseph takes an interest in a wide manner of research that includes but is not limited to: performance and gender; British socialism; class-based performance and working-class culture; inter-disciplinary and inter-textual performance; multimedia; and experimental dramatic narratives.