Research in Drama and Theatre Arts

Photo of drama noticeboard

Our department offers an exciting and stimulating environment for research, founded upon the expertise of its staff, a tradition of integrating research with teaching and performance work, and the availability of substantial archive and library resources.

Key areas of staff research are as follows:

Brian Crow

  • Brecht and Modern Epic Drama
  • African and postcolonial theatre
  • Black and Asian British theatre

Russell Jackson 

  • Shakespeare on screen
  • Representations of the theatre in film and in other media
  • 19th century British Theatre

Adam Ledger

  • Performance practice, especially acting/performer and directing methodologies
  • Devising
  • The Odin Teatret

Kate Newey

  • Victorian Literature and Culture
  • British Pantomime, 1837-1901
  • Women and Theatre
  • Victorian Theatre
  • Theatre Historiography

Caroline Radcliffe

  • Popular theatre and performance
  • Victorian and Edwardian theatre and performance
  • Historical performance practice (theatre and music)
  • Traditional forms and questions of authenticity.
  • Museum and heritage theatre
  • Remediation
  • Contemporary and historical intermediality including sensate performance
  • Music
  • Clog and step dance
  • Voice

Kara Reilly

  • Automata
  • Restoration Theatre
  • Gender/ Sexuality
  • Dramaturgy

Liz Tomlin

  • Contemporary performance in its cultural and political context
  • Performance techniques and devising strategies in contemporary performance and new writing
  • 20th and 21st century political and critical theory and  philosophy

Rose Whyman

  • Russian actor training, particularly Stanislavsky, Michael Chekhov, Meyerhold
  • The history of Russian theatre of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
  • The plays of Anton Chekhov
  • Actor-training and Alexander Technique

The research resources available to students include the substantial holdings of the university library (including the Noel Coward Collection), as well as the collections in Birmingham Central Library (including its world-ranking Shakespeare collection). In nearby Stratford, the Shakespeare Institute and the Shakespeare Centre are located - the latter holding the RSC's archives as well as exceptional holdings in other performance-related material.