I spent two weeks at the Mellon School of Theatre and Performance Research at Harvard University. I met inspiring people and had an incredibly fruitful time there. I am still processing the impact and outcome. It was very intense and certainly requires some time to think over what I learned and came away with. One thing I would say is that I acquired a new found respect for what we do within the field of performance and theatre. I will not go into the reasons as to why the subject is important, but being at Harvard and talking about the subject of performance for the entire time allows you to remember why we do it, what it does, how it can be used and its interdisciplinary qualities. One such project that caught my eye was the research being conducted by Kristin Flade which focuses on the artistic practices in Palestinian and Israeli societies, more information on Kristin's work can be found here http://www.applied-theatre.org/projects/good-pain-artistic-practice-conflict-zones. 

A summer programme like this really reminds you of the fantastic work that is continuously happening out there!

Last week I conducted an experiment at my departmental conference. I wanted to test out the role of audience in my on-going research for reconstituting material from document and memory. 

The audience were given envelopes which contained their role and instruction cards. Coupled with this was recorded audio that directly linked to what the audience were told to do, thus creating a visual to the memory heard. 

They became the enactors, embodying the performers and audience of the original. It was an interesting experiment with lots to think to about! I think it has inspired me to make something on a much larger scale with further audio. 

I am delighted to have been offered a place at The Mellon School of Theatre and Performance Research summer programme at Harvard this June. This is will be two weeks of seminars, workshops, performances and lectures. The overarching theme of the programme is "Locations of Theatre", which for me is an exciting topic as it opens up questions about the location of reconstituted performance in both an artistic and and academic framework. 

It will a brilliant opportunity to work and share ideas  with people from all over the world!

http://thschool.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k76089&pageid=icb.page386113
 

A glimpse into my work from the past six years. It is quite an exercise  - one of re-discovery.