Program Overview

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Research profile

Theatre research programme at Brunel University London benefits from a dedicated performance centre, sitting at the heart of our creative community and housing a fully equipped main theatre and studio theatre as well as rehearsal and recording studios. Our proximity to central London allows you to engage with an exciting range of performance practices and venues as well.

Theatre embraces an expanding research environment which advances a transdisciplinary vision connecting artistic performance, dance, spoken, physical and musical theatre, playwriting, digital art, and performance design, along with critical cultural performance and postcolonial studies.

The Theatre team's research activities are organised around several key areas of contemporary performance and involve staff participation in a number of high profile research projects:

Physical theatre/dance, embodiment and performative relations with experimental poetry and writing practice

Performances of the body and experimental performance, interconnecting theatre and performance studies, anthropology, sociology, and gender studies

Intersections of bodies, cultures and identities in intercultural performance (including dance, critical race theory and contemporary South Asian dance)

The use of the voice in writing and experimental writing by women

Street theatre, British alternative theatre history, musical theatre, and intersections of gender and sexuality

Commemorative practices, spectatorship and public performance of collective identity in times of social change

Digital performance and digital cultures, and the intersections of interactive media technologies with immersive performance, wearable design, and digital scenographies

Neuroaesthetics and the aesthetic potential of digitized technology for performance (artificial intelligence, motion capture, 3D modelling and animation, biotechnology)

Find out about the exciting research we do in this area. Browse profiles of our experts, discover the research groups and their inspirational research activities you too could be part of. We’ve also made available extensive reading materials published by our academics and PhD students.

Learn more about research in this area.

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Browse the work of subject-relevant research groups

Comedy Studies

Performance, Cultures and Politics

Contemporary Writing

DAP-Lab

Performance and Ephemeral Sustainabilities in Public Space

Institute of Communities and Society

You can explore our campus and facilities for yourself by taking our virtual tour.