The Department of Drama explores how performance is made and shown in non-theatrical spaces, and the effects of aesthetic innovation, difficulty and risk on audiences and institutions. We particularly emphasise new approaches to the canon, either through reworkings of influential texts, the investigations of chronic illness through the archive, or oral histories that propose alternative histories of live art. We also publish collaboratively with artists.

Partnerships

• Live Art Development Agency

Programmes

• MA Live Art

Initiatives

• Split Britches Archive
• Live Art collections in Queen Mary Archives: Ian Hinchliffe(2017); Jon John (2018); and Katherine Araniello (2021).
• Performance and Politics in the 1970s, Whitechapel Gallery by Dominic Johnson and Nicholas Ridout with Live Art Development Agency, Acme Studios and Matt’s Gallery 
• Stage Left with Jen Harvie podcast series

Projects

• Julia Bardsley performance work
• Martin O’Brien performance work
• Reading Room_03 Bardsley v Maeterlinck / Social Insect Trilogy / part i. The Life of the Bee by Julia Bardsley
• Public Address Systems by Lois Weaver
• Last Gasp by Lois Weaver (Split Britches)
• Unexploded Ordnances (UXO) by Lois Weaver (Split Britches)

Publications

• It’s All Allowed: The Performances of Adrian Howells by Dominic Johnson
• Scottee I Made It edited by Jen Harvie
• Survival of the Sickest, the art of Martin O'Brien by Martin O'Brien (and David McDiarmid)
• The Art of Living: An Oral History of Performance Art by Dominic Johnson
• The Only Way Home Is Through the Show: Performance Work of Lois Weaver edited by Jen Harvie and Lois Weaver
• Unlimited Action: The Performance of Extremity in the 1970s by Dominic Johnson