Our Research Activities

Central hosts a number of research seminar series, events and lectures.

Practices and Processes is our ongoing seminar space for methodology-driven discussions of work-in-progress by our staff, visiting fellows, and other colleagues doing cutting edge research in the field. We also offer annual lectures by renowned practitioners, including the annual Theatre Workings lecture which has hosted (among others) Lee Hall, Dorinne Kondo, Dijana Milošević and Mark Ravenhill, as well as the annual Edward Gordon Craig Lecture, presented in association with the Society for Theatre Research, to hear from international practitioners in the field of design. In addition, Queer Shifts is an ongoing series of events as part of Queer Central engaging with LGBTQ voices and practices across and beyond theatre and performance.

Our annual Intersections Conference and our Collisions Festival are organised by the doctoral candidates at Central, and seek to engage with current aesthetic and conceptual discourses in performance research, not only to highlight the diverse research interests at Central, but also to host a range of international scholars from a variety of backgrounds and institutions, addressing points of intersection between disciplines, fields and modes of research.

In addition we regularly host conferences and colloquia on key areas in the discipline with external partners and collaborators.  These include the British Academy and Arts Council England-funded ‘Brexit Stage Left’ conference and festival (2019), ‘Granville Barker: The New Research’ (2019), ‘Systemic Crises in European Theatre’ (with the Goethe Institut in 2018), ‘Brexit the Stage: What’s Next for British Theatre?’ (with the V&A Museum in 2017), a Pablo Larraín film season (with the ICA and Network Releasing 2016), the ‘Performing Care’ symposium (2016), and ‘Thomas Ostermeier: Reinventing Directors’ Theatre and the Schaubühne Berlin’ (presented with the Universities of Kent and Essex 2014).