LiSPA’s Research Philosophy

For the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008, the Lincoln School of Performing Arts (LiSPA) Link to homepage submitted eight researchers. LiSPA has developed a cogent research philosophy, resulting in distinct fields of research. There are three aspects to LiSPA’s research philosophy. These are acknowledgment and support of individual research excellence; individual research excellence in more than one field; and the need for synergies across faculties and institutions. LiSPA staff meet regularly within and across fields. Such meetings are arranged under the auspices of the Drama and Dance Research Group (DDRG). New LiSPA initiatives are organised under the auspices of the Centre for Innovation in Performing Arts (CIPA).

LiSPA’s Research Fields

Contemporary British and German Drama

This field is led jointly by the Head of LiSPA and Executive Director of the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, Professor Michael Earley link to staff page, Dr Diane Dubois, LiSPA’s drama programme leader, and Mr. Andy Jordan. Earley brings his experience as former publisher of drama with Methuen, and as Head of BBC Drama. Jordan brings his work with eminent scientist and playwright Carl Djerassi; he also writes and directs for radio. Dr Siân Adiseshiah from the English Departmment has published on the plays by Caryl Churchill, Ms Lisa Gaughan is writing her PhD thesis on contemporary British political comedy, and Professor Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe has applied findings in consciousness studies to specific aspects of contemporary British drama and written about the contemporary theatre form of Boulevard Comedy that is unique to Germany. There are synergies between the radio dimension of this field and Meyer-Dinkgräfe’s research into dubbing in Germany. Dr Kelly Jones has expanded insights into Renaissance drama to include work by contemporary British dramatists, such as Howard Barker. Dubois is involved with contemporary drama through her work as a playwright, her editorship of the Journal of Gender Studies and several years of intensive reviewing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Theatre and Consciousness

This field is led by Meyer-Dinkgräfe, with major contributions by Dr Sreenath Nair (particularly with his background in Indian theatre practice and aesthetics) and synergies with the work of Jones (future projects on madness, an altered state of consciousness, in Renaissance drama and beyond), Jordan (the context of science in consciousness studies), Mrs Kayla Bowtell (aspects of the performer’s presence through her dance creations), Dubois (the development of a character’s consciousness across the duration of a play, paralleling research into Frye and Campbell), Dr Rodreguez King-Dorset (issues of dance and dancer identity), Mr Andy McKay (film as a means of researching issues of the artist’s identity), Gaughan (aspects of the comedian’s identity), Adiseshiah (aspects of utopia in the work of Caryl Churchill), Dr Christopher Marlow from the English Department (aspects of friendship in Renaissance drama) and Dr Laurie Garrison from the English Department (aspects of science and sexuality in Victorian drama).

South Asian Theatre

The South Asian Theatre field is led by Nair, who brings his background in Indian martial arts and his access to material limited to his immediate family, highly relevant to drama and theatre, to the direction of this research focus, with a first major publication in 2007. Major contributions to this field have also been made by Meyer-Dinkgräfe (since his approach to theatre and consciousness is informed by models of consciousness originating in South Asia) – with links to the work of Earley and Bowtell (interests in the performer’s presence, and aspects of rural performance) and King-Dorset (issues of diaspora identity).

Rural Performance (Drama, Dance and Broadcasting)

Rural Performance is situated in the context of LiSPA’s new Dance programme. Under Earley’s leadership, a partnership has been formed with regional dance agency Lincolnshire Dance to develop vocational and practice-based work. One characteristic of LiSPA and its growing undergraduate and postgraduate programmes (from 2008) is how LiSPA and LPAC relate to the rural environment of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands. Research in Rural Performance will investigate performance-based work in drama, dance, outreach, sustainability and community engagement. LPAC is also working with Boston Borough Council and Blackfriars Arts Centre in Boston to formulate a research project creating a replica of a medieval round theatre for the annual performance of the fifteenth-century morality play The Castle of Perseverance and other medieval dramas.

All LiSPA staff welcome students interested in pursuing research leading to M.Phil. or Ph.D. degrees in the fields of their expertise.

Postgraduate Programmes