Year: 2018

English and Drama Newsletter – July 2018

Welcome to the July 2018 edition of our School of English and Drama newsletter.

Photo above is from the Women’s Voices in Parliament event in the Octagon on 13 June 2018. This was Lise Olson’s provocation on finding your authentic voice. Photo by Debbie Bragg.

Events

BOOK AHEAD

Show and Tell
Show and Tell
Wednesday 5, 12, 19 and 26 September 2018
18:00-20:00
Arts One Lecture Theatre, QMUL – Mile End

Inspiring TED style talks from top speakers from the arts and humanities aimed at young people aged 16-19, incoming Queen Mary students and teachers.

Register now

HIGHLIGHTS FOR JULY

Asking for a Raise
Asking for a Raise
Tuesday 3-Saturday 7 July 2018, 19:30
The Space, Isle of Dogs
Drama graduates Franciska Ery and Hugo Aguirre present their ‘verbose cyclical comedy ‘ about an office worker who dares to ask their boss for a raise.

Handle with Care
Handle with Care
Friday 6 July 2018, 19:00-23:00
Wellcome Collection, Euston
A free late event at Wellcome Collection around care featuring our very own Lois Weaver, Maggie Inchley and Daniel Oliver, associate artists Stacy Makishi and MA graduates, Mary Osborne and Emma Moller.

Join Facebook event

Refugee Tales

The Refugee Tales
Wednesday 11 July 2018, All day
Various locations

The Refugee Tales, which campaigns against indefinite immigration detention holds an annual walk in solidarity with refugees, asylum seekers and detainees. The walk, which is in collaboration with people who have experienced the UK asylum system, aims to reclaim the landscape of South East England for the language of welcome.

Taking Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales as a model, the walk is punctuated by contributions en route by writers. On 11 July the walk comes to east London. At Cable Street, Nadia Valman (English) will give a talk on the Battle of Cable Street, and at QMUL, the writer Iain Sinclair will give a lecture called ‘What the world is telling us. And why we won’t listen.’ (Wednesday 11 July, 12 noon, Arts Two Lecture Theatre).

Much Ado About Nothing + Shakespeare Beyond Borders
29-31 July 2018
Venice
The Centre for Global Shakespeare, in collaboration with Ca’Foscari University, Venice and the Venice Shakespeare Company, is staging a directorless production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing in Venice from 29-31 July. The cast includes professional actors from Australia, Italy, the UK, Germany, South Africa and the USA. The performances will be accompanied by a symposium on Shakespeare Beyond Borders on 30 July, which aims to bring practitioners and academics together in mutual conversation. There is still space to take part in the symposium. Tickets to the performance are free for participants.  Please contact David Schalkwyk at d.schalkwyk@qmul.ac.uk for further information.

FURTHER AHEAD

London is Vomit
Rosie Vincent: London is Vomit
Friday 3 August 2018, 18:45
Rich Mix London

As part of Rich Mix TAKEOVER, Drama graduate Rosie Vincent is regurgitating her ongoing photography project into a new performance. Comprised of over 200 photographs, London is Vomit continues to explore the sickness of the city whilst celebrating the resilience and endurance of the urban body.

News from the School

Vanity Fair

Isabel Rivers (English) has written a post on the Ecclesiastical History Society blog discussing Vanity Fair and the Celestial City: Dissenting, Methodist, and Evangelical Literary Culture in England 1720-1800.

David Wright (Drama technician)’s work in our motion capture studio was mentioned in this piece in the Guardian about Celestial Motion: a virtual dance with the stars.

Adrian Howells

Dominic Johnson (Drama) has been awarded The TaPRA Prize for Editing (Edited Collection or Special Issue) 2017 alongside collaborator Dee Haddon for their book It’s all Allowed: the Performances of Adrian Howells (Live Art Development Agency and Intellect, 2016).
Tiffany Watt Smith (Drama) was on Radio 3’s Free Thinking talking about love-sickness with clinical psychologist and author Frank Tallis. Listen here

Moa Johansson
Moa Johansson (Drama graduate) has been interviewed by To Do List on her performance tonight is the night baby and forever (but no recycling) at Paper Dress Vintage on 3 July. Read the interview here

Sarah Whitfield (Drama PhD Graduate) is launching her book Boublil and Schönberg’s Les Misérables on 23 July 2018.

No Dream is Too Big

People’s Palace Projects (Arts Organisation based at QMUL) update

The Verbatim Formula (pictured above) At the beginning of July, 14 young people from the borough of Wandsworth worked for a full weekend at Battersea Arts Centre together with Professor Maggie Inchley (Drama), Sylvan Baker and Sadhvi Dar (Business and Management) using verbatim techniques to make a performance that shares their experience of care services.

Stage 3 People’s Palace Projects’ new student theatre company at QMUL will be performing Stage 3, an immersive theatre experience that will involve the young people* in the Tafahum project in Tower Hamlets as participants. The production looks at the bureaucracy and power of the naturalisation system.
*Tower Hamlets A Team Arts participants, Youth Parliament, and youth in Tower Hamlets.

Two events on campus People’s Palace Projects also hosted a symposium Policy in Cultural Relations and also a Contemporary Narrative Lab. They’re partnering on the latter with the Financial Times, via journalist Robin Kwong, and Battersea Arts Centre to form a collaborative research project involving academics, artists, researchers and journalists.

Read more about these projects

Links


1. Wasafiri New Writing Prize deadline is next Friday.

2. Jen Harvie‬⁩ (Drama) reviewed ‘Fun Home’ on the ⁦‪BBC Radio 3 programme ‘Free Thinking’. The musical explores family, memory and sexuality and is currently running at the Young Vic in London. Listen here

Figs in Wigs

3. Drama graduates Figs in Wigs are doing a private sharing of their adaptation of Little Women, called Little Wimmin’ on Friday 6 July at Battersea Arts Centre.

Stories from Home
4. Kathleen McCarthy (School of Languages, Linguistics and Film) has organised this launch event of short films in the Octagon at Queen Mary as part of a project to promote heritage language use, as well as reconnect and increase cultural awareness across generations within the London Bangladeshi community. Find out more

People’s Palace Projects July 2018 Update: The Verbatim Formula and ‘Stage 3’ Immersive theatre

Here’s a quick update on 2 current projects from People’s Palace Projects an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation based at Queen Mary University of London.

The Verbatim Formula

In the beginning of July, 14 young people from the borough of Wandsworth worked for a full weekend at Battersea Arts Centre together with Prof. Maggie Inchley (QMSED), Sylvan Baker and Sadhvi Dar (QM Business and Management) using verbatim techniques to make a performance that shares their experience of care services. The workshops ended with a presentation open to the public, which had as audience members of the Department of Education, social workers Wandsworth Council Representatives,  artists and foster carers. Next up, the project is hosting its first University Summer Residency outside QMUL, in partnership with University of East London, engaging young people from Newham Council this beginning of July.

The Verbatim Formula is an creative action research project which is currently working with looked after children and young people, recording the words of participants and sharing them through performance. The process is being developed by Dr Sylvan Baker, Dr Maggie Inchley and Dr Sadhvi Dar at Queen Mary University of London’s Drama Department, Ms. Mita Pujara (evaluator) and produced by People’s Palace Projects, in partnership with the Greater London Authority Peer Outreach Team and funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Stage 3

People’s Palace Projects’ new student theatre company at QMUL will be performing Stage 3, an immersive theatre experience that will involve the young people* in the Tafahum project in Tower Hamlets as participants. The production looks at the bureaucracy and power of the naturalisation system. The performance will be presented as a space for dialogue between the performers and the participating young people and decision makers. The aim is to engage the participating audiences in a mock process of citizenship in order to generate conversations about the subject of migration, discrimination and belonging, which resonates with many of the issues raised by the young people at the Tafahum project.  Some of the young people have experienced, or are experiencing, the complex immigration process. This production will address the process of being categorized based on race, age and socio-economic background (class), placing participants in positions that question their perceptions of power and powerlessness. This production is strongly linked to young people’s sense of belonging and citizenship rights.

*Tower Hamlets A Team Arts participants, Youth Parliament, and youth in Tower Hamlets.

Find out more and sign up to PPP mailing list

 

 

Results Day, Confirmation and Clearing 2018 FAQ – School of English and Drama

Congratulations if you’ve already got your offer and are coming to study with us. Good luck with your results – you should hear from us on 16 August!

If not, don’t worry we’re here to help you with early clearing from 5 July, on A-Level results day on 16 August and throughout the summer with our dedicated Clearing and ConfirmatPreview Changes (opens in a new window)ion hotline.

School of English and Drama is now closed for clearing.

If you have a question about your application please contact us.

What does Clearing mean for you?

For some of you it’ll be when you first discover Queen Mary

or it might offer you a chance to change your mind about what you want to do

or present an opportunity to talk to us about your interest in our programmes.

 

When is the Clearing period?

Early clearing starts on Thursday 5 July 2018. The main clearing period starts on A Level results day, Thursday 16 August 2018 and ends on the first day of term (Monday 17 September 2018).

However, you can always get in touch with us before clearing starts (or anytime afterwards) to register an interest in one of our degrees.

 

Which courses have availability within the School of English and Drama?

We are likely to have a limited number of places available on the following programmes:

Please call us as soon as you have your results to ensure the maximum chance of getting a place.

          

 

How do I apply through Clearing?

Please call the main Queen Mary Clearing hotline on to discuss your options with us: +44 (0)20 7882 5511.

 

Where will I live?

Before making enquiries into accommodation while you study with us it’s best to make sure you have an offer and accept it. This will allow us to access the resources available within our accommodation team more easily. We can then help you either find accommodation on campus or private accommodation nearby.

Queen Mary Student Accommodation

There are limited number of rooms available on site, which are allocated to Clearing applicants via a ballot.

Private Rented Accommodation

There are a large number of privately rented rooms and shared accommodation options available in the surrounding area.

Find out more about accommodation

 

Can I come and visit you?

There are campus tours available to book here.

 

How do I apply for student finance?

Please see our handy student finance guide here for more information about student finance.

 

How do I get more advice?

See the full Queen Mary University of London Clearing Guide here

Independent advice is available from Which! University Guide or contact us and we’ll be more than happy to advise.

 

English and Drama Taster Sessions Announced for Open Days – 22-23 June 2018

We are excited to launch our free taster programme at our open days this Friday 22 and Saturday 23 June.

To sign up please head to Arts Two foyer from 10am.

Friday 22 June 2018

English

11.30

a) Lecture: Othello: Race and Religion – Professor Jerry Brotton

From the late twentieth century, criticism and productions of Othello focused almost exclusively on the tragic hero’s blackness, in an attempt to challenge the racist assumptions that have defined the play since the seventeenth century. But ‘race’ has a history, and its meaning for Shakespeare was very different from our modern understanding of the term. This session examines key passages from the play and suggests that what we see as ‘race’ in Othello is a complex mix of Elizabethan beliefs and assumptions about ethnicity and religion. If we see Othello as a Christian convert from Islam, and read the play alongside ambivalent English relations with Muslims in this period, the play becomes far more complex and, in our time, even more relevant than we have come to believe.

Location: Arts Two Building, 3.20

b) Lecture: Time in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway – Professor Mark Currie

How do novels imagine time? Focusing on excerpts from Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, we’ll be exploring the many ways this text represents subjective time – thinking about how linear time is disrupted by flashbacks and flash-forwards, evoking the flux of thought.

Location: Arts Two Building, 2.17

13:45

c) Lecture: John Donne’s Poetry – Relationship Trouble – Professor David Colclough

Parting from a lover; trying to get through to God; imagining the soul leave the body – even getting undressed or being woken up too early: Donne’s poems return continually to problems with relationships.  They do so by thinking about language, persuasion, poetic form, and audiences. This session will focus on a selection of poems and help you to analyse the way they work, making reference to Donne’s biography and to the historical context in which he was writing.

Location: Arts Two Building, 3.20

d) Seminar: Witchy Women in Macbeth – Professor Andrea Brady

This class will investigate the different functions of witchcraft in Shakespeare’s Scottish play: as an exciting spectacle; as a form of flattery; and as a kind of rebellion, both against the king and the patriarchal rule of the family. We’ll think about how the witches embody some cultural anxieties about women’s bodies in this period, particularly by focussing on Lady Macbeth’s ‘unsex me here’ speech (I.v).

Location: Arts Two Building, 2.17

Drama

11.30

e) Seminar: Site-Specific Theatre: Must This Be the Place? – Dr Michael McKinnie

Site-specific theatre is theatre that consciously explores the unique sites in which it happens, frequently outside of conventional theatre spaces.  In recent years theatre makers have created performances in places such as courthouses, private homes, castles, railway stations, and more.  This practical workshop will explore different techniques for making site-specific theatre, using the environment in and around Queen Mary’s Mile End campus.  OR This seminar will explore some of the challenges that site-specific theatre poses, and asks whether it is as innovative as it is often claimed to be.

Location: Arts Two Building – Film and Drama Studio (FADS)
f) Seminar: Walking in the City – Dr Catherine Silverstone

Artists have used the practice of walking in their work, inviting spectators to see the city (and perhaps themselves) differently. We will look at ‘walking performances’, focussing particularly on gender, sexuality, participation and spectatorship.

Location: Arts One Building – Pinter Studio

13.45

g) Practical Workshop: Devising from Games – Dr Mojisola Adebayo

This will be a playful workshop exploring how to devise plays and create performance material from playing games. We will explore exercises that combine Theatre of the Oppressed and Physical Theatre techniques, made accessible for all. We will explore how playing and play making can help to generate a sense of ubuntu (humanity / human connection) towards social and political change.

Location: Arts Two Building – Film and Drama Studio (FADS)
h) Practical Workshop: Keeping the Plates Spinning – Dr Julia Bardsley

A practical look at processes of performance that embrace complexity and disruption. What creative opportunities present themselves when we deliberately let those plates fall?

Location: Arts One Building – Pinter Studio

 

Saturday 23 June 2018

English

11.30

a) Seminar: Romeo and Juliet’s First Meeting – Professor Warren Boutcher

This workshop will combine a close-reading of the scene in which Romeo and Juliet first meet with a viewing of two filmed versions: a recent production at Shakespeare’s Globe, and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 update.

Location: Arts Two Building, 3.20

b) Lecture: Happy 200th Birthday, Frankenstein – Dr Shahidha Bari

200 years after the publication  of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, this lecture explores the themes of the novel and examines the different ways in which it has been read over the course of its history.  The lecture rehearses some of the classic feminist readings of the novel, as well as the Marxist accounts of Frankenstein’s labour. It reaches to modern eco-critical readings of the novel’s landscape and asks whether it is a “creature” or “monster”  that Shelley creates.

Location: Arts Two Building, 2.17

13:45

c) Seminar: James Joyce’s Ulysses: Writing Modern Consciousness – Dr Rhiannon Moss

What relationship is there between our inner selves and the world in which we live? How can writing seek represent internal subjectivity? Is it possible to know the interiority of another? This session will explore these questions by looking at passages from James Joyce’s Ulysses, one of the most important and influential works of modern literature. Joyce innovated and experimented with literary techniques to represent the complexity of experience in the modern world, and to give the reader an intimate experience of the minds of his three everyday heroes. This session will give an insight into his writing of modern consciousness, and will begin to explore the central questions you will discuss as literary scholars.

Location: Arts Two Building, 2.17

d) Seminar: Introducing Literary Theory – Dr Molly MacDonald

What is literary theory? How does theory help us read literature? Throughout the history of literature, there have arisen various competing interpretations of literary texts and, with that, the need to adjudicate between rival interpretations.  ‘Theory’ has therefore emerged as a means of justifying particular interpretations over and against others. This session will offer an introductory session to using literary theory, and will model the kinds of lessons you can expect to encounter on our first-year module, Reading, Theory and Interpretation.

Location: Arts Two Building, 3.20

Drama

11.30

e) Seminar: What is Performance Art? – Dr Dominic Johnson

In Performance Art, an artist often uses her or his body as raw material and abandons the traditional tendencies towards acting, characterisation, and narrative that typify performances in the theatre. We’ll explore some of the key experiments that Performance Art has included in the twentieth century.

Location: Arts One Building – Pinter Studio

f) Practical Workshop: Audience Participation in Contemporary Theatre – Dr Daniel Oliver

In recent years many theatre and performance practitioners have aimed to create immersive, interactive, and participatory experiences for their audiences. We will explore the ethics, aesthetics and methods of such audience involvement through practical exercises, short readings, and discussion.

Location: Arts Two Building – Film and Drama Studio (FADS)

13:45

g) Seminar: Histories of Emotion in the Theatre – Dr Penelope Woods

Theatres are sites and spaces of emotion. But the kinds of emotion that have been sought and produced in theatres around the world through history has varied greatly. How do we begin to examine and research ’emotion at the theatre’? And what significance does this investigation of emotion in theatres around the world through history have?

Location: Arts Two Building – Film and Drama Studio (FADS)

 

If you have any questions or need help on the day please do get in touch…

Rupert Dannreuther
Web and Marketing Administrator
School of English and Drama
Queen Mary University of London

sed-web@qmul.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7882 8910

Alumni Platform Programme at Peopling the Palace(s) – Saturday 16 June 2018

Join us in the ArtsOne foyer on Saturday 16 June 2018 from 4pm to see the performance and art work of our Drama alumni who return for ONE NIGHT ONLY!

RSVP on Facebook here

Xinyue Zhang

In-Visible Cities
G.03

In the white cube of studio, the city is invisible, but can be seen in many ways.

Laura Bradley and Drew Egan (A-Kin)

Manipulated Labour
Film and Drama Studio

An exploration of individual and dual identities through the presentation of struggle in the physicalisation of emotional labour. A collaborative work in progress by a queer, feminist couple; performance artist Laura Bradley and experimental audio and visual artist Drew Egan (A-Kin).

Anna Dean

Gaze Prism
Film Studio

Anna Dean is a feminist performer, artist, and writer, working the dialectics of gender and (e)motion. Gaze Prism 1:11:22 addresses the tension between voyeurism and self-reflection.

Refracting the gaze between her live, reflected, and projected body, Dean occupies this gaze in order to claim autonomy in her own image —a gaze that is as much about herself as about the spectator.

Dani Surname

Tell the truth but tell it slant
RR2 ALL-DAY

Celebrating the people I’ve worked with through QM and contemplating how performance, photography and truth are slippery – an exhibition of performance photography featuring QM students, graduates and lecturers.

 

Helena Banerjee

The Cicada Sighs
Pinter Studio

A smol cicada sits in the leaves. It bends at the knees. The Sisyphean task of a squawk and a scream (Poor smol cicada, will you ever be free?)

Maria Pullicino

Stand-Up
Pinter Studio

Observational comedy about the upcoming trump protest from an American-British dual citizen.

Livvy Lynch

Big Bird
Pinter Studio

An audio-visual work-in-progress exploring human as animal – specifically, woman as pigeon.

Andrew Bourne

The Sofa Surfer’s Guide To Graduation
Pinter Studio

Conceived in the back room of a Morrison’s café amidst a mountain of dirty dishes; No it’s not my life story, but a handy dandy pocket sized guide to living your best (ish) graduate life.

Francesca and Matilda

Mother of Expectations
Film and Drama Studio

Invented and measured by man. Swimming constantly, reaching for the surface whilst trying to stay afloat. What are we doing with our lives?

Emily Howarth

Dumped
Film and Drama Studio

‘Dumped’ is a one woman, musical, comedy shit-storm about the first time your heart gets smashed into a million tiny pieces, and the songs that make you feel less alone with your crazy, crazy break-up thoughts.

Red Hot Frizz

The Bevdel Test
Film and Drama Studio

Using different beverages as a catalyst, Red Hot Frizz explore the stages and experiences of female friendship. From capri-suns to vodka, join us on our quest to uncover its importance.

Conall Borowski

The after-party
Film and Drama Studio

The essence of The after party is a performer reading texts over music then filing it away. It is an after party for a party that didn’t happen, it is an after party for all the parties that have happened.

Luke Higgins

When it rains, I bore
Pinter Studio

A short excerpt from a work-in-progress piece of live art. In this second performance as DJ Earthworm I will construct ‘a happening’ using the experiences of teaching children growing up in the big smoke.

MEGANDALEX

A fifteen-minute sketch
Pinter Studio

This is a fifteen-minute sketch. We’re very proud to present a fifteen- minute sketch.

Justin Bieber

Justin Time for Christmas
Pinter Studio

He’s a young, international pop sensation and he wants you to join him for one intimate, festive evening.

Chloe Borthwick is a performance artist and drag king whose current work delights in celebrity fandom and queer fantasy.

Ema Boswood

Ema Boswood Retrospective
Pinter Studio

Ema Boswood is making her much anticipated return to Queen Mary, this time to re-enact selected segments of her previous works: from pre-uni (including exerts from her teenage diary) to during uni (some of the cringiest things to have ever graced the Pinter stage) to post uni (her acclaimed performance Ghost Sexxx) to WHATEVER’S NEXT!

She’s written this summary before she’s made this piece, so who tf knows tbh.

First Flights 2018 Programme – Performance Platform for Graduating Students

Join us in the ArtsOne foyer on Friday 15 June 2018 from 5.45pm to see the performance and art work of our graduating Drama students.

RSVP on Facebook here

Kaya Todes

Transcendence. I
RR2

Transcendence. I was a journey. A journey which started on the 1st of March 2018 and lasted until the 31st March 2018. One month dedicated to personal exploration. A month which proved that time is relative, especially when you travel inward.

Cindy Kim

A Severe Condemnation That Could Be Made Of A Person
Pinter Studio

In any social interaction, the constructed persona is at stake. How much respect and deference can a person claim? By what means, through what methods?

This performance examines the intersection of Asian “face” and Western “standing”, and where the boundary lies between them.

Lying to save face. We all do it.

Callum McSorley

CORONATION: The Musical
Pinter Studio

An intoxicating insight into the workings of a northern, dyslexic brain fueled solely on Lucozade and steak pies. The result is a celebratory spectacle in which quirks become ceremonial rituals and attendants are made to obey the oaths of individualism and self-discovery.

Belisa Branças and Elizabeth Adejimi

The Stop
Pinter Studio

You grab a beer, sit on a chair in your garden and close your eyes. You taste that beer and it tastes like anywhere in the world.

And the winner of #SEDbagforlife competition is…

Thanks to all of our entrants in our competition to design our SED tote bag. The winner has been chosen by a vote by lots of SED staff.

The winner is Ellen Roberts-James with her Maya Angelou design…scroll down to see a gallery of all entries!

Here the other amazing entries:

Free events and workshops at Peopling the Palace(s) festival 2018

Peopling the Palace(s) | ArtsOne, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS | 11-17 June 2018

A festival of radical performance, workshops and events at Queen Mary University of London

Highlights include:

Full listings: http://bit.ly/peoplingthepalaces18 and below…

Mon 11 | Tue 12 | Wed 13 | Thu 14 | Fri 15 | Sat 16 | Sun 17

 

MONDAY 11 JUNE

DIY School 2018

10am – 8.00pm | Arts One, QMUL – Mile End

DIY High School is here to help give QMUL students, graduates and the wider community the skills to get ahead in the creative industries.

This year there are 2 workshops one in graphic design using Adobe Photoshop and the second in Video Editing.

Plus, there will be a 1-2-1 session to get specific help for your project, CV or online presence.

Register online

 

Race at the Juncture Colloquium – Patrick Flanery

Graduate Centre | 9am  – 5pm

Details coming soon.

 

TUESDAY 12 JUNE

Backstage Utopias: Thinking Alternatively about Management at the Theatre

11am – 5pm  | Film and Drama Studio, ArtsTwo Building, QMUL – Mile End

A day long symposium with lunch and a drinks reception

Theatre is a place that has many backstages. Out of public view, backstage work is shaped by systems of management and structured by what takes place in other kinds of theatre spaces, such as the rehearsal room, the management office, the dressing-room, the funding institution, the gallery and the audition.

Recent events, such as the Weinstein scandal, and public debates on the politics of casting in theatre and film, have made visible how backstage work is structured by systems of management that are structured through relations of power, economics and, sometimes, exploitation.

This day-long closed symposium asks how we might think differently. Who are the managers in the arts? What are the histories of the manager? How might we create new or different management structures, in order to rethink the conditions of work at the theatre? What other forms of hierarchy are possible or desirable? Is management a job, a person or a system? How do management systems in the theatre relate to broader management cultures and practices? What is our backstage utopia?

Following our symposium on ‘Collaboration’ last year, we invite you to join us for a day of debate between academics, artists, producers, and institutions. The event will take place between 11-5pm on Tuesday June 12th at Queen Mary’s Mile End campus – participants are welcome to join us for all or part of the day. We will be providing lunch and a drinks reception and hope that you can join us to dream differently.

Register online

 

WEDNESDAY 13 JUNE

Performance and Mental Health: Perspectives and Practices

Curated by Daniel Oliver

3-6pm – Pinter Studio | Arts One, QMUL – Mile End

The MSc Creative Arts and Mental Health course at Queen Mary University of London presents a series of talks, presentations and provocations on the theme of performance, art and mental health. There will also be an opportunity for those interested in the course to speak with staff about the innovative MSc programme.

Refreshments Provided

Hosted by Dr Daniel Oliver, with presentations by Bobby Baker, Dr Bridget Escolme, Jeremy Weller, Jo Hauge, Lucy Hutson, and Dr Maria Turri

 

Women’s Voices in Parliament: representation in the year of #Vote100

6pm – 8pm | Octagon, QMUL – Mile End

One hundred years since the Representation of the People Act, which first granted women the right to vote in UK parliamentary elections, what kind of space do powerful institutions grant to women’s voices? What progress has been made, and what still needs to be done?

Hosted by Queen Mary University of London, this mini-symposium brings together academics from across the fields of Drama, Politics, and Gender and Media Studies, alongside artists, performers and students, inviting them to tackle urgent and challenging questions of representation.

Join us in the historic space of the Octagon, formally the library of the People’s Palace, for rousing soapbox talks and thought-provoking interventions. Make your own voice heard in the closing open-floor debate.

Contributors include Sarah Childs, Jen Harvie, Rainbow Murray, Lise Olson, Naomi Paxton, Nirmal Purwar, Nephertiti Schandorf and representatives from the recent occupation of the Octagon: Jemima Hindmarch and Lewis Williams.

Register here

 

THURSDAY 14  JUNE

 

PhD Colloquium

10am – 4.30pm | RR2, Arts One

Details coming soon.

 

Max Dyspraxe Neurodivergent Revolution Fun Time Discussion Time Travel

Noon – 7pm | RR3, Arts One, QMUL – Mile End

A hotch potch dyspraxic day of discussions, presentations, rituals and workshops around the topic of dyspraxia, performance art, neurodiversity, time travel and the forthcoming neurodivergent dysutopia (sp).

Free and open to everyone. Pop in and Out. But PLEASE BOOK A TICKET as space is very limited!!

Important Note: This event experiments with embracing elements of dyspraxia commonly framed as ‘dysfuncitonal’ – and therefore may feel clumsy, awkward or chaotic at times. The majority of it will take place in a windowless black box space, in which a shiny, cumbersome, dripping time machine/long table will be installed, alongside cosier den-based spaces for more comfortable and intimate conversations. There will also be a break-out space in a room with windows. Please email d.oliver@qmul.ac.uk with any enquiries, including access requirements.

Register here

Download the full programme

 

The Sexual Cultures Research Group Presents: Heather Love – Beginning With Stigma

6 – 8pm | Arts One Lecture Theatre, QMUL – Mile End

This talk is taken from the introduction to Love’s new book, Underdogs, which aims to historicize the rise of queer theory and elaborate its debts to post-WWII social science, in particular the field of deviance studies.

 

FRIDAY 15 JUNE

First Flights

5.45pm – 10pm | Pinter, RR2 & RR3, QMUL – Mile End

First Flights is an interdisciplinary artistic platform for current Queen Mary students and recent graduates to showcase their work in a professional festival. Ranging from confessional theatre to durational pieces, this is an evening of first forays into professional public performance.

Register online

 

Reading Room_03: Bardsley v Maeterlinck | Social Insect Trilogy | part i. The Life of the Bee

3 – 8pm, Come + Go | Film Studio, Arts One, QMUL – Mile End

an APIAN PARADOX

envisaged & executed by Julia Bardsley with Moa Johansson

DJ Sisters & the Q | apicultural vinyl | stylus venom sounds | drone doom |

throat uttering | vibrating manoeuvres| healing & hurting | caressing & cruelty |

savage & sage | cellular worker secretions | mellifluous agitations | feminine ecology |

F-economies dismantle T | unexpected reversal | female bee-ing | tended not tamed

RSVP on Facebook

 

Independent Practice Project (Master’s at QMUL) Slide Show

All day | Arts One Foyer, QMUL – Mile End

All day

 

SATURDAY 16 JUNE

 

Alumni Platform

From 5pm | ArtsOne and Film and Drama Studio, ArtsTwo, QMUL – Mile End

The Alumni platform welcomes back alumni of QMUL for a day of performance, exhibitions, and experimentation.

Register here

an APIAN PARADOX

Reading Room_03

Bardsley v Maeterlinck | Social Insect Trilogy | part i. The Life of the Bee

envisaged & executed by Julia Bardsley with Moa Johansson

3 – 8pm | Film Studio, Arts One, QMUL – Mile End | Come + Go

See Friday 15 for listing

 

If It Were The Apocalypse I’d Eat You To Stay Alive – Martin O’Brien Performance and Book Launch

8.30 – 10pm, Film and Drama Studio, Arts Two, QMUL – Mile End

Martin is performing If It Were The Apocalypse I’d Eat You To Stay Alive at Peopling the Palace Festival, QMUL. It was originally made in 2015 whilst he was Artsadmin Bursary Artist and funded by Arts Council England. Martin has performed this piece in the UK, Europe and Canada and it changes significantly every time he does it.

There will be a drinks reception after the performance and a chance to buy the book ‘Survival of the Sickest: The Art of Martin O’Brien’ at a special rate!

 

 

SUNDAY 17 JUNE

The Precariousness of Photography: Manuel Vason – One Day Workshop

£30 per person | 10am-5pm | Pinter and RR2, Arts One QMUL

Looking at photography from a performative perspective we will explore strategies, exercises and activities to subvert the fixity, authority and rules of the photographic medium by means of performance. If photography since its origin has been compared to painting for its ability to copy and/or replicate reality, we will use performance to critically analyse and practice photography as a tool for the construction of multiple, fluid identities, and to expand imagination instead of to confine it within the predictable.

No previous photography experience required.

Reserve your place

This is a paid event. Please bring cash to purchase a ticket on arrival. Cost per place: £30.00

English and Drama Newsletter – June 2018

Welcome to the June 2018 edition of our School of English and Drama newsletter.

Highlights this month include Open Days, Peopling the Palace(s) Festival, a #VOTE100 debate in the Octagon and a Performance and Mental Health event.

EVENTS | NEWS | LINKS

Photo above: Drama graduate Jo Hauge by Julia Brown – she is presenting at Performance and Mental Health.

Events

OPEN EVENTS

MSc in Creative Arts and Mental Health Presents
Performance and Mental Health: Perspectives and Practices
6.30pm Wednesday 6 June 2018
Arts Two Lecture Theatre, QMUL – Mile End Campus

The MSc Creative Arts and Mental Health course at Queen Mary University of London presents a series of talks, presentations and provocations on the theme of performance, art and mental health. Speakers include: Bobby Baker, Dr Bridget Escolme, Jeremy Weller, Jo Hauge, Lucy Hutson, and Dr Maria Turri.

Register

Undergraduate Open Days
Friday 22-Saturday 23 June 2018, 10:00-16:00
QMUL – Mile End Campus

We will be hosting taster sessions and subject talks about English and Drama, and staff will be available to talk through the course and life at Queen Mary. Plus,  campus tours, events and activities for potential future students.

Register

PEOPLING THE PALACE(S)

Department of Drama
Peopling the Palace(s) Festival
Monday 11-Sunday 17 June 2018
QMUL – Mile End

Book now for events, performances and conversations including:

•  DIY HIGH SCHOOL (11 June): two workshops in creative skills (Photoshop and Video Editing) and a bespoke feedback session on creative projects and CVs.
•  Women’s Voices in Parliament (13 June): A #VOTE100 representation debate special in our stunning Octagon space. Contributors include Sarah Childs, Jen Harvie, Rainbow Murray, Lise Olson, Naomi Paxton, Nirmal Purwar and Nephertiti Schandorf.
•  Performance and Mental Health: Perspectives and Practices (13 June): A series of talks, presentations and provocations on the theme of performance, art and mental health.
•  First Flights (15 June) and Alumni Platform (16 June): Free graduating student and alumni performances in the Pinter studio.
•  The Precariousness of Photography: Manuel Vason (17 June): A photography and performance workshop with leading performance photographer Manuel Vason.

See the full programme of events

MORE EVENTS IN JUNE

Space Dogs
4-6 June 2018, 19:00
Theatre N16 at Styx, Tottenham Hale
Written by Drama graduate Sebastiao Marques Lopes and featuringcstudents past. The dog-eat-dog world of 1960s politics, the private battles of the era’s superpowers, and the seemingly never-ending Cold War are realised in this tale of survival, sacrifice and sausages.

QM Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies
Suvir Kaur (Pennsylvania): Apostrophe as a Theory of History
Friday 8 June 2018, 15:00-17:00
Lock-keepers Cottage, QMUL – Mile End
“Personification has attracted continuing critical attention as a figure for the power of poetry to animate the inanimate and to give voice to the voiceless. In turn, apostrophe has been read as exemplary of lyrical voice, and of those forms of poetic address that model self-referential circuits of poetic utterance.”

Arts and Culture at QMUL
Queen Mary Arts and Culture Annual Lecture by Dr Maria Balshaw CBE
Friday 8 June 2018, 18:00
Peston Lecture Theatre, Graduate Centre, QMUL – Mile End
Tate Director Maria Balshaw – honorary professor for the MA Creative Industries and Arts Organisation programme from September 2018 – gives the Queen Mary Arts and Culture Annual Lecture.

Arts and Culture at QMUL
La Mer (Four hands, Two dancers, Two Films)
12-13 June 2018, various times
Great Hall, People’s Palace, QMUL – Mile End
Celebrating 2018 as the 100th anniversary of Claude Debussy’s death, his masterwork La Mer (partly composed when Debussy stayed in Eastbourne) is realised in a newly created live performance event that combines the composer’s version for piano duet, with dance and film.

You are warmly invited to attend one or all of the events below:
Full Open Dress Rehearsal: Tuesday, 12th June 2018, at 5.30pm.
Contemporary Dance Workshop: Wednesday, 13th June 2018, 11am–1pm. Please note: 20 pleaces only. Booking essential.
Performances of La Mer: Wednesday, 13th June 2018, at 5.30pm & 6.30pm.

The Sexual Cultures Research Group Presents: Heather Love – ‘Beginning With Stigma’
Thursday 14 June 2018, 18:00-20:00
ArtsOne Lecture Theatre, QMUL – Mile End

This talk is taken from the introduction to Love’s new book, Underdogs, which aims to historicize the rise of queer theory and elaborate its debts to post-WWII social science, in particular the field of deviance studies.

Battersea Audio Chatback: Making Change for Care and Care Leavers
Monday 25 June 2018, 18:00 – 19:30
Battersea Arts Centre
Young people in Wandsworth are working with verbatim techniques to produce performance that shares their experience of care services. Join us in the Battersea Arts Centre Audio Tour to hear their testimonies – and take part in discussion of what can change for the better in local authority care and education. An ARHC-funded project led by Maggie Inchley (Drama) and People’s Palace Projects.

First Bites: STARS
29-30 June 2018
Ovalhouse, Oval
Mojisola Adebayo will be presenting a staged reading of her latest play STARS at Ovalhouse Theatre (near Oval tube) on June 29 (7.30pm) and 30 (2.30 and 7.30pm with BSL interpretation).

STARS is the story of an old lady who goes into space… in search of her own orgasm. STARS is supported by Queen Mary Drama Department, the Centre for Public Engagement and Arts Council England.

See all of our events coming up

 

News from the School

Susheila Nasta (English – Wasafiri Magazine) has been involved as a consultant on British Library’s Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land exhibition, recently featured in the Guardian. Wasafiri Magazine is hosting Windrush Women: Past and Present, an evening of poetry and readings inspired by the lives of female writers from the Windrush era, at the British Library on Monday 25 June.

Zoë McGee (English PhD Candidate) was named the winner of QMUL Three Minute Thesis. The competitors had just three minutes to tell a non-specialist audience and a panel of judges about their research and results. Zoë will now go on to represent QMUL in Vitae’s online national semi-finals, which will run in July and August. Six finalists will present their Three Minute Theses at the Vitae International Conference in September.
Matthew Rubery (English) has had an article published in New Literary History ‘Ulysses, Blindness, and Accessible Modernism‘.

Mojisola Adebayo has been made a Literary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Read more in the press release.

Dominic Johnson (Drama) has been shortlisted for The TaPRA Prize for Editing (Edited Collection or Special Issue) for his co-edited book:  It’s all Allowed: the Performances of Adrian Howells (Live Art Development Agency and Intellect, 2016).

Catherine Maxwell (English) talks about her book Scents and Sensibility: Perfume in Victorian Literary Culture in the May books round-up on Irish radio station Newstalk. Listen here from 09:20.

See more on the SED blog

 

Links

1. There is free access to Adnan Sarwar’s ‘Back To Iraq’ published in Wasafiri Issue 94. Adnan Sarwar’s BBC series ‘Journey in the Danger Zone: Iraq’ is currently airing on BBC 2 Sundays at 9pm. Read online here

2. Drama graduates Hugo Aguirre and Franciska Ery are presenting their show Asking for a Raise from 3 July at The Space.

3. Caine Prize nominee Makena Onjerika will be in conversation and reading her shortlisted story ‘Fanta Blackcurrant’ (published in Wasafiri) at SOAS 26 June, Willesden Library 28 June, and Africa Writes 30 June.

4. Guardian article Play staged in central London church explores parish’s gentrification was partially researched during director Gemma Kerr’s “Air B2B” residency in Brazil, hosted at Casa Rio by British Council Brazil and People’s Palace Projects.

5. Drama graduate Martha Pailing is performing her show Background People at Roundhouse in Camden as part of the Last Word Festival.

6. Wasafiri New Writing Prize deadline is fast approaching. Applications for Poetry, Fiction and Life Writing entries close on 13 July 2018.

7. Watch a clip from People’s Palace Projects’ With One Voice choir, made up of a group of people with experience of homelessness in Rio de Janeiro.

Competition: Your Design On Our School Tote Bag #SEDBAGFORLIFE

We’re looking for a new design for our 2018 tote bag which we give away at open days, events and to new students incoming to the School. It’s time to get arty and inspire the next generation of SED students.

What we’re looking for

  • A black, line based design – it could feature a quotation or other text but needs to be blocky and easy to read.
  • Maximum A4 size.
  • A design which represents both English and Drama.
  • For inspiration see Kirsty Rolfe’s design to the right >>>

How to enter

To enter send your design as a PDF, JPG or EPS to sed-web@qmul.ac.uk.

To enter you must be a School of English student, staff member or one of our alumni.

What you’ll win

If you win:

  • Your bag will be put into production for our 2018 open days and events.
  • You’ll also win a £50 Amazon voucher.

Competition closes: Tuesday 5 June 2018 at 12 midday. A panel from SED will choose the winning design.

 

3 Ways to Stay in Touch After Graduating from Queen Mary

Someone (we can’t remember who) once wrote ‘parting is such sweet sorrow’ but alas leaving Queen Mary isn’t strictly the end.

It’s the start of a thrilling journey into the rest of your life.

And if you really can’t live without us we suggest studying a Master’s with us ;).

 

Here’s 3 ways you can still come to campus and be part of Queen Mary once you’ve got your degree:

1 Libraries

With an Alumni Extra card (£10 one off fee) you can access the libraries for reference only with no expiry date on your card.

2 Careers Service

For two years after you graduate you can use the careers service including interview practice, help with job searches and application advice and preparation.

3 Events in the School and Queen Mary at large

The School of English and Drama and the wider college organise 100s of events every year with most being accessible to you once you’ve graduated.

The best way to find out is follow us on social media or email us to sign up to our newsletter.

 

Our contact details if you want to let us know any news or have any questions – we love hearing from you.

sed-web@qmul.ac.uk

+44 (0)20 7882 8910

Twitter @qmulsed

Facebook /sedstories

Instagram @qmulsed

Mental Health Support for Students and Staff

Suzi Lewis and Rupert Dannreuther have completed the QMUL-organised Mental Health First Aid training recently. They are now Mental Health First Aiders for the School and can help you find support.

During office hours they can be contacted in cases of mental health emergencies, whether these involve students or staff. Outside office hours please use the QM emergency number (0207 882 3333), or call 999.

Rupert and Suzi have been trained to listen non-judgementally, recognise warning signs of crisis and mental health conditions, and know about and can advise on professional help within Queen Mary, and where it is available from other providers. Their training can also help them recognise situations where someone may be in immediate danger when we should call 999 or 0207 882 3333 on campus.

Suzi and Rupert can be contacted during the SED Admin Office opening hours (Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm, and 2pm to 5pm) as follows:

Rupert x8910, email r.dannreuther@qmul.ac.uk; Suzi x8560, email suzi.lewis@qmul.ac.uk.

Here’s a reminder of the sources of help for students and staff at Queen Mary:

1. Advice and Counselling Service (ACS): Offers frontline advice and counselling services to students.

2. Disability and Dyslexia Service (DDS): Offers support for all students with disabilities, specific learning difficulties and diagnosed mental health issues.

3. For QMUL staff (and their friends and family) only:

  • Workplace Options: A confidential phone helpline and online services who can organise counselling, give advice on where to get help and support.
  • Opening hours: 24/7
  • Call: 0800 243 458 (username and password not required)
  • Email: assistance@workplaceoptions.com
  • Website: http://www.workplaceoptions.co.uk (username: queenmary and password: employee is required).

3 QMUL Drama Festivals: Plunge, IPP Festival & Peopling the Palaces

We have a smorgasbord of fresh new talent and experienced industry professionals coming up in these 3 festival in Spring-Summer 2018 at Queen Mary University of London.

Plunge Festival | 16-18 May 2018

As the graduating students of Queen Mary University of London prepare to depart campus and join the outside world. Plunge Festival is the final showing of work, featuring a rich variety of performance, installation, durational and site-specific projects.

See the full programme

 

IPP Festival | 19-20 May 2018

IPP festival of MA and MSc performances, taking place over this coming weekend (19-20 May 2018). The festival will conclude with drinks in the foyer outside FADS (Arts Two) after the last performance on the Sunday. It would be wonderful to see you there.

Link for booking: https://tinyurl.com/y9xlnegg

Please also note that Conall Borowski’s performance (Sunday, 4am in Lock Keepers) needs to be booked by email conall.borowski@virginmedia.com.

 

Peopling the Palaces Festival | 10-17 June 2018

We’ve got an incredible week of events lined up, including film screenings, discussions, interventions and performances.

The eclectic programme will showcase work from a range of academics, artists, current students and recent Queen Mary graduates.

Event Round Up: Remembering Natural Historian James Petiver (1665–1718)

Thursday 26 April 2018

This day meeting at the Linnean Society in Burlington House, Piccadilly marked the tercentenary of the death of James Petiver FRS, an important but often overlooked professional apothecary and compulsive natural historian in 18th-century London.

Petiver made significant contributions to multiple fields of natural history, above all botany and entomology. An assiduous correspondent and collector, he successfully cultivated sources of natural historical intelligence and material from the Americas to the East Indies.

On the 300th anniversary of his death, the meeting set out to remember James Petiver:

  • as a practising natural historian of substantial abilities and merit
  • as a collector and cataloguer of natural historical specimens with enduring significance
  • as a writer of both manuscript correspondence and published natural historical texts
  • as an apothecary whose professional and private scientific interests mutually informed each other
  • as a social networker both within London and across the globe
  • as an historical figure whose legacy has been contested and which is ripe for reconsideration

Speakers from universities and the museum sector assessed Petiver’s life and legacy by deploying a range of historical and scientific disciplinary perspectives. Topics addressed by the presentations included Petiver’s medical practice, his abilities and significance as a natural historian, his relationships with mariners and merchants (including slave-traders), and his innovative attempts to reach new audiences through book publication. The meeting was also privileged to welcome a direct descendent of James Petiver’s sister, Jane.The event was organised by Dr Richard Coulton (QMUL) and Dr Charlie Jarvis (Natural History Museum). Research presented at the meeting is due to be published in a forthcoming special issue of Notes and Records of the Royal Society (spring 2020).

Find out more about James Petiver in Richard’s blog post for the Royal Society

Download the full programme and abstracts

Watch podcasts from the event below…