Northumbria University Drama Showcase - Workshops and Presentations

Northumbria University Drama Showcase. Workshops and Presentations

The Northumbria University Drama Showcase celebrates this year’s most exciting and thought-provoking work across our undergraduate programmes and our MA programme.

We are hosting a number of shows and workshops at Live Theatre from 29 May – 1 June. In addition to the performance of Land: Beating the Bounds, there is opportunity to hear about the work of the next generation of drama and applied theatre, through a series of scriptwriting, applied theatre workshops and staff research preview.

Places for the workshops can be booked directly with Live Theatre box office or please click here to book online

Information about the workshops and presentations

Wednesday, 29 May, 2pm - 5pm MA Theatre and Performance.

MA Theatre and Performance students present an afternoon research symposium in which each student will give a short presentation about a research project.

The postgraduate programme offers theatre makers a bridge between undergraduate study and the professional world and involves an opportunity to identify and explore in depth an area of particular interest. Students are supported to develop their own voice as a research practitioner, discussing developing projects with contemporary debates and exploring a wide range of research questions.

Thursday, 30 May, 2pm - 5pm. BA (Hons) Drama and Applied Theatre

Join BA (Hons) Drama and Applied Theatre students as they explore the role of the socially engaged artist in society. Graduating students will reflect and deliver short presentations on their projects, including Equal Arts Creative Friends group, Seven Stories Centre for the Children’s Book and intergenerational projects based in Care Homes in Gateshead.

We are proud of the contribution that our graduates make to the cultural offer of the North East and by using drama and theatre, they can benefit many who may not have the opportunity to participate in the arts.   

Friday, 31 May, 2pm - 5pm. BA (Hons) Drama and Scriptwriting

A series of short script readings from the portfolio of work by graduating students from BA (Hons) Drama and Scriptwriting.

The scripts and their writers are:

• Miracle Man - A play by Ben Kilby. With the unusual disappearance of the local doctor, his replacement arrives in the sleepy British village of Hawkshead, instigating a movement that will change the small community forever. 
• A 99 to Go - A screenplay by Holly Readshaw. A man on the run from his responsibilities, steals an ice cream van to use as a getaway vehicle only to discover a child in the back.
• Reflections - A play by John Scott. A Woman’s dementia brings back painful family secrets.  A son must confront them and be destroyed by them or find salvation in the brutal truth.

The readings are performed by a group of professional actors and directed by Northumbria University Alumni Ali Pritchard, Artistic Director of Alphabetti Theatre

Friday, 31 May, 5.30pm - 6.30pm. Spaces of Appearance: Drama Research Group Book Launch and Preview

Spaces of Appearance research group supports and promotes the research of academic colleagues and doctoral students within the drama programme at Northumbria University. This session will focus on book preview and leading research from Northumbria University 

Book Previews:

Stoicism and Performance: A Joyful Materialism by Cormac Power ( by Brill)
Stoicism and Performance offers new perspectives on contemporary theatre and performance debates.

The Applied Theatre Artist: Responsivity and Expertise in Practice by Kay Hepplewhite (by Palgrave 2020)
Drawing on research with North East practitioners, the book establishes a new framework of ‘responsivity’ to analyse the expertise of applied theatre artists

Book Launch:

In the Middle of the West by Steve Gilroy (by Oberon Books)
A new play about American domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh’s  bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995.