School of Arts and Creative Technologies
Sam Crane
PhD by Creative Practice
Thesis
Thesis Title & Description
Grand Theft Artaud - An autoethnographic study of live performance in "real" and "virtual" worlds
Supervisor: Dr Ben Kirman and Dr Karen Quigley
The relationship between spectator and performer in live performance has often been critically assessed in the academic world from the point of view of the spectator (Ranciere, Bucknall, Aebischer). This creative practice research project will take notions such as Ranciere’s “emancipated spectator” and Bucknall’s “reflective participant”, which arose from the need to develop a sophisticated and nuanced critical approach to the act of experiencing theatre, and flip them to explore experiential approaches to understanding the nature of the actor’s role in live performance, both in traditional “real world” theatre spaces, and in digital game spaces.
Biography
Biography
Sam is an award-winning video artist and actor.
In a theatre career spanning twenty years he has been critically acclaimed for his performances at the National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, in the West End and on Broadway.
His films have been screened at contemporary art and film festivals worldwide. He won the Critics’ Choice award at Milan Machinima Festival, First Prize for Video Art at The Athens Digital Arts Festival and was longlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize.
His production of Hamlet in GTA was shortlisted for The Stage Innovation Award 2023 and is the subject of a forthcoming feature length documentary.
He is currently playing Harry Potter in the West End production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and can soon be seen as Jacques-Louis David in Ridley Scott’s forthcoming film Napoleon for Apple TV.
Research
Research interests
Video games, gaming, theatre, performance, acting, autoethnography
