Current PhD Student

Gertrude Gibbons

Thesis Title:

Performing Across Frontiers: The Living Archive of Theatre-Making and the Search for a 'Universal' Language of Theatre in Europe from the late 1970s to the 2000s

Supervisor:

Professor Emilie Morin

Description:

My thesis is exploring a history of theatre-making centred on the search for a universal language of theatre able to overcome linguistic and national barriers, bringing hope, cross-cultural understanding, and rethinking cultural identity. It involves the first analysis of the work of two international innovative theatre-makers; David Gothard and Giovanni Pampiglione. The nature of the living archive, and the interconnections and encounters between people, theatrical texts and performance are central to my research. My approach is interdisciplinary, and I am exploring concepts of reading and translation as performative, and the connections of hybrid theatre forms with the visual arts and music.

Outside my thesis research, I write across various disciplines, including literature, art, design and music for online and printed journals, catalogues and other international publications. My practice as a writer is informed by my interest and involvement in translation, music and the visual arts. I am also interested in curation, having curated installations in the UK and Italy, and working collaboratively and internationally with artists, writers and musicians. I play and teach violin, and I have been writing a series of experimental performance texts responding to Bach's works for solo violin. I write about architecture and design and I am working on the archive of British furniture designer and maker John Makepeace. Since 2018 I have been co-editing and designing Soanyway with Derek Horton, an interdisciplinary online magazine, publishing three issues a year and themed specials.