Practice as Research

The Department of Film, Theatre & Television has a strong history of practice-based research and was one of the first Departments in the country to offer practice based research degrees. The distinctive culture of the Department is rooted in a long-standing and productive relationships between critical/theoretical and practical modes of study and the principles governing practice based research have grown out of the Department's emphasis on critical practice as an alternative and complimentary means of engaging in critical theories of theatre, performance and film. It is fundamental to the Department's research policy that equal weight should be given in research to analytical and practical processes.

Practice as research forms a major part of the department's theatre staff research output and a number of research students in theatre and performance and in film use practice as a means to engage in critical study. Research through practice includes;

• multimedia technology and performance
• translation: theatre text and performance
• performance and historical texts
• collaborative practices in performance
• performance and modernist practices
• the body in performance
• documentary film
• the long take in contemporary cinema

The Department has excellent facilities for exploring critical ideas through practice, including licensed theatre spaces, experimental studio spaces, extensive DVD shooting and editing facilities, a TV Studio and opportunities to explore the creative interaction of film, theatre and television as well as developing practice which makes use of new media. These resources will be enhanced by our move to a new purpose-built facility in April 2011 (see New building for Film, Theatre & Television).