This article presents a qualitative, practice-based study of ethical imagination in contemporary actor training. Drawing on two years of intensive studio research with 75 actors at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theatre in Los Angeles, alongside extended professional observation, the study examines how imagination-based approaches guide actors to construct imagined circumstances, relationships and stage actions through collaborative studio exercises in which instructors narrate fictional situations that actors physically and emotionally explore in performance, rather than relying primarily on autobiographical emotional recall. A comparative perspective informed by long-term observation in Kosovo highlights the potential risks associated with trauma-centred methodologies when applied without sufficient ethical safeguards. In this study, ethical practices refer to pedagogical approaches that prioritize actors’ psychological well-being, creative agency, relational collaboration and the maintenance of reflective boundaries between performer and role. The study argues that imagination, when understood as a disciplined, embodied and relational practice, may function not only as an artistic resource but also as a framework for ethical and sustainable actor training
Theatrical performance plays a valuable role in improving mental health. This article investigates the role of performance in psychology and calls for increased acknowledgement of artist-led, performance-based initiatives. Artists are responding to individual and collective mental health needs by developing creative methods of healing and prevention that enhance self-agency, strengthen social connections and dismantle oppressive sociopolitical systems that contribute to mental ill health. Through the exploration of various interventions, including autobiographical therapeutic performance and participatory theatre for social change, this article seeks to emphasize the transformative impact of performance on our social, emotional and psychological well-being.
In May 2024, at low-tide on Easington Beach in South Holderness (East Yorkshire, United Kingdom) students and researchers from the University of Hull shared a time-specific performance exploring the unique entanglement of the transient geography and human occupancy on this ever-shifting coastline. Undertaken as part of the 'Applied Arts Ecologies and the Resilience of Coastal Communities: South Holderness Project', this performance formed one part of the multi-stranded research outputs produced by its team (Christian Billing, Anna Fitzer, Toby Horkan, Ellen Jeffrey, Magnus Johnson and Mark Slater) in collaboration with nineteen final-year students from the BA Drama and Theatre Practice degree at the University of Hull.1 Working across a variety of artforms and practices to engage with the temporality of this place, the research outputs of this project-including a cycle of eight poems produced in the co-making of the live performance (Christian Billing), and 'Coastal Process' a musical composition in nine parts (Mark Slater)-were crafted alongside (and in response to) the project's growing archive of oral history; a series of recorded interviews which sought to document the voices and perspectives of a community-in-transition.2
Review of: Creating Life Story Theatre: A Guide for Applied Theatre Practitioners , Karin Diamond, Alison O’Connor and Clark Baim (2025) London: Methuen Drama, 288 pp., ISBN 978-1-35040-586-8, h/bk, USD 100
This article explores how the applied artist's body can function as central source material within performance-making and pedagogy to signal new approaches to applied performance training. Conceptualizing the applied artist as the facilitator-in-training, we reflect on Nameun Kim's final MA performance at the University of Birmingham, which engaged her body not as a representational tool but as a site of material presence and political resonance. Drawing from live art vocabularies, the article considers how Kim's embodied engagement with the histories of Japanese comfort women challenges conventional notions of agency, representation and authorship in applied performance. In the context of an aesthetic turn within applied performance, we argue that a return to the body-as a complex, socially and culturally imbued site-is urgently needed in applied performance training, particularly in the Global North. By framing the artist's body as both aesthetic and pedagogical source material, we advocate for interdisciplinary approaches that locate and re-engage the facilitator's body. In so doing, facilitator training will support the applied artist to be more prepared for reflections on self and community while advancing the field's new aesthetics.
As applied and socially engaged practices move beyond Cartesian dualisms, we seek vocabularies and practices for the body. This editorial discusses key themes emerging when theorizing and facilitating relationships to bodily being-in-the-world, pedagogy and performance. We order our observations into the three key areas: embodied pedagogies and methodologies; the body’s perception and memory; and body and identity. Attentive to consent and care, our authors ask how bodies are invited, managed or co-opted within pedagogic and epistemological frames, and how agency might be amplified rather than surveilled. We bring together new and foundational ideas from applied, socially engaged practices and performance studies to provide a context to, and mediate the ideas posed within this issue. We point to new research covering the politicization of the facilitator’s body, interrelations between the body’s perception and knowledge, and the risks in unearthing memory.
This article examines Waiting for Kiều , an experimental cải lương performance that enacts an ecofeminist adaptation of Nguyễn Du’s The Tale of Kiều through embodied and intermedial performance practices. The play reimagines Kiều’s journey by connecting her with four female characters – Thúy Vân, Hoạn Thư, Giác Duyên and Đạm Tiên – each representing a stage in a woman’s life and a season in nature. Structured around the Buddhist cycle of birth, ageing, illness and death, the production challenges patriarchal narratives by portraying Kiều not as a fixed presence but as a trace, a force and a symbol of feminine and ecological resilience. Performed by a single actress and integrating cải lương singing, shadow dance, contemporary movement and orchestral music, Waiting for Kiều offers a case study in how feminist adaptation and applied performance practice can revitalize Vietnamese theatre and re-engage younger audiences with classical texts.
Review of: Assessment in the Drama Classroom: A Culturally Responsive and Student-Centered Approach , Jonathan P. Jones (2023) Abingdon: Routledge, 146 pp., ISBN 978-1-03254-968-2, h/bk, GBP 145 ISBN 978-1-03254-969-9, p/bk, GBP 51.99 ISBN 978-1-00342-833-6, e-book, GBP 51.99
This article examines the discursive implications of Gray Area, a participatory play created in 2017 to explore ambiguous moments of sexual consent - situations that often lead to shame and misunderstanding. While not originally conceived within an explicitly discursive framework, this retrospective analysis reveals how Gray Area's use of participatory narrative structures enabled it to challenge the prevailing 'permission discourse' of affirmative consent. Drawing on concepts of discourse analysis and cultural framing, this study highlights how the play's particular dramaturgy - through audience intervention, improvisation and structured decision-making - guided audiences from a legalistic, transactional model of consent towards a more relational, context-sensitive 'discourse of understanding' that better reflects the complexities of real-world consent negotiation. In tracing this shift, the study positions participatory theatre as a powerful space for reimagining social constructs, offering insights into its potential to reshape public understandings of power, agency and social responsibility.
Pulling together this tribute to my colleague and friend, Juliana Saxton has been a genuine honour and privilege. To pay tribute to her in this journal that she served so well for many years and in recognition of her extraordi-nary contributions to our field, I asked some of those who have worked long-est and closest to Juliana to provide both personal and professional memories of their time with her. From across the globe, our contributors to this tribute give picture of Juliana as a seminal force in shaping and defining the fields of drama in education and applied theatre. Her writing and teaching, so intri-cately informing each other was always like her: elegant, considered and cheekily irreverent. These short pieces from her friends also reveal the deep loving friendships that fed her and so many others. I have this lasting image of a woman, never afraid to ask better questions than I ever could and ask them with a smile that both disarmed and enabled me and so many others. Perhaps, we all now simply wonder how lucky we have been to be touched by her life.
Voluntary-assisted dying (VAD) promises what many of us quietly long for: control over the end of life. It offers a way to make death neat, even bearable. However, in our applied theatre workshops with VAD staff and families, we discovered something else entirely: not control but messiness. This messiness held space for the unspoken, unruly truths of love, surrender and the cathartic grief that exceeds what scripted procedures can contain. Applied theatre became both our methodology and our mode of analysis: a practice that foregrounds embod-ied knowledge, aesthetic distance and collective meaning-making. It enabled space for contradiction without resolution, inviting forms of knowledge that emerge not through rational explanation but through encounter, improvisation and affective resonance. Central to this was deferring judgement: a deliberate methodological stance that resists premature closure and allows complexity to remain present, holding space for meaning to arise through the process of making, witnessing and reflecting. What surfaced were lessons in a different kind of control, one grounded in surrender, care and the fragile beauty of letting go.
Drama education in Hong Kong has predominantly adopted western pedagogies, emphasizing improvisation and emotional authenticity. However, these approaches often lack a systematic framework for teaching non-verbal expressivity, leaving novice students struggling to develop these essential skills. This study addresses this gap by introducing the Non-Verbal Expressivity (NVE) Unit, a structured pedagogy inspired by the codified movements of traditional Chinese opera. Codified gestures, spatial awareness and repetitive practice from Chinese opera were adapted into four progressive lessons designed to improve students' non-verbal expressiv-ity. The effectiveness of the NVE Unit was evaluated through a pre- experimental study involving 33 Secondary One students in Hong Kong. Using the NVE Rubric, alongside lesson observations, teacher interviews and student feedback, the study revealed significant improvements in students' non-verbal expressiv-ity. Quantitative results demonstrated medium to large effect sizes across all thir-teen evaluation items, with students progressing from basic gestures to creating dynamic stage pictures. Teachers observed increased confidence and motivation among weaker students, while stronger students refined their performances and explored advanced techniques. This study highlights the potential of bridging east-ern and western pedagogies to enrich drama education. By integrating the struc-tured and disciplined training methods of Chinese opera with the improvisational creativity of western approaches, the NVE Unit provides a culturally meaningful and practical method for teaching non-verbal expressivity. While the findings are promising, further research is needed to validate the unit's effectiveness in diverse cultural contexts and refine its application in varying educational settings.
This editorial marks the first co-edited issue of Applied Theatre Research (ATR): Socially Engaged Performance. In retitling the journal and reframing its edito-rial vision, we foreground socially engaged performance as an inclusive term that invites radical and interdisciplinary praxes from new ecologies and centres. Guided by Ng & utilde;g & itilde; wa Thiong'o's call to 'move the centre', we point to the contin-ued dominance of Eurocentric epistemologies and highlight the need for multi-ple, interconnected centres for cultures, knowledges and practices. Our reflections introduce inequities in academic publishing and access and new possibilities for mentorship and support for practitioners. By recommitting to mentorship and sponsorship as integral modes of moving the centre, this editorial situates ATR: Socially Engaged Performance as a platform for global dialogue and generosity, while sustaining applied theatre and socially engaged performance as critical, crea-tive and politically urgent fields.
This article reflects on the utilization of verbatim theatre methodologies as a mode of data processing and analysis. It considers the benefits of non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) and the creative expression and dissemination of research data within thanatology research. Set within the context of Aotearoa New Zealand's culturally informed death cultures, Digital Afterlives: A Verbatim Play about Death in a Digital Age represents a research output that honours the nuance and subjectivity of individual experiences of loss and grief in a digitally mediated world. Constructed entirely from empirical data collected as part of an explora-tory qualitative research project, the play imparts the perspectives and experiences of bereaved New Zealanders focusing on the role that digital communication and assets take on in grieving rituals. This article supports the research benefits of staging an interview process that blends individual responses into a mosaic of perspectives on the evolving nature of grief.
This article examines Waiting for Kieu, an experimental cai luong performance that enacts an ecofeminist adaptation of Nguyen Du's The Tale of Kieu through embodied and intermedial performance practices. The play reimagines Kieu's jour-ney by connecting her with four female characters - Th & uacute;y V & acirc;n, Hoan Thu, Gi & aacute;c Duy & ecirc;n and Dam Ti & ecirc;n - each representing a stage in a woman's life and a season in nature. Structured around the Buddhist cycle of birth, ageing, illness and death, the production challenges patriarchal narratives by portraying Kieu not as a fixed presence but as a trace, a force and a symbol of feminine and ecological resilience. Performed by a single actress and integrating cai luong singing, shadow dance, contemporary movement and orchestral music, Waiting for Kieu offers a case study in how feminist adaptation and applied performance practice can revitalize Vietnamese theatre and re-engage younger audiences with classical texts.
During the second half of the 2012–13 theatre season, we mapped all then-existing educational theatre practices in Hungary against a standardized set of criteria. We contacted a total of 298 institutions and observed 118 programmes in person. We aimed to map the complete picture, so we involved every programme that fitted our low-threshold criteria and responded to our inquiry. Presumably, we covered the entire Hungarian educational theatre sphere. For each programme, we collected data from six sources: children or youth participating in the programmes; teachers accompanying the participants; organizational contact persons; creators/performers of the programmes; observing of the programmes by independent observers; and secondary research on the internet. In 2023, we repeated part of this data collection. In this article, we present the methodology used for the mapping in detail since we believe it can serve as a model for similar mappings in other countries.
During the second half of the 2012–13 theatre season, we mapped all then-existing educational theatre practices in Hungary against a standardized set of criteria. We contacted a total of 298 institutions and observed 118 programmes in person. For each programme, we collected data from six sources: children or youth participating in the programmes; teachers accompanying the participants; organizational contact persons; creators/performers of the programmes; observing of the programmes by independent observers; and secondary research on the internet. In this article, we present the descriptive statistical analysis of the findings. Areas covered include the role and significance of educational theatre; programme financing; participants and programme admission; number and length of sessions; programme venues; strategies and interactivity; aims and objectives; impacts; opinions; and relevance.
Completing Ph.D. degrees in western or European countries has long been a practice for students and researchers around the world, which contributes to scientific productivity, allows for international recognition and encourages international ties and collaboration between researchers from different countries. Many of these doctoral students conduct data collection for their research projects in their native language in their home country before moving on to the analysis and interpretation stages with the support of language translation. The quality of the translation process and interpretation of data has a huge impact on the ultimate effectiveness and success of proposed interventions. However, conducting data collection in one’s native language, particularly in creative arts such as drama, presents unique challenges for translation and interpretation processes. This article reflects upon the challenges encountered during the translation of data from two original sources – one in Australia and one in Sri Lanka – during an investigation of a process drama intervention. It discusses the cultural and linguistic appropriateness of research methodologies within different educational contexts, emphasizing the importance of considering these factors for ensuring research credibility and validity. By addressing these challenges, educators and researchers can create more inclusive and impactful learning environments for students across diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
The increased reliance on online platforms such as Zoom and Teams for skills training for allied health specialists has presented new challenges for the actor and the actor trainer. The research reported in this article grew out of a project set up to investigate these challenges. Since 2021, members of the Deakin University Theatre Department have been collaborating with the charity Anglicare Victoria to deliver online training for Rapid Response social workers who work with families in danger of having their children removed. This has involved recruiting and training actors to act as family members in relevant scenarios in ‘real play’ online simulations so the Anglicare Rapid Response trainee can develop essential skills. Within a practice-led research approach, we ask what might be required when this live embodied skillset is moved online. The article utilizes observations of the video recordings of the training sessions, recordings of debrief sessions and reflections from the author-actors to report on an emerging approach for preparing actors for this type of engagement. We reflect on the ways improvisation is impacted using the ‘online performance’ space, especially how status, eye gaze, body positioning and mise en scène can be utilized in the online environment. We also consider the importance of actor self-care. The article offers a basis of training for a field of endeavour that is becoming more prevalent in the post-COVID world: online simulation scenarios for care workers.
The 2022 Oberammergau Passion Play – a giant applied theatre project with almost 2000 participants, running for 110 performances over five months with a run time of over 5 hours – provides an opportunity to study how community participants use applied theatre’s ‘dead time’: the unstructured, unfacilitated time between onstage appearances. This study argues that in the tight spaces backstage, participants talk, play and engage in acts of care and mentorship, imbuing the dead time with tremendous social value. In fact, much to the initial surprise of the authors, most participants described their interest in the project as being primarily anchored in this dead time, rather than the staged action. These findings leave us with many salient questions for the field of applied theatre, and more research will be needed across varying contexts to better understand how to mitigate the social risks of dead time while invigorating its community-building potential.
