Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

About: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama is a education organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Political theatre & Queer. The organization has 57 authors who have published 94 publications receiving 332 citations. The organization is also known as: CSSD & The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art.

Finding a concrete utopia in the dystopia of a ‘sub-city’

Abstract: This article examines a 10-year long series of annual short-term interventions with young people living in Dharavi (India) that has led to a number of public theatre events. The partnership offers a unique training experience to students from the UK in theatre facilitation, and a regular opportunity to participate in theatre for young people in Dharavi. It brings together students from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (University of London), working collaboratively with an Indian theatre practitioner, an NGO based in Mumbai, and young people who live in Dharavi. In the article, I explore the role theatre plays in the precarious lives of those who live in Dharavi, and the potential of this on-going partnership to develop a theatre of change in a community and site affected by extreme poverty. Focusing on the longevity of this applied theatre project and drawing on the writing of Paul Ricoeur on utopia, I argue that this on-going exchange can be understood both as a form of cultural inva...

Finding a Way: More Tales of Dyslexia and Dyspraxia in Psychophysical Actor Training

Abstract: This article proposes a radical paradigm shift for actor training and voice training. Using heuristic practice-based research findings, the article highlights how progressive education meth...

The Copla Musical: Exploring Intercultural Exchanges between English and Spanish Musical Theatre

Abstract: My Practice as Research consists in adapting the early twentieth-century Spanish folkloric song-form of Copla, by appropriating elements found in American musical theatre, namely, musical revue, book-based musical, and juke box-style shows. The outcome of this practical research is to create an imagined model for Spanish contemporary musical theatre while critically reflecting on the intercultural practice that is implicit in this project. In this paper, I discuss three intercultural processes of my practice through the critical lens of theorists Pavis and of Lo and Gilbert; and I comment on the ‘readability’ of the Copla song by a multicultural audience of 21st Century London. I hypothesise that by appropriating elements found in Anglo-style musical theatre a new hybrid intercultural songform (English Copla) should shed light on the development of contemporary musical theatre. Moreover, I offer a means to interrogate current definitions of interculturalism and its operation through creative practice. T he Copla Musical : los intercambios entre el musical ingles y espanol Mi investigacion consiste en la adaptacion de la copla, genero folklorico-teatral de principios del siglo XX, mediante la apropiacion de elementos de la tradicion del teatro musical americano, en concreto, de la comedia musical, el drama musical y el jukebox. Los objetivos de esta investigacion son crear un modelo imaginario para la evolucion del musical espanol contemporaneo y, al mismo tiempo, hacer una reflexion sobre la practica intercultural implicita en el proyecto. En este articulo explico tres procesos interculturales a traves de las teorias de Pavis y Lo and Gilbert; y hablo sobre la legibilidad de la copla frente a un publico multicultural del siglo XXI en la cosmopolita Londres. Mi hipotesis propone que, mediante la apropiacion de elementos del teatro musical anglosajon, un nuevo hibrido cultural (la copla inglesa) puede iluminar el desarrollo del musical contemporaneo e interrogar las definiciones actuales del interculturalismo y su funcionamiento.

The Handbook of Art Therapy and Digital Technology, Cathy Malchiodi (ed.) (2018)

Abstract: Review of: The Handbook of Art Therapy and Digital Technology, Cathy Malchiodi (ed.) (2018) London and Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 416 pp., ISBN 978-1-78592-792-8, p/bk, £24.99

Sticky Stories: Joe Orton, Queer History, Queer Dramaturgy

Abstract: This paper investigates the resonances of Orton’s work for contemporary queer audiences. By presenting potential reasons for the rise and fall in popularity and visibility of Orton’s work for queer and gay audiences through the 1980s and 1990s, this paper looks to the queer context in which Joe Orton’s work developed in order to explore the queer social history into which it fits. This sense of queer history is linked to contemporary notions of queer theorising about temporalities and queer dramaturgy, which offers potentially novel ways of engaging with Orton’s work queerly without twisting it to fit a ‘neat’ reading, in part because such readings tend to ‘smooth out’ the more difficult elements of the work. In particular, the paper explores the theatrical form of farce, often articulated as conservative, in relation to queer positions, which are quite the opposite. In so doing, the paper, by way of queer temporalities and work on queer dramaturgies, sketches out a reading strategy that does not ...