We have some exciting Drama and Theatre research events coming up this term! Not to be missed!
The Aesthetics Research Centre and The Centre for Cognition, Kinesthetics & Performance, invite you to:
‘Interacting with Aesthetics: A Research Exchange’
with Professor John Lutterbie, Center for Embodied Cognition at Stony Brook University.
Monday 19th January 2015, 5.30pm-7pm
Drinks will be served in the Jarman Foyer between 5.30pm and 6pm Lutterbie will discuss the theory of time-based aesthetics he is developing based on experiences with theatrical performances and visual art. This work is founded in Phenomenology and Cognitive Science, as well as the modernist theories of theatre articulated by Bertolt Brecht and Antonin Artaud, and the post-structuralist philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. This will lead into discussion of the synergies between ARC, CKP and the Center for Embodied Cognition (Stony Brook University) and the potential for further collaboration.
John Lutterbie is a Professor at Stony Brook University where he serves as co-director of the Center for Embodied Cognition, and chairs the departments of Art and Theatre Arts. Lutterbie is currently working on two monographs, one on time-based aesthetics that explores the cognitive foundations of the embodied experience of art, and the other a textbook that engages students at the intersection of theatre/performance studies and cognitive science. He is the author of Toward a General Theory of Acting: Cognitive Science and Performance (Palgrave Macmillan) and Hearing Voices: Modern Drama and the Problem of Subjectivity (University of Michigan Press). He has essays in Performance and Cognition: Theatre Studies and the Cognitive Turn, Theatre Journal, The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Performance Research, The Journal of Psychiatry and the Humanities, and Modern Drama. He is currently an associate editor for The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, and Theatre Topics; and is co-editor of the Science and Performance series with Methuen.
For further queries please contact Nicki Shaughnessy: n.shaughnessy@kent.ac.uk
All are welcome to attend, however, if you are will be attending the Drinks Reception it would be helpful if you could RVSP to Sarah Passfield at sgp20@kent.ac.uk
Location
Studio 2,
Jarman Building,
The University of Kent,
Canterbury,
Kent,
CT2 7UG
United Kingdom
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Open to All, Free
with Dr Sophie Quirk, University of Kent
Wednesday 25th March 2015, 5pm-7pm
Practitioners, audiences and critics are often dismissive of political comedy’s impact. It is argued that audiences only attend political performances if they already agree with the performer; further, that audiences will not laugh at ideas that they find too subversive. As laughter depends upon consensus and success depends upon laughter, the comedian can have no impact on wider social attitudes. These assumptions have often troubled political artists and have influenced their practice. Some, like comedians Stewart Lee and Josie Long, have developed an unusual artistic policy, often disrupting conventional joke-laugh rhythms on principle and refusing to acknowledge laughter ratios as the key marker of success. Others, including Mark Thomas and Mark Steel, have made a virtue of preaching to the converted, using the agreement of live audiences to power wider social change. This paper challenges assumptions about what political comedy’s impact might look like, and argues for a better understanding of how it goes about mattering. I draw on practitioner interviews and key concepts in sociological social psychology to argue that both of the above approaches may be effective in shaping the attitudes of audience members. In so doing, I aim to demonstrate that the much-maligned practice of ‘preaching to the converted’ really matters.
Sophie Quirk is a Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at the University of Kent where she primarily teaches popular and comic performance. She is currently working on a monograph entitled Why Stand-up Matters: How Comedians Manipulate and Influence. The book explores the social and political influence of contemporary British stand-up comedy, and is due to be published by Methuen in September 2015.
Location
Keynes Lecture Theatre 6,
Keynes College,
The University of Kent,
Canterbury,
Kent,
CT2 7NP
United Kingdom
Map
Details
Open to All, Free