Image © Ute Langkafel from Heiner Müller, Hamletmachine, dir. Sebastian Nübling, Gorki Exil Ensemble, prem. 24 Feb. 2018

Dr Margherita Laera, Senior Lecturer in Drama in the School of Arts, and Professor Peter Boenisch from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, are organising a conference entitled ‘Performing Multilingualism in Europe and Beyond: Migration, Globalisation, Utopia’ with the participation of Gintersdorfer / Klassen and Maxim-Gorki-Theater, Berlin. The conference will feature Professor Yana Meerzon (University of Ottawa) as keynote speaker, and will be hosted by the School of Arts on Friday 13 September 2019.

In an increasingly inter-connected world characterised by flows of people, goods and capital, multilingualism has become a feature in many social environments, highlighting the importance of translation in human communication. Whether enforced by financial waves, mass movement, tourism, education systems or colonialism, speaking multiple languages has become a feature of increasing importance in our societies. How do theatre and performance makers deal with multilingualism?

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Multilingualism in rehearsals
• Multilingualism and performers
• Multilingualism and dramaturgy
• Multilingualism and audiences
• Classifications and new trends of multilingual performance
• Multilingualism and ideology
• Multilingualism and migration
• Multilingualism and post-colonialism
• Multilingualism and/as Utopia/Dystopia

The organisers invite the submission of 300-word proposals for 20-minute papers by 6 May 2019. Please send your proposals to: performingmultilingualism@gmail.com

You can find out more about the conference on the School of Arts webpages

The Centre for English and World Languages runs an intensive CELTA training course starting on 17 June. CELTA (Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) is an internationally recognised qualification. Find out more.

Have a go at journalism or plan your career with a FREE Study Plus course this term.

Journalism (KE044)

Study Plus and the Centre for Journalism are running a free journalism course from 10th – 14th June. If you’re thinking of journalism as a career, you want to add a Year in Journalism to your degree, or you are considering doing a Master’s in Multimedia Journalism, this course is for you.

The course offers an intensive immersion in the basic principles and practices of journalism in the multimedia age. You will learn what professional journalists do and how they do it. You will experience the pressure and pleasure of making real journalism to real deadlines under professional leadership.

The course is taught at the Centre for Journalism on the Medway campus, but is open to all Kent students (UG and PG). You can catch the free shuttle bus from Canterbury campus to Medway (you need to book this online)

Postgraduate Career Toolkit (KE163)

This two-hour session, delivered by the Careers and Employability Service, will help you explore the careers options open to you after you finish your postgrad studies and help you on your way to your chosen career. Book your place via the Workshops page in SDS.

For more information, please visit the Study Plus website.

On Saturday 27th April Gateways to the First World War presents a free lecture-concert with the Invicta Concert Band at Westgate Hall, Canterbury, as part of our AHRC-funded public engagement programme.

Dr Emma Hanna (School of History) and Dr Helen Brooks (School of Arts) will bring together their respective expertise in the histories of wartime music and wartime theatre to explore the story of the West End during the First World War. In August 1914 theatre managers were worried about the impact of the war on their businesses. Yet rather than causing a decline in theatre-going, the war provided a much-needed boost to the British theatre industry. Across the country theatres played a vital role in the war effort: encouraging recruitment, raising money for various war charities, and maintaining the morale of both civilians and service personnel.

With the Invicta Concert Band and professional singers bringing the songs to life, this is a unique opportunity to experience the music and stories from some of the biggest hits of the war years, including Chu Chin Chow, A Little Bit of Fluff, and The Bing Boys Are Here.

A must for any fan of musical theatre and theatre history!

Doors and bar open 6.30pm. Concert starts at 7pm. You can book your place online.

The University of Kent Players present a live recording of The Maltese Falcon, a staged radio play performed outside in the Eliot Cloisters, Canterbury on 4 and 5 May 2019.

In this noir classic, detective Sam Spade gets more than he bargained for when he takes a case brought to him by a beautiful but secretive woman. As soon as Miss Wonderly shows up, trouble follows… Entangled in a dangerous web of crime and intrigue, Sam realises he must find the one thing they all seem to want: the bejewelled Maltese falcon.

Radio dramas were once the most popular form of entertainment and were usually broadcast as live performances. This performance recreates the entire experience – from actors performing to a foley team creating sound effects such as slamming doors and gun shots.

The performance duration is approximately one hour. This is an outdoor event, bring a picnic, a blanket and relax outside as we take you back to the golden age of 1940s radio style entertainment. Tickets can be bought online here.

Situated in the heart of campus, Eliot College is accessible to all. Visitors can park in Eliot Car Park (recommended), Becket Court Car Park, and Keynes College Car Park. If using sat nav use post code CT2 7NS.

What is a Staged Radio Play?

Radio dramas were once the most popular form of entertainment and were usually broadcast as live performances. The staged radio plays performed by the University of Kent Players aim to recreate the entire experience- from actors performing to a foley team creating sound effects such as swimming pools and doors slamming.

You can view a highlight reel from the University of Kent Players November 2017 staged radio play – The Philadelphia Story.

Funny Rabbit, the comedy club created by Dr Oliver Double, Reader in Drama in the School of Arts, is a new kind of comedy club – radical and exciting, but also warm and snuggly as a bunny rabbit. Whether you’ve never seen live comedy before or you’ve been watching it for decades, Funny Rabbit is for you.

The third show on 12 April 2019 features star acts Vikki Stone, who has appeared on The John Bishop Show (BBC1), The Now Show (Radio 4), as well as This Morning (ITV), and Jack Gleadow, winner of Great Yorkshire Fringe Comedian of the Year 2017, Amused Moose National New Comic 2017, and Leicester Mercury Comedian 2018. The show will also feature a joke competition from Olly as host and compere.

In addition, two students from the School of Arts will be performing guest acts: Christy Hinchliffe and Patrick Mckinley, who are both studying on the BA (Hons) Drama and Theatre programme.

Tickets cost £5/£7. For details and to book, please click here.

The Department of Religious Studies will be hosting the 2019 Kent-Ghent Asian Studies Day with the theme ‘Health, Well-Being and the Body’, at the University of Kent on Saturday 18 May.

Organised by Dr Leslie de Vries, Lecturer in East Asian Studies, the event is open to students, staff members and the general public, and will explore ideas on health, well-being and the body in a variety of Asian cultures. Combining diverse methodological approaches from the humanities and social sciences, the speakers will cover a wide range of fascinating topics, including meditation, traditional medicine, self-cultivation and modern perceptions of ‘good food’.

The aim of the day is not only to showcase teaching and research on Asia at the universities of Kent and Ghent but also to stimulate debate across academic disciplines and to enhance comparative reflection by taking Asia seriously. How Asia can contribute to the medical humanities and social sciences? How should we raise growing awareness in regards to decolonising the curriculum? The Kent-Ghent Asian Studies day will answer these questions and more, and is the first in a series of research and teaching events focused on Asia organised in the framework of the strategic partnership between the University of Kent and Ghent University.

Nominations can now be made for the 2019 Graduate School Prizes.

The Graduate School annual prizes were set up to recognise the excellence of its postgraduate researchers and the outstanding work carried out by academic and administrative staff members in support of postgraduate research and education.

There are five categories:

• PG Researcher
• Research Degree Supervisor,
• School Director of Graduate Studies
• Postgraduate Administrator
• Postgraduate Teacher

Apply or nominate a candidate now via the Graduate School website. Deadline for nominations is 8 May 2019, and winners will be announced on 30 May 2019 at the Researcher Showcase.