MIGRANT DRAMATURGIES NETWORK

Earlier in June we were thrilled to curate and host a collaborative and experimental performance & research event The Migrant Institute: performing (non)belonging and post-Brexit imaginaries focusing on UK-based migrant theatre and performance-makers and the activist aesthetics emerging from their artistic practice. 

>>> Watch Lara Parmiani’s (LegalAliens Theatre) performance workshop HERE  

The conversations centred on artistic and scholarly approaches of belongingness amidst multiple crises: Brexit, environmental crisis and the current Covid-19 health emergency. 

>>> Watch the group discussions at: #1, #2, #3, #4

Our discussions were guided by four inspiring position papers by Prof. Bridget Anderson (Migration Mobilities Bristol), Prof. Vicky Angelaki (Mid Sweden University), Prof. Myria Georgiou (London School of Economics), Dr Alison Jeffers and Ambrose Musiyiwa (University of Manchester). We were delighted to have the authors with us at this online event!

>>> Read & download the Intervention papers HERE 

Connecting theatre-makers, academics and cultural workers, the participants shared their experiences of migration and creative practices on crossings, belongings and interruptions. 

>>> Watch the wrap-up debate HERE

 The reflective dialogue and practice-led workshop also resulted in a short collaborative poem authored by multiple participants via online chat.

>>> Read and download the collaborative poem HERE

We are grateful for the Brigstow Institute (Bristol) for funding this ideas exchange! 

We hope to take The Migrant Institute project further and opening up new creative spaces for recognition: mapping, debating and sharing new perspectives in various regional and national settings internationally in the coming years. 

For more information on upcoming events and initiatives please contact us at: the.migrant.institute.uk@gmail.com 

[Gif created using Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash]

[Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash]

Looking for a chance to share your migration experience and creative practice and to connect with fellow migrant artists? Join us for ‘The Migrant Institute: performing (non)belonging & post-Brexit imaginaries’ on Tuesday, 9 June 2020, ONLINE, 10am-12 workshop / 2-3.30pm discussions.

The Migrant Dramaturgies Network is looking for first-generation migrant theatre and performance makers based in Bristol and the South West for a one-day ideas’ exchange to meet, discuss and share perspectives on artistic and creative practices informed by migration to the UK. We hope to explore new ways of performing migration and forge exciting new collaborations. This participatory event will feature a performance workshop with Lara Parmiani (artistic director of LegalAliens International Theatre, London) and a set of discussions facilitated by theatre, migration and media scholars.

The entire event is FREE to attend, and we welcome everyone who is interested in migration and performing arts! 

Due to limited availability, please register HERE.

For further info email:  the.migrant.institute.uk@gmail.com 

Keep reading

Join us at the Vault Festival in London on 4 March 2020 for Closed Lands and take part in the post-show discussion with French playwright, Simon Grangeat; director, Becka McFadden; David Furlong, artistic director of Exchange Theatre and Dr Szabolcs Musca from our research network. 

Keep reading

We are thrilled to announce the publication of the special journal issue of Performing Ethos: International Journal of Ethics in Theatre & Performance (Volume 9, Issue 1) on Theatre and Migration between Ethics and Aesthetics.

This journal issue looks at ethical positions and qualities in artistic processes and aesthetic modalities of migrant representation in contemporary theatre and performance in Europe and beyond. The articles and interventions, especially written for this issue discuss performances of migration as ethical spaces, looking at migrancy and performance within the triad of movement- identity- and community. The journal issue is informed by the work of Migrant Dramaturgies Network, an international research network that explores emerging dramaturgies of theatrical responses to migration in light of recent migration and shifts in global politics and economics.

Edited by Dr Szabolcs Musca

Interventions editor: Dr Alison Jeffers

Reviews editor: Dr Vicky Angelaki

The journal issue is now available online and in print. Details and content at: https://www.intellectbooks.com/performing-ethos-international-journal-of-ethics-in-theatre-performance

[Photo: CET]

The Migrant Dramaturgies Network was excited to be present this week at the EASTAP conference in Lisbon. Four members of our network presented papers, including Graça P. Corrêa, Katja Krebs, Yana Meerzon and Szabolcs Musca. Click here to see the abstracts.

The conference also featured a Migrant Dramaturgies Panel, chaired by network member Ana Bigotte Vieira, featuring papers from Solveig Gade on Arkadi Zaides’ Necropolis and Szabolcs Musca on Caroline Williams & Reem Karssli’s Now is the Time to Say Nothing.

We are grateful to Clare Finburgh, Peter Boenisch, Mark Robson and others for their comments and feedback on the fascinating issues discussed.

It has given me huge optimism that complex human realities can still be done justice through art.
Audience Feedback: Day 2

The opening aim of Migrations: Harbour Europe was to find key texts that addressed the theme of migration, avoiding the pitfall noted by Chimamanda Adichie of “falling for the single story, reducing complex human beings to a single narrative”.

Keep reading

In February this year, we were thrilled to co-produce Migrations: Harbour Europe that took place at the Arcola Theatre in London. After receiving 157 play submissions from across Europe, three plays were chosen, workshopped and presented in collaboration with LegalAliens Theatre.

The aim was to find plays that addressed the theme of migration in an original and non clichéd manner, and each of the plays did just this: Genesis by Chiara Boscaro (Italy), The Sea is My Nation by Hala Moughanie (Lebanon/France) and Closed Lands by Simon Grangeat (France).

The event provided a forum for encounters with members from a variety of sectors, practitioners and academics, and the lively Q&As and public debate (curated by Dr Szabolcs Musca) offered a space for debate and interchanges drawing from themes within the plays. Several of our members were involved in the event including Dr Vicky Angelaki, Dr Graça P Correa, Dr Bernadette Cochrane, Dr Alison Jeffers and Dr Roxanna Paire.

Following this event, LegalAliens Theatre also presented the readings at the Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury. Click here for more information.

The feedback from the audience was rich and reflective, listen to the Q&A sessions from the event here: https://soundcloud.com/legalalienstheatre

[Photo by Bram. on Unsplash]

‘J'existe!’ Migrant Theatre between Ethics and Aesthetics

Wednesday 29 May, 4-6pm, Rm 3.13, Theatre Department, Cantocks Close

Keep reading

We are really happy to see the publication of a special journal issue on ‘Playing Inclusion. The Performing Arts in the Time of Migrations: Thinking, Creating and Acting Inclusion’, edited by Roberta Carpani & Giulia Innocenti Malini. Our contribution on theatre, migration and crisis can be accessed freely via the following link: https://tinyurl.com/y3ytb42v 

© Communicazioni Sociali. Journal of Media, Performing Arts and Cultural Studies

We are happy to see the publication of the new European Journal of Theatre and Performance by EASTAP. Their 1st issue is themed: ‘Spectres of Europe: European Theatre between Communitarianism and Cosmopolitanism’. It was great to contribute with a book review on S.E. Wilmer’s Performing Statelessness in Europe, an important monograph on theatre and migration. You can access the review via: 

https://journal.eastap.com/2019/01/21/performing-statelessness-in-europe-by-s-e-wilmer/

[SM]

We’ve been delighted to contribute to ‘Theatres of Migration: Crossing Artistic and Cultural Borders’, a research seminar hosted by the University of Bristol’s Theatre Department on 11 February 2019.

Keep reading

Happy to share this article on the work of Madalena Victorino and Festival Todos, published by RiDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, focusing on #theatre & #migration , #Refugees & #performance in #Lisbon. First 50 downloads free! Please follow the link below to access the article:

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/kXH2UxBK8nJybp92VJ5B/full?target=10.1080/13569783.2019.1568866

As part of Migrations: Harbour Europe (5-7 February 2019, Arcola Theatre, London) we put together a programme of engaging post-show conversations and a panel debate on emerging perspectives of theatre and migration today.

Book your free tickets for the staged readings and participate in the Q&As and debates afterwards.

Keep reading

The three plays of Migrations: Harbour Europe are the result of a Europe-wide call we launched in 2018 in collaboration with LegalAliens Theatre. The aim was to find texts addressing the theme of migration in an original and non cliched manner, avoiding the pitfall, noted by Chimamanda Adichie of “falling for the single story, reducing complex human beings to a single narrative”.

The plays will be presented at the Arcola Theatre, Studio 2 from 1.30pm on the 5th, 6th, 7th of February 2019, directed by Becka McFadden and performed by a multilingual international cast: Luiana Bonfim, Daiva Dominyka, Lara Parmiani, Stelios Trakas.

Every reading will be followed by a Q&A/debate curated by Dr Szabolcs Musca (University of Lisbon/ New Tides Platform UK/ Migrant Dramaturgies Network).

Keep reading