A range of performing arts practitioners from across Europe will come together in Bristol this September for a unique conference on current research issues in theatre, dance, film and television.
Practice as Research in Performance (PARIP) is a five-year project led by Bristol University’s Department of Drama: Theatre, Film and Television, and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board. It explores and documents a wide range of performance media practices currently being undertaken by researchers in higher education institutions alongside their traditional academic writing. Examples of such practices include devised theatre (collaborative performance making, with or without a formal script), experiments in historical stage reconstruction and approaches to multi-screen and interactive cinema.
PARIP 2003 – the UK’s first national conference on practice as research in the performance media – will take place in the University’s Department of Drama from Thursday 11 September to Sunday 14 September 2003.
The conference will involve a series of morning workshops comprising performances, screenings and demonstrations, followed by afternoon discussions on the key issues raised. Evening events have also been organized to inspire further discussion and collaboration.
On the Thursday evening, there will be performances by some of the UK’s most innovative practitioners, including Jon Hough and David Woods, together known as Ridiculusmus, one of the most prolific and respected independent theatre companies in the country. They will perform Ideas Men, a show about two men working in their own creativity department in a city-based firm, who are under pressure to come up with new ideas but, unfortunately, have none.
The Saturday evening will be devoted to the ‘Best of Bristol’, a mix of live art, music and visuals. Tom Marshman and Brenda Waite will perform i know i promised you a party trick, in which a jazz soundtrack accompanies a confessional monologue, delivered in the style of a nightclub performer, while a table is laid in preparation for a celebratory event. Video artist Jon Dovey, newly appointed Reader in the Department of Drama, will be mixing moving images while the Bad Snax DJs (Jem Noble, Ashton Court Festival’s Blackout organizer, and David Hopkinson) provide the music.
Dr Angela Piccini, Research Associate for PARIP said: “We are delighted that the first major conference in the UK on practice as research in the performance media is being hosted by the Department of Drama: Theatre, Film, Television. Bristol was the obvious choice for PARIP 2003 not only because it hosts the parent research project but also because the wide range of creative practices represented by departmental academic staff reinforces PARIP's research aims.
“We hope that the conference will bring together a really diverse group of artist-scholars in the creative and performing arts from across the UK and the rest of Europe to enjoy an exciting programme of performances, presentations, workshops and evening events.”