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Professor Brian Singleton

Professor Brian Singleton

Fellow Emeritus, Drama

http://people.tcd.ie/bsnglton

Biography

Brian Singleton is Fellow Emeritus in Drama at Trinity College Dublin, and until 2025 he was Samuel Beckett Professor of Drama & Theatre, and Academic Director (and co-founder) of The Lir " National Academy of Dramatic Art. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Rose Bruford College (UK) in 2011 in recognition of his `outstanding international contributions to theatre research, scholarship, and drama education".
He has published widely on orientalism and interculturalism in performance from the 19th century onwards. His research on Irish theatre includes the monographs Masculinities and the Contemporary Irish Theatre and ANU Productions: The Monto Cycle (Palgrave Macmillan), and his most recent journal articles appeared in Orbis Litterarum and Contemporary Theatre Review. Brian is former Senior Editor of Theatre Research International (Cambridge University Press) and former President of the International Federation for Theatre Research. In 2012 he and Janelle Reinelt won the ATHE Excellence in Editing Award for their 40-volume book series `Studies in International Performance" published by Palgrave Macmillan. He also edited with Elaine Aston a further 24-volume book series `Contemporary Performance Inter Actions" for Palgrave Macmillan. His monograph Theatre and Performance in Neoliberal Ireland: the Decade of Centenaries was published by Palgrave Macmillan in July 2026. He is currently writing an essay on David Bowie.

 

 

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • Brian Singleton, Peer Review, Contemporary Theatre Review, 25, (1), 2015, p26 - 29Journal Article, 2015
  • Brian Singleton, Masculinities and the Contemporary Irish Theatre, London & New York, Palgrave , 2015, 1-227ppBook, 2015
  • Beckett and the Non-Place in Irish Performance in, editor(s)Trish McTighe, David Tucker , Staging Beckett in Ireland and Northern Ireland, London, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2016, pp169 - 184, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2016
  • Irish Theatre Devised in, editor(s)Nicholas Grene & Chris Morash , The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016, pp559 - 574, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2016
  • Brian Singleton, Oscar Asche, Orientalism and British Musical Comedy, Westport, CT & London, Praeger, 2004, xiv + 1 - 219ppBook, 2004
  • Brian Singleton, Artaud: Le Théâtre et son double (Critical Guides to French Texts No. 118), London, Grant & Cutler Ltd, 1998, 1 - 98ppBook, 1998
  • Theatre Research International, 26, 1-3, (2001), 1 - 319p, Brian Singleton, [ed.], 2001-3Journal, 2001
  • Theatre Research international, 27, 1-3, (2002), 1 - 316p, Brian Singleton, [ed.], 2001-3Journal, 2002
  • Theatre Research international, 27, 1-3, (2003), 1 - 347p, Brian Singleton, [ed.], 2001-3Journal, 2003
  • Theatre Research International, 22, 2, (1997), 93-184 - Brian Singleton, [ed.], Guest editor: Theatre & InterculturalismJournal, 1997
  • Claude Schumacher & Brian Singleton, Artaud on Theatre, New Edition, London, Methuen, 2001, xxxvi + 1 - 246ppBook, 2001
  • Australasian Drama Studies, 43, (2003), 1 - 202p, Brian Singleton & Anna McMullan, [eds.], Guest Editor: Performing IrelandJournal, 2003
  • Modern Drama, XLVII, 4, (2004), ii + 561 - 734p, Karen Fricker & Brian Singleton, [eds.], Guest Editor: Critical IrelandJournal, 2004, URL
  • Mnouchkine's Shakespeare: A Textual Record of a Theatre's Practice in, editor(s)Nicole Vigouroux-Frey , Traduire le théâtre aujourd'hui, Rennes, Le Spectaculaire/Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 1993, pp111 - 118, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 1993
  • Later Nineteenth-Century Theatre in, editor(s)David Baguley , A Critical Bibliography of French Literature, The Nineteenth Century , Syracuse, NY, Syracuse University Press, 1994, pp1250 - 1286, [Brian Singleton & Claude Schumacher]Book Chapter, 1994
  • Earliest Memories: Spectating the Periphery of Theatre in, editor(s)Roger Deldime , Le Théâtre et le temps qui passe, Brussels, Editions Lansman, 1995, pp152 - 155, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 1995
  • Mnouchkine and Shakespeare: Intercultural Theatre Practice in, editor(s)Holger Klein & Jean-Marie Maguin , Shakespeare and France, Lewiston, NY, Edwin Mellen Press, 1995, pp307 - 326, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 1995
  • The Cartoucherie: The Théâtre du Soleil's Performative Site in, editor(s)Irene Eynat Confino & Eva Sormova , Space and the Postmodern Stage, Prague, Theatre Institute, 2000, pp138 - 145, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2000
  • The Revival Revised in, editor(s)Shaun Richards , The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Irish Drama, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp258 - 270, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2004
  • Inscenovanie Orientu: Interculturalizmus,Vládnice Mocnosti a Globálna Konumná Spolocnost in, editor(s)Sonia Simková , Stretnutie Kultúr a Divadlo, Bratislava, VSMU, 2001, pp13 - 28, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2001
  • Brian Singleton, The Beauty of the Resistable Tyrant: Tamerlan at the Théâtre de l'Epée de bois, Theatre Research International, 16, (2), 1991, p83 - 108Journal Article, 1991
  • Brian Singleton, Postmodernisme et interculturalisme, L'Annuaire théâtrale: Revue québecoise d'études théâtrales, (15), 1994, p107 - 119Journal Article, 1994
  • Brian Singleton, Patrick Mason and the Preservation of the Irish Theatre Repertoire at the Abbey, Western European Stages, 6, (3), 1994, p69 - 74Journal Article, 1994
  • Brian Singleton, Interculturalist Theatre Practice and the Postmodern Debate, Gramma: Journal of Dramatic theory and Criticism, 3, 1995, p157 - 167Journal Article, 1995
  • Brian Singleton, Body Politic(s): The Actor as Mask in the Théâtre du Soleil's Les Atrides and La Ville parjure, Modern Drama, 39, (4), 1996, p618 - 625Journal Article, 1996
  • Brian Singleton, Receiving Les Atrides Productively: Mnouchkine's Intercultural Signs as Intertexts, Theatre Research International, 22, (1), 1997, p19 - 23Journal Article, 1997
  • Brian Singleton, Introduction: The Pursuit of Otherness for the Investigation of Self, Theatre Research International, 22, (2), 1997, p93 - 97Journal Article, 1997
  • Brian Singleton, K. N. Panikkar's Teyyateyyam: Resisting Interculturalism Through Ritual Practice, Theatre Research International, 22, (2), 1997, p162 - 169Journal Article, 1997
  • Brian Singleton, The Representation of Shakespeare Through the Discourse of Interculturalism by Ariane Mnouchkine and the Théâtre du Soleil, ALFA (Actes de langue française et llinguistique), 10/11, 1997, p139 - 144Journal Article, 1997
  • Brian Singleton, Challenging Myth and Tradition: National/Cultural Identity and the Irish Theatrical Canon, Modern Drama, XLIII, (2), 2000, p265 - 275Journal Article, 2000
  • Brian Singleton, Relocating Irish Theatre at the Millennium, Western European Stages, 13, (1), 2001, p103 - 108Journal Article, 2001
  • Brian Singleton, Strangers in the House: Reconfiguring the Borders of National and Cultural Identities in Contemporary Irish Theatre, European Review, 9, (3), 2001, p293 - 303Journal Article, 2001
  • Brian Singleton, K. N. Panikkar's Teyyateyyam: Resisting Interculturalism Through Ritual Practice, Indian Literature, XLV, (5), 2001, p133 - 140Journal Article, 2001
  • Brian Singleton, Performing the Orient, Journal of the Korean Society for Theatre History Research, 4, 2001, p7 - 23Journal Article, 2001
  • Brian Singleton, Overseas Forum: Performing the Orient, The Performing Arts and Film Review, 35, 2001, p166 - 173Journal Article, 2001
  • Brian Singleton, A Forum on Theatre and Tragedy in the Wake of September 11, 2001, Theatre Journal, 54, (1), 2002, p119 - 120Journal Article, 2002
  • Theatre Research International, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, [ed.], 2001-2004Editorial Board, 2001
  • New Theatre Quarterly, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, [ed.], 2004Editorial Board, 2004
  • These Childish Things by Raymond Cousse in, editor(s)David Bradby & Claude Schumacher , New French Plays, London, Methuen, 1989, pp67 - 91, [Brian Singleton, translator]Book Chapter, 1989
  • Fantasio by Alfred de Musset in, editor(s)Claude Schumacher , Musset: Five Plays, London, Methuen, 1995, pp39 - 78, [Brian Singleton, translator]Book Chapter, 1995
  • South Asian Review, Bloomington, IN, Indiana University, [ed.], 2003Editorial Board, 2003
  • South Asian Review, Bloomington, IN, South Asian Literary Association, [eds.], 2000-2003Editorial Board, 2000
  • Contemporary Theatre Review, London, Taylor & Francis, [ed.], 2005Editorial Board, 2005
  • Brian Singleton, ANU Productions: The Monto Cycle, London, Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2016, i - 109ppBook, 2016, URL
  • Brian Singleton, Feeling Eurovision: Salvador Sobral and the Sociality of Emotion, Royal Musical Society Annual Conference, University of Liverpool, 7-9 September , 2017, University of Liverpool, Music DepartmentInvited Talk, 2017
  • Brian Singleton, From Rising to Riot: Irish Theatre's Retrofuture, Critical Stages: Scènes Critiques, (16), 2017Journal Article, 2017
  • Brian Singleton, Actor Training: Emotions in the Moment, Care Under Pressure 2: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Simulation, Queens University Belfast, 6-7 April , 2018, Departments of Drama, Medicine, Social WorkInvited Talk, 2018
  • Antoine, the Avant-Garde and the Modern Audience in, editor(s)Peta Tait , The Great European Stage Directors Volume 1 Antoine, Stanislavski, Saint-Denis, London, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2018, pp19 - 40, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2018, URL
  • Lily Brayton: A Theatre Maker in Every Sense in, editor(s)Maggie B. Gale & Kate Dorney , Stage Women 1900-50: Female Theatre Workers and Professional Practice, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2019, pp191 - 215, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2019
  • Censorship and Sensitivities: Performing Tolerance in Postsecular Britain in, editor(s)Charlotte McIvor & Jason King , Interculturalism and Performance Now: New Directions?, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp213 - 233, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2019, URL
  • Ariane Mnouchkine: Activism, Formalism, Cosmopolitanism in, editor(s)Maria M. Delgado & Dan Rebellato , Contemporary European Theatre Directors, 2nd revised edition, Abingdon & New York, Routledge, 2020, pp39 - 60, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2020
  • Brian Singleton, The Political Trajectories of Contemporary Irish Performance, Theatre Journal, 68, (3), 2016, p473 - 481Journal Article, 2016
  • Karen Fricker & Brian Singleton, Irish Theatre: Conditions of Criticism, Modern Drama, 47, (4), 2004, p561 - 571Journal Article, 2004, DOI
  • Brian Singleton, Holding the Irish Queer Archive: An Interview with Louise Lowe and Lynnette Moran on ANU Productions' Faultline, Contemporary Theatre Review, 31, (1-2), 2021, p204 - 211Journal Article, 2021, DOI
  • Brian Singleton, ANU Productions and the Performance of Otherness, Orbis Litterarum, 76, (6), 2021, p301 - 311Journal Article, 2021, DOI
  • Brian Singleton, Standing by Small Acts of Citizenship: Contemporary Irish Theatre at the Faultlines of Social Change, International Federation for Theatre Research Annual Conference, National University of Ireland Galway, 12-16 July, 2021, NUIG/IFTRInvited Talk, 2021, URL
  • Brian Singleton, Finding the Intracultural, or How Kavalam Narayana Panikkar Found Me, Sangeet Natak, LV, (1-4), 2021, p238 - 250Journal Article, 2021
  • Riotous Assembly: Performing Gender and Social Justice in thisispopbaby's RIOT in, editor(s)J. Paul Halferty & Cathy Leeney , Analysing Gender in Performance, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, pp241 - 257, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2022, URL
  • Interculturalism and Migration in Performance: From Distant Otherness to the Precarity of Proximity in, editor(s)Yana Meerzon & S. E. Wilmer , The Palgrave Handbook of Theatre and Migration, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023, pp91 - 101, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2023, URL
  • Queering the Church: Sexual and Spiritual Neo-Orthodoxies in Six Feet Under in, editor(s)Kim Akass & Janet McCabe , Reading Six Feet Under: TV to Die For, London & New York, I. B. Tauris, 2005, pp161 - 173, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2005, URL
  • Interculturalism in, editor(s)Brad Kent and David Kornhaber , The Cambridge Companion to Modernist Theatre, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2025, pp267 - 284, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2025, URL
  • Brian Singleton, Theatre and Performance in Neoliberal Ireland: The Decade of Centenaries, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2026, xii + 343ppBook, 2026
  • Ravi Chaturvedi & Brian Singleton, Ethnicity & Identity: Global Performance, New Delhi, Rawat, 2005, 1 - 460ppBook, 2005
  • Hunters, Heroes and the Hegemonically Masculine Fantasies of Depserate Housewives in, editor(s)Janet McCabe & Kim Akass , Reading Desperate Housewives: Beyond the White Picket Fence, London & New York, I. B. Tauris, 2006, pp106 - 116, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2006
  • Sick, Dying, Dead, Dispersed: The Evanescence of Patriarchy in Contemporary Irish Women's Theatre in, editor(s)Melissa Sihra , Women in Irish Drama: A Century of Authorship and Representation, Basingstoke, UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, pp186 - 200, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2007, URL
  • Am I Talking to Myself? Men, Masculinities and the Monologue in Contemporary Irish Theatre in, editor(s)Clare Wallace , Monologues: Theatre, Performance, Subjectivity, Prague, Litteraria Pragensia, 2006, pp260 - 277, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2006
  • Performing Conflict Migration and Testimony in, editor(s)Karen Fricker and Ronit Lentin , Performing Global Networks, Newcastle, UK, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007, pp25 - 37, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2007
  • Part of the Show: The Global Networking of Irish Eurovision Song Contest Fans in, editor(s)Karen Fricker and Ronit Lentin , Performing Global Networks, Newcastle, UK, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007, pp139 - 162, [Karen Fricker, Elena Moreo, Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2007
  • Brian Singleton, Karen Fricker & Elena Moreo, Performing the queer network. Fans and Families at the Eurovision Song Contest, SQS: Journal of Queer Studies in Finland, 2, (2), 2007, p12 - 24Journal Article, 2007
  • Brian Singleton, The Performance of Artaud in Ireland, Etudes Irlandaises, 33, (2), 2008, p43 - 52Journal Article, 2008
  • Foreword in, editor(s)Ravi Chaturvedi , Theatre and Democracy, Jaipur & New Delhi, Rawat, 2008, pp9 - 11, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2008
  • Queer Eye on the Irish Guy: Transgressive Sexualities and the Performance of Nation in, editor(s)Melissa Sihra & Paul Murphy , The Dreaming Body: Contemporary Irish Theatre, Gerrard's Cross, Buckinghamshire, Colin Smythe, 2009, pp99 - 114, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2009
  • Intercultural Shakespeare from Intracultural Sources: Two Korean Performances in, editor(s)Lee, Hyon-u , Glocalizing Shakespeare in Korea and Beyond, Seoul, Dongin Publishing, 2009, pp179 - 198, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2009
  • Asian Theatres, Mnouchkine, and Shakespeare: The Search for a Theatrical Form in, editor(s)Poonam Trivedi & Minami Ryuta , Re-playing Shakespeare in Asia, London & New York, Routledge, 2010, pp41 - 53, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2010
  • Ariane Mnouchkine: Activism, Formalism, Cosmopolitanism in, editor(s)Maria M. Delgado & Dan Rebellato , Contemporary European Theatre Directors, London & New York, Routledge, 2010, pp29 - 48, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2010
  • Narratives of Nostalgia: Oriental Evasions about the London Stage in, editor(s)Charlotte M. Canning & Thomas Postlewait , Representing the Past: Essays in Performance Historiography, Iowa City, Iowa University Press, 2010, pp351 - 377, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2010
  • Brian Singleton, Christopher Balme, Freddie Rokem, TRI's Cambridge Years: A Retrospective, Theatre Research International, 35, (3), 2010, p222 - 231Journal Article, 2010
  • Brian Singleton, Masculinities and the Contemporary Irish Theatre, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, 256ppBook, 2011
  • B Singleton, Mise en Scène, Contemporary Theatre Review, 23, (1), 2013, p47 - 49Journal Article, 2013
  • From Dana to Dustin: The Reputation of Old/New Ireland and the Eurovision Song Contest in, editor(s)Karen Fricker & Milija Gluhovic , Performing the 'New' Europe: Identities, Feelings and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest, Basingstoke & New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp142 - 162, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2013
  • Performing Orientalist, Intercultural, and Globalized Modernities: The case of Les Naufragés du Fol Espoir by the Théatre du Soleil in, editor(s)Erika Fischer-Lichte, Torsten Jost, Saskya Iris Jain , The Politics of Interweaving Performance Cultures: Beyond Postcolonialism, New York & London, Routledge, 2014, pp77 - 94, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2014
  • Brian Singleton, Politicizing Performance: ANU Productions and Site-Specific Theater, BREAC: A Digital Journal of Irish Studies, 2014Journal Article, 2014, URL
  • ANU Productions and Site-Specific Performance: The Politics of Space and Place in, editor(s)Fintan Walsh , 'That Was Us': Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance, London, Oberon Books, 2013, pp21 - 36, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2013
  • Brian Friel in, editor(s)John F. Deeney & Maggie B. Gale , Fifty Modern and Contemporary Dramatists, London & New York, Routledge, 2015, pp91 - 96, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2015
  • Martin McDonagh in, editor(s)John F. Deeney and Maggie B. Gale , Fifty Modern and Contemporary Dramatists, London & New York, Routledge, 2015, pp150 - 155, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2015
  • Frank McGuinness in, editor(s)John F. Deeney and Maggie B. Gale , Fifty Modern and Contemporary Dramatists, London & New York, Routledge, 2015, pp161 - 166, [Brian Singleton]Book Chapter, 2015
  • Brian Singleton, States of Play: an interview with Professor Brian Singleton (Samuel Beckett Chair of Drama and Theatre, TCD) on labour and value in the neoliberal university', Hard Graft: Performance, Labour and Value, Queens University Belfast (online), 28-29 May, 2021, Irish Society for Theatre ResearchInvited Talk

Research Expertise

Main research interests are in the field of orientalism and interculturalism in performance, with a particular specialism in Irish, British and French cultural history. In addition he publishes in the area of contemporary devised performance.

  • Title
    ANU Productions: The Monto Cycle
    Summary
    Current monograph project analysing four productions of the celebrated and award-winnning Irish company, ANU Productions, and their four-part series 'The Monto Cycle'.
    Date From
    2015
    Date To
    2016

Recognition

  • Honorary Fellowship, Rose Bruford College 2011
  • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin 1998
  • Japan Foundation Artists Fellowship 1992
  • British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 1988
  • ATHE Excellence in Editing Award 2012
  • International Federation for Theatre Research present
  • Irish Society for Theatre Research present
  • American Society for Theatre Research present