The Migratory Path of Interculturalism and Performance

An in-person lecture by Brian Singleton (TCD) as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum.

Prof Singleton will explore the origins and antecedents of what came to be known as ‘intercultural’ theatre with the aim of demonstrating how it became one of the dominant theatrical forms at the turn of the millennium, and how it simultaneously fell foul of the shift in political discourse critiquing postmodern bricolage, globalization and the representation of ‘others’ and ‘otherness’ from a hegemonic cultural position. Conversely, he will speak to a range of performances that reveal how new intercultural performances emerged in migrant populations and those that complicate monocultural histories of representation. He will refer to my recent publication in S. E. Wilmer and Yana Meerzon’s The Palgrave Handbook of Theatre and Migration (Springer, 2023) and offer some thoughts on what interculturalism might mean in the wake of a global pandemic during which theatre and migration simply stopped. Brian Singleton is Samuel Beckett Professor Drama & Theatre, and Academic Director of The Lir – National Academy of Dramatic Art at Trinity College Dublin.  He is a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin and an Honorary Fellow of Rose Bruford College. He is former Editor of Theatre Research International (Cambridge University Press, 2001-3) and former President of the International Federation for Theatre Research (2007-11). 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. A second book series (with co-editor Elaine Aston) entitled ‘Contemporary Performance InterActions’ for Palgrave Macmillan, has been completed with a further 25 monographs and edited collections published. He has published widely on theatre and performance practice in Irish and European contexts with a particular interest in interculturalism, orientalism, gender and memory, with books on Oscar Asche, Orientalism & British Musical Comedy, Masculinities and the Contemporary Irish Theatre, ANU-Productions: The Monto Cycle. Work in press includes a book chapter on Interculturalism for the Cambridge Companion to Modernist Theatre,  and he has completed the first draft of a new monograph on ‘Performance and Neoliberal Ireland’. The School of Creative Arts Research Forum meets weekly on Mondays from 10am-11am in the Neill Lecture Theatre in Trinity Long Room Hub. The aim of the Forum is to provide a space for School researchers, both staff and postgraduate students, to share their ideas in an informal and supportive environment. It is also an opportunity for the School to hear about the research of colleagues both from within TCD and from outside the university who share our research interests. In line with the research agenda of the School, talks encompass traditional research and practice-based research. Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: johnson@tcd.ie