University of Lincoln RIF Studentships 2014
PROJECT DETAILS
Project Title
The Royal Court Theatre: The Rise and Fall of British New Writing.
Project Reference
RIF2014S-01
Project Summary
The Lincoln School of Performing Arts invites applications for a funded PhD
studentship (2014-17) investigating ‘The Royal Court Theatre: The Rise and Fall of
British New Writing’. This research will contribute to the School’s broader, ongoing
research into contemporary playwriting and the work of British institutions such as
the Royal Court specifically.
The studentship is available from 1st October 2014. The core supervisory team
comprises Professor Mark O’Thomas, Dr Jacqueline Bolton and Dr Dominic
Symonds, and associated researchers in this area within the School including
Professor John Bull, Dr James Hudson and Dr Claire Warden.
Research on the Royal Court Theatre has largely centred on its historic development
as a new writing theatre with particular focus on the late 1950s and the late 1990s.
This project seeks to examine the so-called “fallow periods” in the Royal Court’s
development with a view to understanding more clearly how and why the Court has
featured as a vehicle for the development of new writing for the stage and the kinds
of methods that circumscribe its working processes.
The successful candidate will work closely with the project team at the Lincoln
School of Performing Arts and with the Royal Court Theatre’s archiving and outreach
team.
Research will consider the economic landscape of the UK during the interim period,
focusing particularly on the dynamics of public subsidy. It will consider Royal Court
policy during this period and the strategies of its management. Finally it will view the
work of the Royal Court in the wider context of British theatre and culture.
Core research methodologies will include archival research, study of recently
released public policy documents, and interviews with appropriate figures associated
with the Royal Court during this period.
Key questions to be posed by the inquiry include:
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What dynamics threatened the influence of the Royal Court in the interim
years?
How have political changes, especially in regard to public subsidy, affected
the potential of the Royal Court to develop new writing?
How significantly did the very different economic landscapes of the 1970s and
1980s affect the work of the Royal Court?
What competing developments in new playwriting have emerged? To what
extent have these been products of the Royal Court’s success or detractors
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from its focus?
In what ways might individual personalities have been instrumental in the
prominence and, at times, occlusion of the Royal Court as a leading promoter
of new writing?
Has public interest in new writing maintained a constant interest? In what
ways might other cultural emergences (eg. commercial theatre initiatives;
domestic entertainment such as C4) have affected the growth of the Royal
Court?
Supervisory Team
1. Professor Mark O'Thomas, Acting Head of College of Arts and Head of Lincoln
School of Performing Arts. http://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/mothomas
2. Dr Jacqueline Bolton, Lecturer, Lincoln School of Performing Arts.
http://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/jbolton
3. Dr Dominic Symonds, Reader in Drama and Acting Deputy Head of Lincoln School
of Performing Arts. http://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/dsymonds
Eligibility
All Candidates must satisfy the College’s minimum doctoral entry criteria for
studentships of a Masters degree or equivalent. A minimum IELTS (Academic) score
of 7 (or equivalent) is essential for candidates for whom English is not their first
language. Funded Studentships are open to both UK/EU students unless otherwise
specified.
How to Apply
Please send a covering letter outlining your interest and proposed approach (up to 1
page A4) with an accompanying CV (including names of 2 academic referees) to
lengland@lincoln.ac.uk by close of day on 18th April 2014. Candidates will be notified
w/c 5th May of the outcome of the process and if invited to interview, these are
anticipated to take place w/c 26h May.