The Performance Research Forum (PRF)

The Performance Research Forum is the Department of Theatre & Performance’s long-running public research event series.

The PRF benefits Goldsmiths’ scholarly community both by contributing towards undergraduate and postgraduate research, and by providing a meeting ground between practitioners and researchers, and between students and staff.

A Performance Research Forum event might be a platform for decoding an unfamiliar form of theatre or performance, or the opportunity for an artist to share and discuss their work with the audience. The events reflect the breadth of our department’s undergraduate and postgraduate curricula and the scope of academic research conducted by staff, embracing Live Art, multimedia and dance alongside theatre as a literary form.

Crucially, the Performance Research Forum emphasises our department’s focus on work beyond European cultural traditions, reflecting the cultural diversity of our students and the city in which Goldsmiths is situated.

Highlights from the PRF series have included

• Mojisola Adebayo
• Mark Thomas
• Shazia Mirza
• Alan Davies
• Topher Campbell
• Sophie Sleigh-Johnson
• Franko B
• Ron Athey
• Kira O’Reilly
• Sally Jacobs
• Tim Etchells
• Phelim McDermott
• Holly Thomas
• Maria Oshodi

Upcoming events

Panel with Marcus Bell, Alexandra Parsons, and Cass Fleming

Tuesday 6 February 2024, 6 - 8pm
George Wood Theatre

Marcus Bell is a dancer, queer theatre maker, and Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths and will be presenting material from their recently published paper  ‘“Dance against the void”: Derek Jarman, dance, queer classical receptions’ (Classical Receptions Journal). Alexandra Parsons is a Paul Mellon Centre fellow and teaches contemporary literature and culture at University College London. She will present research from her recently published book Luminous presence: Derek Jarman’s life-writing. (Manchester University Press). The panel will be chaired by Cass Fleming, Lecturer at Goldsmiths, who will be reflecting on her 2004 performance at Jarman Garden.

Presentation from Pamela Jikiemi

Tuesday 20 February 2024, 6 - 8pm
Studio 3

Pamela Jikiemi is head of film, TV, and radio at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She has worked creatively and extensively as an actor (television, radio, film, theatre and voiceover, nationally and internationally) in Senior Management and as Department Head/Unit Leader/Visiting Lecturer in Broadcast, VFX/Design Post Production, Digital Media, actor training, theatre and screen. In 2023, Pamela won Best Film in the Education category of the IRIS Prize, the “Oscars” of the LGBTQ+ short film world, for The Fight in the Dog, written by Katie Bonna. Pamela Jikiemi will present an aspect of her current PhD research on decolonising actor training in the UK conservatoire.

In conversation with Lucy McCormick and Jen Harvie

Tuesday 19 March 2024, 6 - 8pm
Studio 3

Lucy McCormick is a renowned performance artist and actor who has appeared in numerous theatre plays and on screen. Lucy creates and performs cross-genre work inspired by performance art, comedy, theatre, and cabaret. As an actor, Lucy recently starred as Catherine in Wuthering Heights at the National Theatre, performed in Titus Andronicus at The Globe Theatre and is currently performing in the RSC transfer of Cowbois at the Royal Court Theatre. Lucy will be joined in conversation with Jen Harvie, Professor of Contemporary Theatre and Performance at Queen Mary University of London.