Dr Philippa Burt is a Lecturer in the Department of Theatre and Performance. Her research centres on twentieth-century British theatre, and, in particular, the emerging role of the director and the changing notion of ensemble practice during this period. Methodologically rooted in the sociology of the theatre, she approaches such work from a sociocultural, political and economic standpoint. She is also interested in questions of collectivity within theatre, the intersections of performance and visual art, and experiments in the performer-spectator relationship.
Academic qualifications
PhD Drama and Theatre Arts, Goldsmiths, University of London (thesis title: The Ideal of Ensemble Practice in Twentieth-century British Theatre, 1900-1968)
MA, Performance and Culture: Interdisciplinary Perspective Goldsmiths, University of London
BA (Hons) Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Surrey, Roehampton
Teaching
Philippa is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has led courses for Rose Bruford College and Colgate University, New York. At Goldsmiths, she teaches on a range of modules and programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. In particular, she specializes in modernist and postmodern performance, including the historical and neo-avant-garde periods; critical theory; the crossovers between political theory and performance; performance art and hybrid performances; and sociocultural theory.
Philippa’s embraces a student-centred approach to teaching that provides space for students to draw on their own experience and expertise to inform their understanding of the material to be discussed and to develop their own opinions and arguments in dialogue with their peers. She is also committed to diversifying the curriculum to make it fully representative of the changing world of the theatre and to ensure that it is fully accessible.
Professional activities
Philippa is the Assistant Editor of New Theatre Quarterly (Cambridge University Press) and was the recipient of a Harry Ransom Research Fellowship in Humanities at the University of Texas, Austin, undertaken in June 2016. With the Sociology of Theatre and Performance Research Group, led by Professor Shevtsova, she organized four international postgraduate colloquia, including The Politics of Practice (February 2012) and Culture in Crisis (May 2013). She has also organized a series of collaborative research seminars with postgraduate students at the Freie Universität Berlin and, more recently, organized a research seminar titled ‘Granville Barker: The New Research’ with Professor Simon Shepherd at Central School of Speech and Drama in February 2019.
Burt, Philippa. 2024. Ensembles and Companies. In: Claire Cochrane; Lynette Goddard; Catherine Hindson and Trish Reid, eds. The Routledge Companion to Twentieth Century British Theatre and Performance - Volume One: 1900–1950. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 184-196. ISBN 9780367487898
Burt, Philippa. 2023. American 'Invasions'. In: Helen E. M Brooks and Michael Hammond, eds. The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre of the First World War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 160-178. ISBN 9781108673778
Burt, Philippa. 2017. 'Barker, Euripides and the War Effort in North America'. In: Dramaturgies of War: Institutional Dramaturgy, Politics and Conflict in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. University of Glasgow/Goethe-Institut Glasgow, United Kingdom 25 – 26 January 2018.
Philippa’s supervision interests and expertise include British theatre history; modernist theatre experiments, especially innovations in theatre making and directorial processes; research drawing on the sociology of the theatre; and ensemble theatre making.
