DOCTORAL RESEARCH

DOCTORAL RESEARCH

2016,

In 2016 I was awarded a PhD in Theatre Studies from the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA), Lancaster University.

My doctoral research, Emplacing, Re-Imaging and Transforming "Missing" Life-Events: A Feminine Sublime Approach to the Creation of Socially Engaged Scenography in Site-Specific Walking-Performance in Rural Landscapes, proposed that by emplacing "missing" life-events—experiences for which traditional rites of passage or ceremonies do not exist—within rural landscape walking-performances, applied scenography can enable participants to reflect upon, re-imagine and transform, even in the smallest of ways, their relationship to those life-events.

The thesis explores the concept of the feminine material sublime and demonstrates how it can inform the creation of socially engaged, site-specific walking-performance. Through this research I developed the Seven Scenographic Principles, which have since become a foundation of my creative practice and continue to underpin subsequent projects and publications.

 

The practical components of the thesis centred on The Gathering / Yr Helfa (2014) and Warnscale: A Land Mark Walk Reflecting on In/Fertility and Childlessness (2015), both of which demonstrate how socially engaged applied scenography can create spaces for reflection, re-imagining and personal transformation.

Reference

  • Wilson, Louise Ann (2017). Emplacing, Re-Imaging and Transforming "Missing" Life-Events: A Feminine Sublime Approach to the Creation of Socially Engaged Scenography in Site-Specific Walking-Performance in Rural Landscapes. PhD thesis, Theatre Studies, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University, UK.

Available online: The thesis can be accessed through the Lancaster University Research Portal. The repository also includes documentation of the two practice-as-research projects submitted as part of the doctorate: The Gathering / Yr Helfa and Warnscale: A Land Mark Walk Reflecting on In/Fertility and Childlessness, presented as accompanying PowerPoint portfolios.

Supervisory Team

Supervisors: Professor Geraldine Harris and Professor Andrew Quick.

External Examiner: Professor Deirdre Heddon.

Internal Examiner: Dr Sarah Casey.