Research Grants

The Society for Theatre Research has a long-established research fund of its own.

Is there an element within your research topics that deals with an aspect of the British theatre which would make it eligible? Topics we can consider include buildings, people, historical or contemporary concerns, theories and practices, and all kinds of performance arts, as long as there is a connection with theatre in Britain or British theatre people. We invite all engaged in theatre research to apply – for example you may be an early career academic needing help with a particular piece of research, or an independent scholar digging up traces of local theatre or performers, in which case the Research Grants would be suitable for you, or a theatre practitioner engaged in practical research on an aspect of performance practice, in which case you might apply for one of our Practitioner Grants.

For examples of work we have supported in the past, please see details of the projects in the ‘Past Recipients’ section below, and read articles written by recipients – there are a few on this page, and a great many more to be found if you go to the News Hub or the Blog and search on the category ‘Grants and Awards’. And for more about the history of the grants programmes, see the History section below.

There are two types of Grants offered. Please read the eligibility criteria carefully before choosing which programme to apply for!

  1. Research grants for scholars investigating aspects of the British theatre requiring access to archives, collections, specific sites or people, or help with compiling and disseminating original research. These grants are available for academic and non-academic researchers alike, though the standard of work expected will be equivalent to post-graduate level. Grants range from £200 to £1,000, as contributions to the cost of research.

Applications may now be sent in. The closing date for forms and references is March 22nd 2024. Applications will be considered in the weeks following  – we may have questions we’d like to discuss with you. Results should be known by the beginning of May and will be announced at the AGM in mid-May.

Download the application form by clicking here. Please take care to read it and the eligibility criteria on this page before submitting it to grants@str.org.uk

 

  1. Practitioner research and development grants: a number of grants of £200 each will be made available later this year to support those practitioners who are working in the UK to facilitate British and British-related theatre projects. These grants are a development of the programmes we ran in 2020 and 2021. See Covid19 Support Grants 2020 and Practitioner Grants 2021 for more about these.

Please click here to go to the Practitioner Grant page for the application form and more details.

 

 

Eligibility

Private scholars, theatre professionals, academic staff, and students, of any nationality, are welcome to apply for Grants.

We could help you with such endeavours as the completion of work in progress; professional training in research techniques to assist established projects; a subvention towards the publication of completed work in which a publisher is already seriously interested. Grants are not given for subsistence, though we could help you for example with costs (including travel and accommodation) in accessing archives and collections, or costs of reproductions of images.

Grants usually range from about £100 to £600, in some cases more. We may not be able to give you everything you ask for, hence the importance of a detailed budget. In every case, successful applicants will also receive a year’s free membership of the Society.

No restriction is imposed on the status or nationality of applicants, nor on the location of the proposed research. However, the topic must be substantially concerned with one or more of the following areas: the history, historiography, art, and practice of the British* theatre (including music-hall, opera, dance, and associated skills and crafts of performance). Exclusively textual, literary or aesthetic topics are not eligible, and please note we do not give grants for course fees, nor do we give grants towards wages for collaborators. We may be able to help you with fees for very specific courses to help with your research (eg palaeography), or with fees for specific expertise. If you wish the grant to go towards creating a performance, please apply for a Practitioner Grant.

* For the purposes of these grants, topics dealing with theatre in the island of Ireland are eligible for consideration if they have relevance to, or relate wholly or in large part to, British theatre and performance.

In coming to a decision the Research Grants Sub-Committee of the Society will take into account the progress already made by the applicant, and the possible availability of other subvention.

Guidance notes for applicants

  • Projects must be specific, developed, and costed as far as possible. Work already carried out is ineligible.
  • No grant request should exceed £1000. Most awards are between £100 – £600.
  • We do not give grants to cover wages. However, fees may be allowable where you are planning to bring in necessary expertise to support a project.
  • Subsistence is not covered, nor is the purchase of major items of equipment, for example recording equipment.
  • Where subvention towards publication is desired, confirmation of publisher’s commitment must be provided. Depending on the circumstances of the research project, exhibitions may also be considered as a mode of publication and therefore eligible for an award towards expenses.
  • The STR does not give grants for university fees, whether undergraduate, MA or PhD. These awards are intended to further the research itself, which should be an original contribution to knowledge.
  • Applicants seeking professional training in research techniques should provide evidence of their eligibility for such training, details of the established training scheme in question, and firmness or otherwise of the offer of a place.
  • The STR may support more than one application from the same applicant in subsequent years, but each application should be for a different part of the project or a new project altogether.  The STR reserves the right to consider the level of support already given to applicant and project.


You will need to supply the following information:

PROJECT: a statement of the project for which the grant is requested, and the stage of completion currently reached.

PURPOSE OF THE GRANT: the specific purpose or purposes for which the grant would be used, with an indication of approximate costing.

QUALIFICATIONS: the applicant’s competence to undertake the project, academic and/or practical, together with details of any relevant publications or other relevant experience. If desired, a more comprehensive C.V. abstract may be attached to the email.

BUDGET: an itemised budget for the amount you wish to apply for, and an idea of the overall costs of your whole project.  We have offered some general categories below. Please feel free to add to these to reflect the specific needs of your research project.

    • Travel i.e. train/coach / air etc (no of journeys, estimated cost)
    • Accommodation (please show that you have tried to find the most economical option)
    • Photocopying and related fees
    • Costs of digital or other forms of reproduction of images etc. We will require details of which images, why they are needed, and for you to show that you have tried to find the cheapest option.
    • Subvention towards publication. We will need confirmation from the publisher. If this is for image rights, please be specific about the images required. In the case of photographic images, we are more inclined to support living photographers.

CIRCUMSTANCES: any other funding for the work and period in question for example study leave or grants from other sources. Unsalaried candidates may indicate here something of their age and personal situation if they wish.

OTHER: any further appropriate information that the applicant may wish to offer.

REFERENCES: We require two professional, recent and relevant references, to be received by the same closing date as for applications. Applicants should state on the application form who their referees are, giving name, title, address and email address. Referees should not be a member of your family or other close friend or relative. They should have sufficient expertise to comment authoritatively on your research and at least one should be independent of your project. They do not need to be long – a paragraph or two is fine.

An application will not be considered if the references have not been received: it will be up to the applicant to ensure this. The references should be sent separately from your application, in the form of an attachment to an email. The address to which they should be sent is grants@str.org.uk

We advise applicants to forward a copy of their application (including the guidance notes in the form) to their referees to ensure that the references are useful for both the applicant and for the STR in coming to a decision about funding the project.

References should cover the following areas:
1. What is the significance of this research and how does it fit in with the objectives of the STR?
2. An appraisal of the applicant’s ability to complete the project.
3. What other funding or support is or could be available to the applicant, eg from their institution or other grant-making funds known to the referee. This is to assess the viability of the project: the mention of other funds available will not prejudice any possible grants from us.

Please note that rogue spam filters, typos, and other glitches can prevent your email being received. Every email will be acknowledged within 48 hours – if you do not receive an acknowledgement within this time please re-send it, do not assume your email has been received.

The Society’s scrutiny and decision process is careful and lengthy. Applicants should not expect to be informed of the result before the beginning of May. Awards will be officially announced at the Society’s Annual General Meeting in May 2024. Grant recipients are warmly encouraged to attend in person if they can.

Grants will be paid in sterling and preferably by bank transfer to the recipient’s personal account. The Society stipulates that it cannot accept financial or other responsibility for grant recipients beyond the amount granted.

It is a condition of acceptance that a summary of the work achieved, to which the Society’s grant has contributed, should be provided to the Research Grants Sub-Committee by 1 April 2025. No further application will be considered unless this condition has been met. Furthermore, the Society hopes that, where appropriate, grant recipients will be prepared in due course to make results of their work known to its membership, either through a notified publication, or such means as the contribution of an article to the website Green Room Blog, or a lecture, or an article for Theatre Notebook. The Society also requires, and appreciates, acknowledgement of its support in any published work to which its grant has contributed.

Download the Application Form here

History

In 1955 Stephen Joseph founded Studio Theatre Ltd., a company devoted to productions in the round, based first at the Library Theatre, Scarborough. Stephen Joseph was a visionary stage director, a pioneering theatre manager, a maverick and a mentor, a hugely influential teacher of drama students at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and the University of Manchester and the author of several books including Planning for New Forms of Theatre (1962), The Story of the Playhouse in England (1963), Scene Painting and Design (1964), Theatre in the Round (1967) and New Theatre Forms (1968). He especially encouraged young playwrights. Among many of those whose early scripts were promoted and staged by Studio Theatre were Alan Ayckbourn, Harold Pinter, James Saunders and Alan Plater.

Stephen Joseph was diagnosed with cancer in 1966 and died in October of the following year, aged 46. While mortally ill he lost control of his theatrical work after a well-publicised dispute with his assistant, Peter Cheeseman, and others including the Arts Council. At that point, with Stephen Joseph no longer there, a new Chairman of Studio Theatre Ltd was required. Dr Neville Hunnings, a leading constitutional lawyer well acquainted with the world of theatre and film, was appointed to that position and quickly found himself in a sort of caretaker role because the company, as a result of the rift, was left a mere shell with no operational function. It did have some money, however, but nothing to spend it on, unless to be frittered away year after year on auditors’ fees.

In the circumstances, as time went on, Stephen Joseph having died shortly after the rift, Dr Hunnings and his fellow director Charles Lewsen began to grow increasingly keen to wind up the company, and they tried to work out a solution. As it was a charity their options were limited. Eventually Dr Hunnings, who was a committee member of the STR, had the idea that perhaps the Society as a charity might be a suitable destination for the dormant funds, which, being in the region of a thousand pounds, were not huge. Charles Lewsen agreed, and Dr Hunnings approached the Society, which accepted the gift. It was duly transmitted and Studio Theatre Ltd. was wound up.

Out of that action the idea took hold that the Society might use the money to fund research grants. The Research Awards Sub-committee was set up in 1987 with Dr Hunnings (effectively the donor) being offered and accepting the first chairmanship. Thus it was that the STR’s research awards came into being. Their availability was announced and publicised, applications for aid were invited and received and the first grants were made in 1988. Since then the Society has been able to give financial assistance to a wide range of projects within its criteria for awards. Applications are invited from around the world on many themes from a diversity of people, and each year in this way the STR aims to renew its initiative of 1987 and the idealism of those who devised it.

Not until Anthony Denning made his much larger bequest a few years later was any of the awards given a name. In fact, there were two, as the new Anthony Denning Award was accompanied by the introduction of a Stephen Joseph Award. That precedent was used again soon after she died to honour Dr Kathleen Barker, who had given immense service to the Society.  The Society also often gives grants in the name of the Edward Gordon Craig Fund (primarily used for the Craig lectures) for projects that have an element of scenography.

In the Pandemic Year of 2020, when almost all research stopped abruptly, the STR offered a number of small grants of £200 each to support performers trying to research and develop projects to go live as soon as restrictions eased. We continued this in 2021, but with changing circumstances are re-launching the Practitioner programme in 2023 with more specific aims to distinguish it from the Research Grants programme.

Past Recipients

Past recipients, together with a note of their successful research project, are listed here by year.

  1. 2023 Research Grants

    The Anthony Denning Award was given to
    Caroline Radcliffe (Reader in Drama and Performance, Birmingham) towards the cost of image rights from the Pierpont Morgan Library to accompany the first volume of her edition of The Dramas of Wilkie Collins

    The Kathleen Barker Award was given to
    Helen Keen (PhD research student 4th Year, Exeter)
    for travel to Kent and Edinburgh) to research her project on Laugh And The (Neurotypical) World Laughs With You

    The Stephen Joseph Award was given to
    Deirdre Osborne (Reader in English Literature and Drama, Goldsmiths)
    towards travel and accommodation in Manchester to conduct interviews and research on her forthcoming monograph on SuAndi’s Performance Poetics  (commissioned by Cambridge University Press)

    and a grant from the Craig Fund was given to
    Emma Chapman and Rob Halliday (Lighting designers)
    towards image rights for their forthcoming book Theatre lighting design: conversations on art, craft and life (to be published by Methuen).

    other grants were given as follows: 

    Siobhan Keenan (Associate Dean, Research & Innovation, Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities, De Montfort University)
    towards costs of a series of archival visits relating to the two final chapters of her forthcoming monograph: Richard Burbage and the Shakespearean Stage: A ‘Delightful Proteus’

    Siobhan was given the Anthony Denning award for another aspect of this research in 2020.

    Note that people may apply up to three times for a research grant, though it has to be for a different project or a different part of the same project.

    Rachel Walker (Independent scholar)
    towards travel costs for Research to complete a monograph on history of the Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent

    Rachel received the Kathleen Barker award for another aspect of this in 2021.

    Louise Peacock (Associate Professor in Drama, De Montfort)
    towards travel costs for her book to be published by Routledge 2024: Present Laughter/Past Laughter: The Longevity of Stage Comedy Techniques


    Kelly Jones (Senior Lecturer in Drama, University of Lincoln)
    towards travel and accommodation Lincoln – York – London to research her prohect Staging the Ghost Story

    Lucy Thompson (PhD Student, University of Cambridge)
    towards travel to New York and Washington to research Stepping in Time and Space with Circum-Atlantic Performance: A Cultural and Historical Geography of Tap Dance’

    Sophie Horrocks (PhD Student, Durham)
    towards travel and accommodation Durham – London – Lille etc, reserching The circulation of English theatre troupes in Northern France, 1815-1820

    Geraldine Biddle-Perry (Lecturer Cultural Studies, UAL Central St Martins)
    towards travel and accommodation in Bristol to reseach her project Hair and the Art of Stagecraft: Performance, Practice, Production

    Mary Kate Connolly (Writer and Researcher)
    towards colour image rights for a projected book: SmithereensAn Encounter with Fabric Ghosts – Adventures in the Costume Archive of The Cholmondeleys & The Featherstonehaughs

  2. 2023 Practitioner Grants

    The Practitioner Grant programme was suspended in 2022 in order to rethink its post-Covid emergency nature. We re-launched it in 2023 to provide fixed grants of £200 to help theatre practitioners research and develop new projects.

     

    Caroline Astell-Burt (puppeteer)
    towards costs for her project A Very British Imagery for Pre-School Audiences

    Bogdan Mihai Florea (independent researcher and theatre maker at Nu Nu Theatre)
    towards preparation costs to enable the realisation of the project ‘Practising second language English through theatre-making’

    Matthew Hahn (freelance theatre director and facilitator)
    towards covering costs to enable ensemble training workshops in Folkestone

    Emma Lindsay (performance artist)
    towards costs associated with her project ‘Miracle Fish: an expanded performance poem that dances with fortune telling, anxieties, letter writing and folklore’

    Sarah McCourt (senior lecturer in Drama at Wolverhampton University and freelance actor and theatre-maker)
    towards the cost of a handheld projector for her project ‘Monstrous Love Revisited’

    Stuart Macbeth (musician/writer)
    towards sundry expenses and travel to the British Library and National Jazz Archives for ‘The Maxine Daniels Story’, telling the story of Maxine Daniels, a forgotten figure in British Jazz.

    Hollie Miller (freelance artist and performer)
    grant to help with funding rehearsal space for her show ‘Leda and the Swan’, to be premiered at The Palace Theatre in London

    Elizabeth Mounter (actor)
    grant for travel expenses to Sheffield and consultation with history scholar Michael Braddick for the play ‘Freeborn John’ that is in development

    Pedro Andrés Pérez Rothstein (teacher, theatre practitioner, PhD researcher)
    towards travel costs for participants on the project: ‘Dramaturgies of Mental Health: Stories from a Community Theatre Group at Arcola Theatre’

    Annabelle Revak (composer and lyricist)
    towards workshop development of a new historical, feminist musical ‘Train on Fire’

    Sarah Sigal (freelance writer)
    to hire dramaturg Alice Malin for the project: ‘Daniel Deronda: the process of adapting C19th literature and social values for the contemporary stage with a focus on British-Jewish identity

    Alys Williams (theatre artist)
    to subsidise BSL training for the Lead Artist in the show ‘The Light House’

  3. 2022 Research Grants

    The Anthony Denning Grant 
    James Hudson, senior lecturer at Lincoln, for travel to archives in London to work on The British Council and the Marat/Sade Controversy


    The Kathleen Barker Grant
    Brooke Nicole Martin, PhD student, Bangor, for travel to Aberystwyth to look at manuscripts of Unpublished Welsh operas

     

    Other grants were given to

    Tony Lidington, showman and independent scholar, towards image permissions for his forthcoming book, commissioned by Routledge, entitled Don’t Forget the Pierrots

    Christopher Beeching writer, researcher, performer, based in Greece, towards image permissions for his second volume of the biography of George Leybourne  –  The Heaviest of Swells

    Jacqueline Bolton, Lincoln, and Nicholas Holden Greenwich, both lecturers in Drama, towards image permissions for their forthcoming book Beautiful Doom: the work of Dennis Kelly on stage and screen

    Clare Chandler,  Senior Lecturer at Wolverhampton, towards travel to London for interviews in connection with her work on Contemporary British Musicals

    Madeleine Saidenberg,  DPhil candidate at Oxford, towards travel and accommodation in Dublin for her research into Shakespeare and the Debate for a National Theatre in Dublin, 1745-60

    Helen Dallas, DPhil candidate at Oxford, towards travel to archives in Bristol, Cambridge and London for her research into Material Afterlives: Dramatic Characters in Romantic Material Culture

    Olivia Kershaw Research Officer for the Ramsbottom Co-op Hall Heritage Trust, towards subscriptions to archives in connection with her research into From the Mill to the Music Hall: The theatrical heritage of Ramsbottom Co-op Hall

    Rowan Thompson, Fellow, Institute of Historical Research, towards travel and accommodation in London for research into Naval Pageantry, Heritage, and Commemoration in Interwar Britain.

    Ben Walters, writer, researcher, programmer, producer, towards best-practice training in the professional research techniques of oral history, in connection with his Untitled Oral History of the Royal Vauxhall Tavern

    Wenyan Pu, PhD candidate Exeter, towards travel to archives in Bristol, London and Kent, to research Comic Male-to-female Cross-dressing in English Pantomime and Chinese Traditional Theatre

    and

    Juliette Cook, Staff at the Monmouth Theatre, for subscriptions to archives in connection with her research towards an Authorised History of the Savoy Theatre, Monmouth

     

  4. 2021 Practitioner Grants

    In July 2020, as a response to the ongoing problems for theatre practitioners caused by the pandemic, the STR offered 17 grants of £200 to support the research and development of new projects, to take place as performers found ways to resume their work while the lockdowns came and went. There were over 100 applications for these and it was clear that they fulfilled a real need, so in 2021 the STR decided to offer Practitioner Grants once more (in addition to the Annual Research Grants that are distributed in May), and this time we were able to offer 20 grants. There were fewer applications this year, which is hopefully an encouraging sign that the theatre is beginning to recover, but the panel were again impressed by the energy, diversity and imagination of the projects submitted.

    The following grants were therefore distributed:

    Museum of Richmond – a contribution towards a free exhibition at the Museum of Richmond celebrating 50 years of the Orange Tree Theatre – a powerhouse of independent theatre and London’s only permanent theatre in the round. This wil be accompanied by a programme of family workshops and learning activities inspired by the displays.

    Dramaturgs’ Network – Anti-racist Strategies in Dramaturgy – supporting a live-streamed roundtable, as part of the d’n20 anniversary & Kenneth Tynan Award celebrations on 20 November 2021.

    Souradeep Roy – supporting a comparative research project looking at anti-colonial and anti-imperialist plays by playwrights such as Mulk Raj Anand and Bijan Bhattacharya staged in London and Calcutta during the Second World War.

    Running at Walls – towards buying green screens for digital workshops by Running at Walls theatre and dance company, to widen the ability to explore consent in a range of scenarios and through different creative methods.

    J. Eva Collins Alonso – research and development material for [RADIOPHONICS], a show based on alternative histories of radio retold from a female perspective.

    Anna-Helena McLean – towards equipment for working with multimodal documentation to stage a living, participatory process. This project aims to demonstrate the important work of women in actor/voice training via multimodal autoethnography and performative events.

    B.O.O.K – towards purchasing plays by black British playwrights for Building Our Own Knowledge (B.O.O.K) as part of an open access library running artists in residencies for Black artists across the West Midlands, part of the Coventry Biennial.

    Hannah Ballou – towards production costs for goo:ga II . This is a live art film that investigates the iterability of autobiographical performance, feminist parenting praxis, and pregnancy trauma narrative in a comedic context.

    Karen Morash – towards documentation of Another Time This Time : a collaborative performance project (text compiled by John London and Kit Danowski) which uses extractions from historical artefacts to reflect on our current time of pandemic.

    Roz Symon – research and development to explore sustainable models of making theatre we can use in future lockdowns.

    Badapple Theatre Company –  research and development for Elephant Rock, a new play touring to rural non-theatre spaces in Spring 2022 exploring the impact of erosion along the east coast of Yorkshire, English coastal music hall heritage, and the ancient ways Sri Lankan elephants use to cross the land.

    Emma Bentley –  towards a videographer to document a five-day Research and Development Phase of Emma Bentley’s new play Peaceful Disease at NDT Broadgate.

    Lucinda Coyle –  workshopping her new play Pas De Deux, which has roles to be played by anyone and everyone, inspired by a lack of diverse roles, in particular for people who identity as non-binary.

    Bridget Foreman –  towards research for a new play that explores what the centuries-long circus surrounding the reputation of Richard III might tell us about the way in which fake news endures, and how the apparently ephemeral world of Elizabethan theatre has shaped our sense of history today.

    Jonathan Le Billon – research and development towards a  table read of a Sherlock Holmes script for performance (for a re-opened London theatre).

    Liesbeth Tip – supporting a musical event in Edinburgh to raise awareness of the effects of adverse racist experiences on mental health, and open up the conversation on how we can all support those from minority backgrounds who may be affected.

    Sheldon Chadwick – to develop interactive tools for the Showmen’s Mental Health Awareness Charity to break the stigma surrounding mental health within the fairground community.

    Emily Garside –  supporting her workshops, one in person one online, on LGBTQ+ playwriting, in line with her new production Don’t Send Flowers (for the White Bear Theatre, in September 2021)

    Eleanor Chadwick –  supporting her research and development into ways of performing Medieval Mystery Play Mankind for a contemporary audience in Coventry, while remaining true to the roots, and impetus behind, the original script.

    Bella Enahoro – for research materials and an original collaboration with a jazz pianist, towards her new piece on Ophelia, Beyond Elsinore.

     

  5. 2021 Research Grants

    The Kathleen Barker Grant
    Rachel Walker (University of Sheffield)

    Creating a database of documentary theatre audio files held at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke [travel]

    The Anthony Denning Grant
    Felicity Brown (Jesus College, Oxford)  

    The uses of Arthurian legend in the Accession Day tiltyard shows of George Clifford, third Earl of Cumberland (1591, 1593): the politics of prophecy, privateering and performance at the court of Elizabeth I. [travel]

    The Stephen Joseph Grant
    Claire Harding (independent scholar, actor and author)

    Charles Vance – the last actor manager [archive access, travel, admin costs]

    The Edward Gordon Craig Grant
    Natalie Tomlin (Middlesex University and freelance theatre technician)

    A Christmas Carol  [constructing and running an immersive installation]

    Other awards were given to:

    Veronica Isaac (Brighton, New York, freelance) & Jade Halbert (Huddersfield)
    Constructing Costume Histories [travel costs for speakers at in-person study day]

    Sarah Whitfield (Wolverhampton) and Sean Mayes (New York)
    Building a website to disseminate and support the findings of An Inconvenient Black History of British Musical Theatre (#BHBMT)

    Jacob Bloomfield (University of Konstanz, Germany)      
    Drag – A British History  [image rights]

    William Rough (St.Andrew’s)
    Sickert’s Music Halls: ‘the dear old oblong Bedford’ [travel ]

    Riocárd Huddleson (post-doctoral researcher)
    The Covid-19 Epidemic and Irish-language Theatre in Northern Ireland: Crisis or Opportunity? [workshop costs]

    Chloé Bradwell (PhD student and theatre practitioner)
    Cultural value of performing arts with people living with dementia [project printing costs for materials]

    Lauren Auyeung (MFA student Trinity/Laban)
    Decolonising UK Dance Theatre [workshop costs]

  6. 2020 Covid-19 support grants

    Jeremy Allen – to adapt and develop Shakespeare inspired Analyse Thou for online performance working with Oxfordshire-based organisation Response which helped people with mental health problems to live their life to the full and become more independent.

    Julie Rose Bower – to purchase research materials for project This is what a feminist sound like; performed sound design from Foley to ASMR.  These materials would then form part of a feminist sound design library which would be itemised and made publicly available.

    Emma Clifton – to research, plan and create a workshop that teaches Costume Designers and Makers the basics of Clo3D digital software technology.  The first workshop would be delivered via an online platform and be free to participants.

    Tristan Fynn-Aidenu – to deliver a one day workshop Black Queer Male Actors’ Playground: a space for Black Queer or SGL Male Actors and Artists to explore using drama as a way to connect.  The workshop would encompass physical theatre, improvisation, readings of new material and storytelling techniques and practice.

    Nell Hardy – to facilitate one-to-one support sessions for people with learning difficulties using drama and to develop and enable online coaching for projects including LAUNCH, Jacksons Lane’s young theatre company; a safe space in which young people could find and share their creative and social voices.

    Alissa Anne Jeun Yi and Clare Taylor – to purchase equipment for COVID-safe research and interviews with under-represented East Asian, Pan-Asian and queer communities for Daddy Issues.  The autobiographical performance art show explores how the medium of drag could be used as a safe space and empowering tool for womxn and built on Alissa’s personal experiences as a mixed-race Chinese womxn.

    Nur Khairiyah – to develop and deliver RUMAH Fest online.  The festival supports the artistic practice and development of Asian artists who are invisible and under-represented.  The online festival would focus on first time collaboration of Asian Artists based in London and encompass spoken word, new work, music collaboration, cooking demonstration and ComediAsians, a collective of Asian comedians.

    Light Ladd & Emberton – to adapt and develop Disgo Distaw Owain Glyndwr Silent Disco for online performance working with Taking Flight Theatre Co, specialists in accessible and inclusive theatre making, and Stage Text on the technical delivery of Welsh and English captions to make the show fully accessible to d/Deaf people.

    Lanre Malaolu – for research and development of a new dance-theatre production SAMSKARA, a piece that untangles the questions, challenges and contradictions of what it means to be a black man in 21st century Britain.  Through a fusion of physical theatre, hip-hop dance and text, the work follows the journey of four generations of black men and explores how cycles of fatherhood affect masculinity, concepts of vulnerability and the harbouring of emotional pain.

    Lisa McKinley – to help facilitate the socially distanced return of Theatre Mix by contributing to a PA system.  Theatre Mix is a monthly cross-artform performance night, part scratch night, part open-mic, featuring the work-in-progress of local Birmingham artists where they can network and develop their work.

    Magdalena Mosteanu – to develop Easy as Pie into an online installation and resource.  The Reading-based project in collaboration with the Museum of English Rural Life uses food and food storytelling as a mediator for cross-cultural contact.  Contributions from Algerian, Ukrainian, Romanian and English participants would be shared, as well as a resource outlining the project’s collaborative and interdisciplinary methodology.

    Ridiculusmus – to edit, upload and curate a season of full-length videos of Ridiculusmus’s current repertoire, prepare supporting documentation for dissemination, archival and research purposes, and convert recordings into digital formats.  In addition, educational content about the Ridiculusmus methodology and a DIY documentary would be uploaded to the Ridiculusmus website.

    Fiona Templeton – to research Gaelic songs and women’s poetry in Gaelic for Songs Between Worlds, a collaborative theatre work with Japanese musician/composer Yumiko Tanaka.  Songs Between Worlds brings together threads from the cultures of north-eastern Japan and north-western Scotland, exploring parallels and focusing on the prevalent stories of journey, distance, disaster and encounters with death.

    Stage Management Association – to expand the reach of the Stage Management Association’s Continuing Professional Development training and support for the stage management community online during the extended COVID-19 period via online open Tea Break meetings and a Buddy Scheme with the aim of supporting mental health and well-being.  Online resources would also be improved.

    Theatre Directors Scotland – to facilitate a Big Sector Meeting in October 2020, following on from 2019’s which focused on Transparency, Resources, Current Obstacles, and Futureproofing.  The meeting would help devise a new action plan to address the gaps in the post-pandemic context and involve directors, funders, and council representatives together with freelance/grassroots theatre directors.

    Aylwyn Walsh – to research and create a Leeds-based Playback Theatre group with those affected by mental health and the stigma associated with it.  Playback Theatre is an interactive form of theatre created through audience / performer collaboration.  Original research would be conducted that spoke to the specific needs for digital platforms for sustaining creative communities which would be of value to arts and health debates, contributing to discussions on aesthetics, participatory practice and wellbeing.

    Lilac Yosiphon – for socially-distanced research and development devising Kummerspeck, a new work focusing on a bilingual exploration of emotional eating as a response to crisis and loss, in both British Sign Language and English.  The work would address the processing of grief and loss post Covid-19, especially within the D/deaf and Disabled communities, and explore the inner conflicts within the same character performed by female Deaf and hearing performers.

  7. 2020

    This year’s recipients come from a wide range of backgrounds, including independent researchers and practitioners, PhD students and a professor emeritus, and their projects cover a wide range of subjects, such as mime and physical theatre, a website database of opera houses in the last 150 years, and popular entertainments in Brixton and Weston-super-Mare.

    Fifteen grants in total have been distributed as follows:

    The Anthony Denning Award has been given to
    Siobhan Keenan
    (De Montfort University), for research that will result in a new book on Richard Burbage: A Theatrical Life. [travel]

    The Kathleen Barker Award has been given to
    Nick Havergal
    (PhD student, Bristol), for research into outdoor popular entertainments in Aberystwyth and Weston-Super-Mare. [travel and permissions]

    The Stephen Joseph Award has been given to
    Henry Bell
    (Sheffield Hallam University) for research and interviews for a new book on Theatre in the Round  [travel]

    Other awards were given to:

    Soudabeh Ananisarab (Birmingham University) for research into Shaw and the Manchester Gaiety Theatre  [travel]

    Christine Beddoe with Tracey Gregory (independent researchers) for a wide-ranging project on Brixton in the good old days – That was the entertainment it was. [travel]

    Mark Evans (Coventry) and Simon Murray (Glasgow)  for their project on the History of UK Mime and Physical Theatre: Interviews with leading practitioners and archival research. [travel]

    Laura Higgins (Oxford Brookes University) for research towards an article on Shakespeare’s ghosts, ‘Perturbed Spirits’ [travel London/Oxford/Stratford]

    Sharon Muiruri Coyne (theatre practitioner) for work on the Penwithen Boys Documentary: the long-term effect of an applied theatre project: [film editing costs]

    Nicci Obholzer (Collections assistant, National Trust) to fund an investigation into the Network of Ellen Terry’s Memorial Barn Theatre Chairs at Smallhythe Place, Kent. [travel]

    Michael Pinchbeck (Manchester Metropolitan University) for his work on exploring past and potential adaptations of Berger and Mohr’s work for theatre [travel London and Geneva]

    Charlotte Purkis (Winchester University) for her research into understanding the role of theatre director Norman Marshall (1901-1980) [travel]

    Mark Scott (PhD student Warwick University) for the creation of a website database of opera houses, architecture, performances and personalities, from the mid-19th century up [travel]

    Alison Shell (University College of London) for her research into the drama of the British Counter-Reformation [travel to Boston]

    Simon Shepherd (emeritus professor, Royal Central) for his new book Granville Barker: The Unknown Texts. [copyright clearances / image licensing]

    Hannah Unwin (PhD Newcastle, resident Abu Dhabi) for her work on Johnston Forbes-Robertson and the Functions of Theatrical Celebrity, 1880-1920 [travel]

    All award winners receive a year’s free membership to the Society as part of their award. In addition, we were deeply impressed by all those who submitted applications – who had built in allowances for all eventualities, and who were able to adjust as the circumstances changed in the extraordinary difficulties posed by the current crisis. We therefore have decided to give to everyone who submitted an application a copy of this year’s Annual Publication, Steve Nicholson’s four-volume The Censorship of British Drama 1900-1968, an important and warmly reviewed four-part analysis of British theatre censorship.

    Sadly we cannot celebrate all this publicly at our AGM as in normal times, but our admiration is none the less for being restricted to online outlets, and we wish everyone the very best for their further research in these difficult times. We hope that our support will enable them to seize the first opportunities that arise as soon as the lockdown starts to relax.

  8. 2019

    The Anthony Denning Award to
    RUSSELL JACKSON,
    Professor Emeritus of Birmingham University, towards research on Noël Coward’s working methods as a playwright [travel].

    The Kathleen Barker Award to
    ALEXANDRA APPLETON, independent scholar, towards research on The Provincial Theatre Royal [travel]

    The Stephen Joseph Award to
    LUCY SANTOS, freelance historian, for research into Radium in British Theatre  [travel]

    An award from the Edward Gordon Craig Fund was made to
    SALLY BARNDEN,
    post-doctoral researcher, towards publication by CUP of Still Shakespeare and the Photography of Performance [image rights]


    OTHER RESEARCH AWARDS


    ROBERT KENNY
    , Fellow at Leicester University, for an amanuensis to complete the final chapter and index for his book on The Inimitable Monsieur Francisque.

    GAŠPER JAKOVAC, teaching assistant at University of Durham, for his work on  Robert Owen’s manuscript play The History of Purgatory. [travel]

    TONY LIDINGTON, showman, for research into Early Pierrot Troupes [travel]

    JAMI ROGERS, independent scholar, for her work on British Black and Asian Shakespeareans, 1966-2018: Integrating Shakespeare [travel]

    GEMMA MILLER, lecturer, Kings College London, for images for her monograph published by Bloomsbury (Arden Shakespeare) on Childhood in Contemporary Performance of Shakespeare [image rights]

    ROBERT DEAN, lecturer at Lincoln University, for the translation into English of two bilingual theatre revue scripts produced at the London Pavilion during the First World War [translator’s fee].

    ALISON CHILD, independent scholar, for images for her book Tell Me I’m Forgiven, on Norah Blaney and Gwen Farrar [image rights]

    DAVID LINTON, senior lecturer at Kingston University, towards research on London West End Revue 1910-1939 [travel + images]

    ROBERT MARSDEN, associate professor at Stafford University, towards research at the V&A for his forthcoming monograph (Bloomsbury) Inside the Rehearsal Room [travel]

    STEPHANIE TILLOTSON, PhD student at Warwick, for images to be included in an essay for a forthcoming undergraduate reader (Palgrave Macmillan) Analysing Gender in Performance – Regendering Shakespeare [image rights]

    EOIN PRICE, senior lecturer at Swansea, for a research trip to Oxford to look at promptbooks for plays by Fletcher and Massinger at Wadham College [travel]

    BENJAMIN FOWLER, lecturer at Sussex University, towards image costs for Beyond the Director’s Craft (monograph on Katie Mitchell, Routledge) [image rights]

    A grant from the President’s Fund was made to ROMOLA NUTTALL and JULIAN NEUHAUSER towards the costs of making a film record of their reconstruction and performance of the Inns of Court play The Misfortunes of Arthur  [recording]

    Two conference grants were made from the President’s Fund, to Alessandra Grossi and Isla Hall, towards attendance costs in Cologne and Rome respectively. Students may apply for a conference attendance grant at any time. For more information on this, please see here.

    In addition, awards of a year’s free membership were given to Laura Milburn and Isabel Stowell-Kaplan.

     

  9. 2018

    The Anthony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research to

    CATHY BRIGDEN, School of Management, Melbourne:

    towards travel to Manchester from Melbourne for research into the Manchester Unity Theatre, with articles to be published in due course.

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research to

    ANTHONY BINNS, independent scholar, actor, musician, playwright:

    towards travel to the Pélissier family archive in Gloucestershire, and to the V&A and British Library, for research into the life and work of H.G.Pélissier, Edwardian impresario, comedian, composer and author; investigation of uncatalogued items and eventual publication of articles.

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research to

    TOM CORNFORD, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama:

    towards travel and image costs for research into 20thC theatre ensembles – completion and publication of a monograph for Routledge.

    An award from the Craig Fund was made to

    DAVID COATES, Warwick University:

    towards research in Edinburgh on the scattered archive of the May family of theatrical costumiers.

    OTHER RESEARCH AWARDS

    ROBERT KENNY, University Fellow in French Studies at Leicester University:

    towards an amanuensis to prepare for publication his boook on The Inimitable Monsieur Francisque.

    KATIE POWER, Southampton University:

    towards travel and accommodation in New York and Washington for her PhD research into Yiddish Theatre in London.

    LAURA HIGGINS, Oxford Brookes University:

    towards the image costs for an article in Shakespeare Quarterly on The Queen in Richard II.

    BARRY HOULIHAN, NUI Galway:

    towards publication of Navigating Ireland’s Theatre Archive, in respect of those elements dealing with theatre in Northern Ireland and pre-1922 Eire.

    DEBORAH JEFFRIES, University of East London:

    towards travel and accommodation in Nottingham and Leeds; PhD research into the licensing of Music Halls post 1843.

    ELIZABETH TAVARES, Pacific University:

    towards travel and accommodation at the Huntington Library for her research into Genghis Khan on the Elizabethan Stage; for an article.

    ROBERT WHELAN, independent scholar, author and editor:

    towards website expenses for a further tranche of his online catalogue of performances at Drury Lane 1852-1862.

    ADAM HANSEN, Northumbria University:

    towards travel and accommodation in Stratford-upon-Avon, for his research into Shakespeare’s relationship with ‘folk’ music; for an article for the journal of the British Shakespeare Assocation.

    ELEANOR BLOOMFIELD, University of Auckland:

    towards travel and accommodation in York for PhD research into the modern significance of the reenacting of the York Mystery Plays.

    BEATRICE ASHTON-LELLIOTT, Portsmouth University:

    towards a trip to the Circus archives in Sheffield, for her PhD research into Victorian conjurors and an article in 19thCentury Gender Studies journal.

    HARRY MCCARTHY,  Exeter University:

    towards travel and accommodation in Stratford-upon-Avon for his PhD research into Early Modern Boy Actors.

    EMILY GARSIDE, recent PhD from Cardiff University:
    towards image costs for her monograph on Angels in America to be published by McFarland. (Photographs of the world premiere of the work at the National Theatre in London and its recent revival there)

    SARAH REYNOLDS,  Leeds University:

    towards case studies for her research in evaluating the role of regional arts centres in British theatre today.

    Two grants were made from the President’s Fund:
    HARRIET REED, V&A, to enable her to attend the SIBMAS conference in Paris, in recognition of her work for the STR.

    REBECCA FRASER, Exeter, to enable her to give a paper at the University of Surrey conference on Women’s Suffrage and the Arts. This is actually a Small Conference Grant, not a Research Award, but was granted at the same time. For more information on Small Conference Grants, which are awarded at the STR’s discretion at any time of the year, please see the information here:
    Conference Fee Grants

  10. 2017

    The Anthony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    ROBERT WHELAN, independent scholar:
    towards the online publication of his database of Drury Lane performances between 1862 and 1879.

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    HANNAH MANKTELOW, Nottingham:
    towards her work on Provincial Shakespeare Performance 1769-2016

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    JERRI DABOO, Exeter:
    towards her work on Staging British South Asian Culture, specifically travel costs incurred in final researches before completing a book to be published by Routledge.

    OTHER RESEARCH AWARDS
    CHRIS O’ROURKE, Lincoln:
    towards research on gender, sexuality and performance in Britain, 1896-1939. The money is for travel and BFI charges for viewing film material.

    EVELYN O’MALLEY, Exeter:

    towards her research on Max Reinhardt’s Outdoor Ecologies, specifically for visiting the Max Reinhardt Archive.

    JAMES ARMSTRONG, NewYork:
    for research into Romantic Drama in the Toy Theatre: travel costs to visit toy theatre archives in the BL and V&A.

    ALEXIS WEEDON, Bedfordshire:
    towards research on Clemence Dane: travel to archives.

    KARINA SMITH, Victoria, Australia:
    towards research travel costs into British and Caribbean popular theatre in the 1980’s.

    NELL DARBY, independent scholar:
    towards research into Ilda Orme to be published in various journals and online; towards travel to New York.

    ALISON YOUNG, independent scholar:
    towards research into members of her music-hall performing family to be published online and in The Call-Boy. Travel to archives in Sheffield and Bristol.

    NAOMI PAXTON, Lincoln:
    towards image rights costs for her forthcoming book ‘Stage Rights! Actresses, Activism and Politics 1908-1958. to be published by Manchester University Press.

    MOLLY ZIEGLER, Glasgow:
    for research into Madness on the early modern stage: travel to archives at the British Library, the Globe, and the Wellcome collections.

    TERRY ROBINSON, Toronto:
    towards travel to the Huntington Library for research into Acting and Physical Expression in the late-Georgian era.

    TOMKE KOSSEN-VEENHUIS, Edinburgh:
    towards costs incurred in order to attend a conference at Leeds, to give a paper on ‘(Non-)Indeterminacy in Music and Dance Collaborations’.

    HELEN GUSH, V&A:
    for image reproduction rights for her work on the World Theatre Season.

  11. 2016

    The Anthony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    HELENA HAMMOND, working on Dancing with History – Kenneth Macmillan: images of Mayerling, Manon, Isadora

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    RICHARD SMEDLEY, working on Joseph Smedley (no relation), early 18thC actor-manager.

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    MARTA MINIER, working on the Whirligig Children’s Theatre.

    An Award from the Craig Fund was made to
    HILARY VERNON SMITH, a subvention towards publication of a book of scene-painting recipes.

    An Award from the President’s Fund was made to
    MARION REED, for research into the Georgian Theatre, Penzance.


    OTHER RESEARCH AWARDS

    TIMOTHY KEENAN, for image rights on a comprehensive collection of images for a book on Restoration Staging.

    LUCIE SUTHERLAND, working on a biography of George Alexander

    JANICE NORWOOD, working on Victorian Actresses on Tour in the US.

    DEVON COX, working on French prisoner-of-war theatre in Portchester, Selkirk, and Mahon.

    SARAH CROVER, research for a book on Pageantry on the frozen Thames.

    RHIANNON EASTERBROOK, working on performing classical antiquity in Britain 1895-1914.

    SIOBHAN O’GORMAN, working on Transnational theatre – Behan, Swift and Littlewood.

    J. ELLEN GAINOR, researching The Stage Society and the new drama.

  12. 2015

    NAMED RESEARCH AWARDS

    The Anthony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    KATE HOLMES, working on ‘Aerial Stars: Femininity, Celebrity and Glamour in the Representations of Female Aerialists in 1920s and early 1930s’.

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    DECLAN MCCORMICK, working on Northern British provincial theatre, sociability and social networks c.1770 – 1832.

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    DR PEG KATRITSKY working on Banks’s ‘dancing horse’ of Love’s Labour’s Lost.


    OTHER RESEARCH AWARDS

    VERONICA ISAAC, for research into Ellen Terry’s costumes, at Smallhythe Place. This award included a sum from the Gordon Craig Fund.

    DR SIOBHAN KEENAN, towards a new performing edition of ‘The Twice Chang’d Friar’ for the Malone Society.

    DR DEIRDRE HEDDON, towards photography for the Works of Adrian Howells.

    DR HOLLYGALE MILLETTE, researching Lydia Thompson, touring burlesque artist.

    PHILIP HOWELL, research into 19th century performing animals.

    SIMON SLADEN, working on The Panto Dame: travel and interview costs

    TAYLOR AUCOIN, research into Shrovetide Drama.

    DR HELEN BROOKS, towards research on her online database of WWI plays.

    JASON BURG, working on cathedrals as perfomance spaces in the 20thC.

    AYSE TASHKIRAN, researching the History of Movement Direction: travel costs to interview people and visit archives associated with Litz Pisk.

    CATRIONA FALLOW, towards travel and image rights for her work on Shakespeare and new drama.

    HAZEL CLOVER, towards an analysis of the financial and business practices of the Georgian Provincial Theatre circuits (from the President’s Fund).

  13. 2014

    NAMED RESEARCH AWARDS
    The Anthony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research
    to Dr CLAIRE WARDEN, working on early 20th century British
    Theatre Practitioners in Russia.

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research
    to
 Dr CATHERINE HINDSON, working on Theatre in the Model Village (Bournville and Port Sunlight), 1888-1925.

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    Dr FIONA BRENNAN, working on a history of theatre in Tralee
    and Killarney, Ireland, 19th-20th centuries

    OTHER RESEARCH AWARDS
    TINA CARTER, for travel to circus archives in Montreal for
    evidence of ‘disabled aerialists’ working in the 19th and 20th
    centuries.

    TONY COULT, for work on two archival TIE projects, Interplay
    (Leeds) and Key Perspectives (Peterborough).

    ANNA FARTHING, for work on largely young female performers
    who performed mixed bills of entertainment for troops during the
    First World War.

    Dr EVA GRIFFITH, working on a performance history of Webster’s The White Devil.

    JOHN RIDDELL, for work on Theatre Space in Northern Ireland
    since 1922 (from the Gordon Craig Fund).

    Dr JAMI ROGERS, for work on ethnic minority actors in Shakespeare

    Dr SIMON SLADEN, to develop his National Database of Pantomime Performance, and for a documentary on Pantomime Music Today.

    ALAN JONES, for funding to help attend and co-chair the SIBMAS/TLA Congress 2014 (from the President’s Fund).

  14. 2013

    The following awards, totaling £3660 (including £650 from the Craig fund) were announced at the Society’s Annual General Meeting in May 2013.

    NAMED RESEARCH AWARDS

    The Anthony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    Dr Naomi STUBBS   Working with Dr Amy HUGHES on a critical edition of the diary (13 volumes) of Harry Watkins, 19th century American actor.

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    Mr Rob FIRMAN   Architect:  writing a book on theatre buildings in North and South Wales.

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    Mr Simon SLADEN PhD student and V and A cataloguer, and organiser of Panto Day 2011 and 2012: for a professional website on pantomime.

    OTHER RESEARCH AWARDS

    Dr Donatellla BARBIERI and Dr Melissa TRIMINGHAM
    For colour images for book, Costume in Performance, to be published by Bloomsbury Press with the support of the V&A.

    Dr Ailsa GRANT FERGUSON
    For a study of the Shakespeare Hut Theatre, 1916-19.

    Dr Lynette GODDARD
    For photographs for a book under contract with Palgrave Macmillan on contemporary Black British playwrights.

    Ms Fern RIDDELL
    PhD student:  to consult the ‘Kitty Marion Papers’ in the Public Library of New York (Kitty Marion was a militant suffragette and music hall star).

    Dr Amy SKINNER
    For monograph with Intellect, ‘Meyerhold’s Theatre Games Across Time and Space’.


  15. 2012

    Total value:  £4125 (plus £725 from the Craig Fund and £225 from the John Ramsden Fund)

    Antony Denning Award:  Dr Sarah McCleave for a publication subvention for a book entitled  ‘Dance in Opera:  Handel on the London Stage’ – £800.

    Kathleen Barker Award:  Miss Aileen Robinson (Northwestern University) work on Victorian theatre and performance that spread scientific knowledge – £500.

    Stephen Joseph Award:  Ms Victoria Anker (PhD student)  working on provincial masques 1603-60 and how they transmit religious and political ideas – £ 500.

    Research Awards of the S.T.R.:

    Mr Tobias Becker of Berlin  (PhD student) working on popular theatre (operetta, musical comedy and revue) in London and Berlin, 1880-1930 – £300.

    Dr Dongshin Chang (City U of New York) for research into historical and contemporary interpretations of ‘Aladdin’ – £250.

    Dr Roger Clegg for a publication subvention for a book entitled ‘Theatrical Jigs: Sung Drama on the Early Modern Stage – £800, including £225 from the Ramsden Fund.

    Miss Veronica Isaac (PhD student and museum curator) for work on the role of dress in Ellen Terry’s life and career – £500 from the Craig Fund.

    Dr Robert Ormsby of St John’s, Newfoundland, for work on a monograph on the stage history of ‘Coriolanus’ – £300.

    Miss Vicky Simon, for work on the building casework records in the London Metropolitan Archives, to cover the work of Frank Matcham and his company – £225 from the Ramsden Fund.

    Mrs Heather Romaine, archivist at the U of Bristol Theatre `collection, was recommended for a grant from the President’s Fund for a colour leaflet about the newly acquired  Mander and Mitchenmson Collection. £300 was later agreed.

  16. 2011

    The following awards were announced at the Society’s Annual General Meeting on 17 May 2011.

    NAMED RESEARCH AWARDS

    The Anthony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    Dr WARREN OAKLEY, a teaching assistant at the University of Leeds, for a monograph on Thomas Harris, the Covent Garden manager from 1774-1820.

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    PROFESSOR RACHEL FENSHAM of the University of Surrey,  for work on The Unnamed Society, a Manchester theatre group, from 1919 to the late 1920s.

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research to
    Mr COLIN GEORGE, the last Artistic Director of the Playhouse Theatre, Sheffield, and the founding Director of the Crucible Theatre, for a book on the latter.

    OTHER RESEARCH AWARDS

    Mr DAVID COATES, a self-financing PhD student at the University of Warwick, for research on private theatricals after 1820, for visits to  Stoneleigh Abbey, Ugbrooke Park, and Ormesby Hall.

    Dr KATE DORNEY, curator at the V&A, editor for a forthcoming publication on World Scenography 1975-2015, to pay designers for the right to reproduce their work.

    Mr PAUL ELSAM, Associate Lecturer at the University of Teesside, for setting up an on-line resource on the work of Stephen Joseph.

    Ms JESSICA HIGGS, a director and voice coach, for a camcorder and  – audio recorder for continued work with Susan Croft on Unfinished Histories.

    Dr CATHERINE HINDSON, a lecturer at the University of Bristol, for travel connected with a monograph on ‘Charity Events:  the Star Actress and Society, 1890-1920’.

    Mr WILLIAM HOUSTON, a PhD student from the University of Essex, for work on the notebooks of ‘Professor Hoffmann’, a Victorian Magical Performer.

    Ms VERONICA ISAAC, a museum curator and PhD student, for work on the costumes of Ellen Terry in collaboration with the V and A and Smallhythe Place.

    Dr ROS MERKIN, Reader in Drama at Liverpool John Moore’s University, for digitizing images in the city library for a book on the Liverpool Playhouse.

    Dr VARSHA PANJWANI, a lecturer at the University of York, for travel for a book on Shakespeare’s co-authored plays.

    Dr PATRICIA SMYTH, a teaching associate at the University of Nottingham, towards photographic costs for illustrations for an article on late nineteenth century pictorial theatre posters.

    Dr PATRICIA TATSPAUGH, an independent scholar, for photographer’s fees and photocopying of the MS for an edition of The Two Noble Kinsmen for Cambridge University Press.

    Dr CATHERINE WYNNE, a lecturer at the University of Hull, for travel connected with a commissioned edition of Bram Stoker’s theatrical writings.

    PRESIDENT’S FUND

    Ms SOPHIE DUNCAN, a DPhil student from Oxford, working on six Victorian actresses in Shakespearean roles, has been awarded a grant from the President’s Fund for travel costs for a visit to Smallhythe.


  17. 2010

    The following awards, totaling £6850, were announced at the Society’s Annual General Meeting on 18 May 2010.


    Dr Angela Escott.

    The Antony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research to: Dr ANGELA ESCOTT (right), a librarian at the Royal College of Music, to travel to the Huntington Library, California, for work on a book on the dramatist Hannah Cowley, 1776-94.

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research to: Mr JOHN FAULKNER, who, with Hilary Young, Penny Macdonald and Chris March, was compiling a history of the Century Theatre, started by the late Wilfred Harrison.

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research to:
    Dr ROGER CLEGG of De Montfort University for translating a singspiele by Barend Fonteyn, a variant of an English dramatic jig, The Black Man.

    Other Research Awards

    Mrs CATHERINE BADHAM, a PhD student at the University of Sheffield, for work on the production and reception of the plays of Philip Ridley, involving many interviews..

    Ms SUE BARBOUR, a PhD student at the University of Sheffield, for work on variety Theatre, involving many interviews with surviving members of the profession.

    Mr MARK CAFFREY, a PhD student at King’s College, London, working on the production history of John Whiting’s Saint’s Day.


    Dr Philip Crispin.

    Dr PHILIP CRISPIN of the University of Hull, towards the production of a medieval morality play, Mankind, and an accompanying international symposium.

    Mr ANDREW CROWTHER, Secretary of the W S Gilbert Society, for a biography of W S Gilbert to be published by the History Press

    Professor RICHARD HAND of the University of Glamorgan, for an edition of the plays of Joseph Conrad.

    Miss MARY ISBELL, of the University of Connecticut, for archival research into the theatrical history of 19th century amateur performance.


    Dr Eleanor Margolies

    Dr ELEANOR MARGOLIES, for travel to attend a research symposium in Paris and to translate five critical essays on Gordon Craig and puppet theatre.

    Dr ANDREW MAUNDER of the University of Hertfordshire, for help with transcription of plays to be included in an anthology of British Drama from WWI.

    Dr KAREN REILLY of the University of Birmingham, for a monograph on Automata in theatre history and performance.

    Dr AMY STANIFORTH, archivist of the International Theatre Collection resource at the University of Aberystwyth, which included the collection of the late John Cavanagh, for equipment to make the collection available to students.

    Professor GWENO WILLIAMS of York St John University for research into and film of a wagon production of Abraham and Isaac, a medieval mystery play.

    John Ramsden Awards
    JOHN FAULKNER, SUE BARBOUR, and MARK CAFFREY, as above.

    Craig Fund Awards
    PHILIP CRISPIN, ELEANOR MARGOLIES, KAREN REILLY, and PROFESSOR GWENO WILLIAMS, as above.

    President’s Fund Award
    Professor DAVID WILES, for support for a symposium to be held on the Cambridge University Press Companion to Theatre History for its editors and contributors.

  18. 2009

    The following awards, totalling £5,900, were announced at the Society’s Annual General Meeting on 19th May 2009.

    The Antony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to SARA SA PESSOA, for a practice-led community centred project on the history of the Theatre Royal in Margate, which includes oral history, archive-based research, and performance.

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to SUSAN VALLADARES, for doctoral research into ‘Representations of Spain on the British Stage, 1799-1820’, including a visit to the Bristol Theatre Collection to consult Kathleen Barker’s papers.

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to PAUL ELSAM, for doctoral research into the work of Stephen Joseph, including original interviews with people who knew or worked with Joseph.


    Other Research Awards

    RODERICK BARRON, an independent researcher and Antique Map dealer, for travel and photography to support research into the lives and careers of the Victorian cartographer and actress Lillian Lancaster, and her brother, William James Lancaster.

    Dr SUSAN CROFT for a further set of interviews in connection with the Unfinished Histories oral history of the alternative theatre project.

    DAVID HUNTER, a USA based independent scholar and librarian, for travel in connection with a long-standing investigation of the reception in Britain of Handel’s operatic work between 1710-59

    Dr SARAH KNIGHT for help with the publication costs of an important collection of essays on ‘The Intellectual and Cultural Worlds of the Early Modern Inns of Court’.

    Professor GRAHAM LEY for publication subventions for two volumes by UEP on British South Asian theatre:  ‘British South Asian Theatres:  a documented history’, and ‘Critical Essays on British South Asian Theatre’.

    ALISSA MELLO, a director and performer researching contemporary European Adult Puppet Theatre, especially the UK puppet company Green Ginger Theatre.

    Dr STEVE NICHOLSON for a publisher subvention for the final two volumes of his history of the censorship of British drama, covering the years 1900-1968.


    Zak Ozmo in 2008.

    Dr ZAK OZMO, for reconstructing and recording music from British ballad operas;  the outcome would include a CD of the music.

    Dr LOUISE PEACOCK, for a publication subvention for a book, ‘Serious Play, modern clown performance’, to be published by Intellect.

    FRANCIS REID, a retired theatre lighting designer and lecturer, for research into Craig archive materials at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris.

    Professor DOMINIC SHELLARD, towards the completion of the British Library Theatre Archive Project.


    John Ramsden Awards

    RODERICK BARRON, PAUL ELSAM, Mr ZAK OZMO, and Professor DOMINIC SHELLARD, as above.


    Craig Fund Awards

    ALISSA MELLO and FRANCIS REID, as above.


    President’s Fund Award

    PAMELA CARTER, for a study of the accessibility of Scottish theatre to minority ethnic groups, leading to a symposium.


  19. 2008

    The following awards, totalling £6,550, were announced at the Society’s Annual General Meeting on 20th May 2008.

    The Anthony Denning Award to Dr Margaret Rogerson, lecturer at the University of Sydney, Australia, towards the cost of publishing a monograph on the staging of the York Mysteries 1951-2006.

    The Kathleen Barker Award to Dr Caitlin Adams, a research officer at the Central School of Speech and Drama, for an oral-history project as part of a study of the Arts League of Service Travelling Theatre.


    Other awards to:
    Dr Helen Brooks, lecturer in drama and performance at the University of Nottingham, for travel to expand the content of a monograph ‘Playing Women: performance and Gender in the Eighteenth-Century’.

    Dr Catherine Cockin, lecturer at the University of Hull, for work in connection with the publication of eight volumes of Ellen Terry’s letters.

    Elizabeth Dyer, an American PhD student at the University of York, for the production and documentation of a rare Jesuit drama Daphnis (1728).


    Dr Kelly Jones.

    Dr Kelly Jones, lecturer in drama at the Lincoln School of Performing Arts, towards a day-long event with students to investigate the nineteenth-century melodrama Sweeney Todd including a production of George Dibden-Pitt’s play of 1847.

    Professor David Mayer, University of Manchester, for photography of James Winston’s illustrations of Georgian theatres.

    Professor Robert Sawyer, East Tennessee State University, USA, for research into Charles Kean’s Shakespearean productions for a new book.

    Lucia Stuart, a member of the Terriss family, for work on her great-great-grandfather’s archive.

    Professor Sue Thomas, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, for travel and research costs towards the preparation of a monograph on playwright and director Polly Teale’s late expressionism.

    Alicia Tycer, independent scholar, for assistance towards developing her PhD thesis ‘Divergent Voices during the “Crisis in Masculinity”: Contemporary British Women Playwrights at the Royal Court Theatre’ into a book.

    Three awards were made from The John Ramsden Fund; all are linked to, and the amounts included in, the awards to Elizabeth DyerDr Kelly Jones, and Professor Robert Sawyer.


    Including the above, the Society has now made grants totalling £95,500 to 214 recipients since the first awards in 1988.

    An award of was made from The President’s Fund to Ms Nesreen Husseintowards conference fees in connection with her PhD topic on Improbable Theatre.

  20. 2007

    Total value:  £6000 (plus £250 from the Craig Fund and £450 from the John Ramsden Fund)

    The Antony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to Paul Elsam, a freelance writer, director and lecturer, for travel, subsistence and photography for work on original scripts found at the Stephen Joseph Theatre.

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to Lionel Burman, a retired curator and lecturer in Art History, for travel for work on a study of engraved portraits of 18th century actors printed onto Liverpool delftware tiles.

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to Professor Mike Pearson of Aberystwyth, for travel and recording materials for a symposium on the work of RAT Theatre and recording of the proceedings


    Other Research Awards
    Susan Croft, a freelance lecturer and researcher, for sound/camera technician, travel and photography for work on oral history video interviews with women active in the alternative theatre movement in the 70s and 80s.

    Professor Christine Dymkowski of Royal Holloway College, for travel, subsistence and photography for work on culturally significant British productions of Measure for Measure.

    Moira Goff, a rare books librarian, for photography for illustrations to a book on Hester Santlow.

    Stephen Huff, an American graduate student, for travel in connection with an article on a burlesque of Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine.

    John Opie, development assistant at the Hampstead Theatre, to help with publication of a book on the theatre for its 50th anniversary.

    Millie Taylor, a lecturer at Winchester, as a subvention for a monograph on British Pantomime.

    Dr David Wilmore, theatre consultant, for research into the James Winston papers on Georgian theatres.


    John Ramsden Awards

    Professor Christine Dymkowski, as above.

    Paul Elsam, as above.

    Professor Mike Pearson, as above.

    Dr Rose Whyman of Birmingham, for travel in the UK in connection with a book on Anton Chekhov.


    Craig Fund Award

    Dr Sophie Nield of the Central School of Speech and Drama, to set up a Gordon Craig lecture series to be hosted jointly by the Centre for Excellence in Training for Theatre and the STR.


    Total awards granted in 2007 came to £6,100.

  21. 2006

    Total value:  £4,000 (plus 2,250 from the John Ramsden fund)

    The Antony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to Dr Katie Normington, Head of Department of Drama, Royal Holloway, for photographic plates for a monograph on contemporary performances of Mystery plays.

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to Geoff Bowden, a retired librarian, towards publishing costs for a history of the Intimate Theatre, Palmers Green.

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to Susanne Greenhalgh,  Principal Lecturer at Roehampton University, for travel and photocopying costs for work on Shakespearean theatre and British broadcasting from 1923 to the present.


    Other Research Awards

    Dr Christian Billing, Lecturer in Drama at the University of Hull, for a contracted monograph, Masculine Corporality and the English Stage, 1580-1635.

    Anna Dempster,  Lecturer at Birkbeck College, for travel concerned with research into risk and uncertainty in the production of theatre.

    Kennedy Kunani, a Kenyan community theatre worker, for an evaluative report on a Forum Theatre programme to counter corruption in Kenya.

    Emeritus Professor Philip Roberts, for travel and interviews for a monograph on Caryl Churchill.

    Dr Ian Saville, performer and part-time lecturer, for travel and recording costs for research into the development of Augusto Boal’s forum methods in Britain.

    Dr David Wilmore, theatre consultant, for research into the James Winston papers on Georgian theatres.

    Professor Mike Wilson, Director of Research at the University of Glamorgan, for photographic plates for a monograph on London’s Grand Guignol, 1920-22.


    John Ramsden Awards

    Colin Blumenau,  Director of the Theatre Royal Theatre, Bury St Edmunds, for research into Georgian acting methods, jointly with Royal Holloway.

    Dr Andy Lavender, Head of Postgraduate Studies at the Central School of Speech and Drama, for production costs and actor expenses in practice-based research into Henry Irving and melodramatic performance.

    Miko Sato, a research student, for work on Shakespearean tragedy on ‘Oriental’ and ‘Asian’ stages.


    Total awards granted in 2006 come to £6,250.


  22. 2005

    Total value:  £4,000 (plus £2.600 from the Craig Fund and £1,500 from the John Ramsden Fund)

    The Antony Denning Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to Dr Claire Cochrane, Senior Lecturer at University College Worcester, for a history of 20th century British theatre, concentrating on social and economic factors.

    The Kathleen Barker Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to Madelaine Smith, theatre marketing manager at the Theatre Royal Winchester, for a project on the history of the theatre.

    The Stephen Joseph Award of the Society for Theatre Research:  to Peter Grant, a retired puppeteer, for the history and cataloguing of his and his partner’s Theatre of Marionettes company.


    Other Research Awards

    Anthony Dobrowolski, an American actor and administrator, for work on three farces satirising the Aesthetic Movement.

    Professor Barry Faulk of Florida State University, for a book on the afterlife of music hall, Neo-Victorianism and global culture.

    Dr Eva Griffith of Durham University for work on the Red Bull Playhouse.

    Prithi Kanakamedala, a doctoral student at the University of Sussex, for work on dramatic representations of slavery on the British stage, 1780-1865.

    HollyGale Millette, a doctoral student at Royal Holloway College, for work on the transatlantic exchange of popular culture, 1850-1910.

    Dr Matthew Reason,  Research Fellow at York St John College, for a book on the documentation, description and representation of contemporary live performance.

    Dr Kathleen Riley, for a book on Fred and Adele Astaire in London.


    John Ramsden Awards

    Kate Brown, a freelance opera director and teacher, for work on the theory and practice of acting on the operatic London stage in the 17th and 18th centuries, with a view to applying the knowledge to performance of period works.

    A Burt-Briggs, for research on the Broadhead Circuit in Lancashire, founded by his grandfather.

    Buff Huntley, an office administrator for the Pentagon, for practical research into the techniques of nineteenth century dog drama.


    Awards from the Craig Fund

    Lindsey Thomas, working for a doctorate in theatre design, on the influence of the visual arts on Shakespeare productions, 1900-35.

    Tom Craig, towards the creation of a major Web site dedicated to the work of Gordon Craig.


    Total awards granted in 2005 come to £7,100.

  23. 2004

    Total value:  £4,100 (plus £750 from the Craig Fund and £1200 from the John Ramsden Fund)

    Antony Denning Award:  Sophie Jump (theatre designer, grand-daughter of George Devine and great-niece of Percy Harris) for work on the London Theatre Studio and the Old Vic School

    Kathleen Barker Award:  Yvonne Hurt (U of Derby) for work on a digital database of playbills and papers relating to the Bold Lane Theatre  Derby, 1773 to 1864-

    Stephen Joseph Award:  Fred Moroni ( marketing manager of the Malvern Theatre) for work on the life and career of Nancy Hewins and the Osiris Repertory Company from the 1930s to the 1960s

    Research Awards of the S.T.R.:

    Tony Barker (private researcher and editor of the Music Hall journal) for work on George Bastow, a music hall comedian

    Freda Chapple (Lecturer, U of Sheffield Institute for `Lifelong Learning) for work on the impact of digital technologies on British theatre practice and actor education, focussing on Sheffield, Nottingham and Leeds

    To Philip Cook (retired lecturer, U of Manchester) for work on child prodigy actors in 19th century theatre, in Shakespeare and other heroic roles

    Alison Maclaurin (lecturer in costume design,Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh) for work on a book entitled ‘Clothes on Stage:  Theatre Costume in Time and Space’

    Kristen Tetens (Michigan State U) for work on Thomas Monck Mason’s management of the Italian Opera House, King’s Theatre Haymarket

    Dr Karen Vandervelde (post-doctoral research fellow at the U of Ghent) for work on a book on ‘The Alternative Dramatic Revival in Ireland, 1897-1913’

    Lawrence Webb (great-grandson of William George Webb) forwork on the Webb archive in the Cotsen Children’s Library at Princeton .

    Penny Francis and Professor Henryk Jurkowski for the editing and translation of a book on Gordon Craig –  from the Craig Fund

    John Ramsden Fund  The first award from the fund in the name of the late John Ramsden was made to Dr Steve Nicholson for work on alternative ‘little’ theatres:   Manchester Unity Theatre in the 1930s and 1940s

  24. 2003

    Total value £4,200  (plus £400 from the Craig Fund)

    Antony Denning Award:  to Ms Hsin-Yun OU (doctoral student, Royal Holloway College) for work on cross-cultural theatrical adaptations based on Arthur Murphy’s Orphan of China

    Kathleen Barker Award:  Janice Norwood 9part-time doctoral student, U of Leicester) for work on the Britannia Theatre Hoxton and its house dramatist, C H Hazlewood

    Stephen Joseph Award:  Alan Cohen (freelance technical consultant/stage engineer)for work on auditorium tilting floors

    Research Awards of the S.T.R.:

    Maura Cronin (graduate student, U of Pittsburgh) for work on post-colonial relationships in ‘Yankee’ plays from 1825 to 1860

    Jennifer Danby (doctoral student, New York) for work on  masculinity and femininity on the early Restoration stage, with special reference to five actors in the King’s Company of players during the years 1660-1677

    Marty Gould (graduate student, U of Iowa) for work on theatricality and Empire in the Victorian period

    Frances Gray (lecturer, U of Sheffield) for work on the first biography of Meggie Albanesi, (1899-1923)

    Agnieska Jelewska-Michas, (Polish lecturer, doctoral student in Poznan and at the University of Kent) for work on ‘Edward Gordon Craig’s Myth of the Art of the Theatre’

    Felicity McNab (translator/musicologist from the Republic of Ireland) for work on a reconstruction of the 18th century burlesque opera Midas by Kane O’Hara

    Lawrence Webb (the great-grandson of William George Webb of toy theatre fame) for work on the history of the Webb  family;  he hopes to combine this publication with a Webb Toy Theatre Festival in Ramsgate in 2004, with the presentation of ‘old and new Webb plays for the juvenile stage’

    Dr Arkady Ostrovsky was awarded £400 from the Craig Fund for work on Craig and Stanislavsky.

    From the President’s Fund:  Ms Sophie Nield and Mr Nicholas Ridout were granted £200  towards an on-going  research seminar on theatre history under the aegis of the University of London;  and Ms Kamelia Nikolova from Sofia was granted up to £200 to help with her visit to London to study new British drama.

  25. 2002

    Total value £4000

    Antony Denning Award:  Ms Gabriella Reuss (doctoral student and lecturer at a Hungarian university) for travel in connection with work on Macready’s 1834 King Lear promptbook

    Kathleen Barker Award:  Dr Bill Findlay (lecturer, Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh) for research on Glasgow Unity Theatre and publication of playscripts

    Stephen Joseph Award:  Phil Smith (freelance playwright, independent) for travel, recording and photography in connection with work on ‘Street Performance and Public Rituals in Exeter, 1830-1930’ –

    Research Awards of the S.T.R.:

    Dong-Shin Chang (PhD student, New York University) for travel to London for work on ‘Dramatising China in the British Theatre 1675-1912’

    Adrienne Darvay-Nagy (freelance writer from Budapest) for work on ‘Hamlet at the turn of the Millennium’

    Dr Bridget Escombe (Leeds U) for travel to the IFTR meeting in Amsterdam with a production, ‘Measure for Measure and Promos and Cassandra:  Alternatives to Character Study in Early Modern Drama’

    Dr Agnes Juhasz-Ormsby (post-doctoral fellow from Toronto) for travel for work on a critical edition of the Coronation of Anne Boleyn. by Nicholas Udall and John Leland

    Martin MacGilp (NHS accounts assistant, independent) for travel and photocopying for work on puppet theatre in Scotland

    Dr Amy Sargeant (Birkbeck College) for travel and photocopying for work on ‘Stage Acting in Early Screen Performance’

    Dr Elizabeth Shafer (Royal Holloway College) for illustrations for an edited book, Playing Australia

    Steve Walker (writer and artist, independent) for travel and materials for the ‘Jimmy Learmouth Restoration Project’

    (Also recommended award from the President’s Fund for Susan Cooper, part-time teacher at the Royal Academy of Dance, to write up a PhD on ‘The Ballets of Norman Morrice for Ballet Rambert’.)

  26. 2001

    Total value:  £4,050

    Anthony Denning Award:  Professor Don Wilmeth (Brown U) for work towards a history of stage acting in Britain and the United States from the Middle Ages to the ‘Method’.  (The award of the Denning partly reflected a gesture of tribute to Professor Wilmeth’s work for the American Society for Theatre Research)

    Kathleen Barker Award:  Arthur Millie (teacher and amateur historian) for a history of the Salisbury Playhouse, of which he is the archivist

    Stephen Joseph Award:  Leon Robinson (dance researcher) for work on Les Ballets Negres

    Research Awards of the S.T.R.:

    Stephen Bourne (doctoral student) for work on a chronology of Black British Theatre from 1800-1975

    Dr Giovanna Buonanno for work on British theories of acting in the 18th and 19th centuries, using acting manuals and books of rhetoric

    Dr Katharine Cockin for work on a catalogue of the Edith Craig and Ellen Terry archives at Smallhythe Place

    Professor Jim Davis and Professor Victor Emeljanow (U of Newcastle, New South Wales) for work on a book on ‘Interpreting the Audience:  London Theatre-Going 1840-1880’

    Nick Hunt (Rose Bruford College) for restoration of a Light Console formerly at the Theatre Royal Bristol

    Dr Valerie Lucas (U of Surrey at Roehampton) for a subvention for photographs for a book about Shakespearean productions in Europe and Asia

    Robert Ormsby (doctoral student, U of  Toronto) for work on a late 20th century performance history of Coriolanus

    Professor Simon Shepherd for work on The Stage 1814-16 – a short-lived but interesting publication of which only one copy remains

    Sarah Wood (free-lance film-maker and photographer) for production of a video installation about performance space and theatre architecture, as a teaching aid

  27. 2000

     Total value: £3,950

    Anthony Denning Award:  Dr Brian Singleton (lecturer Trinity College, Dublin) for research on Orientalism and the London stage from c. 1850 to c.1935

    Kathleen Barker Award:  Jean Napier Baker (part-time postgraduate student U/Kent) for research into late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century provincial theatre with special emphasis on Sarah Baker of the Kent circuit

    Stephen Joseph Award:  The Very Rev T Hughie Jones (retired Archdeacon) for work on a critical biography of William Bodham Donne, 1807-1882

    Research Awards of the S.T.R.:

    Anselm Heinrich, (postgraduate, U/ Hull, for research into a comparison between theatrical activity in Munster (Stadtische Buhnen) and in York (Theatre Royal) from 1933 to 1945

    David Huxley (private historian) for research on theatre in Manchester and district

    Paul Maloney (part-time programmes editor, Scottish Opera) for research on the history of the Britannia Music Hall, Trongate, Glasgow

    Judith Rose (co-director, North West Playwrights) for cataloguing and conservation work on materials about North West Playwrights

    Dr Robert Shaughnessy (lecturer, U of Surrey, Roehampton) for research on his book, Rebel Shakespeares

    Dr Mick Wallis (lecturer, Loughborough U) for research on a continuing survey of the historical pageant in Britain

  28. prior to 2000

Paul Iles Bequest

Paul spent 12 years working in Australia, first as general manager of the State Theatre Company at the Adelaide Festival Centre, then as founding producer of the North Queensland Theatre Company, and later as general manager and director of Nimrod Theatre in Sydney. He had learned his trade at a variety of repertory theatres in the UK in the early seventies and on returning home continued his career as general manager of the Grand Theatre, Blackpool and later the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh. He subsequently became a much-respected and sought after theatrical consultant.

When he died, at the age of 59, he left £10,000 to the Society for Theatre Research to be used for research into the history of theatre in Australia. He would be pleased to know that that money has now been put to work and that he is thereby still able to help the theatre industry in Australia – a reflection of the love he had for that country and of the happy years he had spent there.

  1. RUTH BERESON AND JUSTIN MACDONNELL (Queensland, Australia)

    A New Moon Over Queensland
    … traces the significance of the relatively short-lived Central and Northern Queensland Theatre Company known as New Moon located in regional Queensland.  This period is of interest to scholars of regional theatre as it was the foundation of many regional theatre companies in existence today. It will be of interest to historians of performing arts, cultural policy and Queensland regional history.  It will also provide the first accurate documentation and timeline of this important piece of Queensland theatre history.

    The award will underpin research towards a monograph as well as articles in performing arts, arts management and cultural policy journals.

  2. PATRICIA ALESSI AND JEREMY MARTENS (Fremantle, Australia)

    The Crown Theatre in Fremantle’s Prison
    … was for many decades a combined theatre, cinema, concert room and recreation hall for prisoners. The first part of the project will involve researching primary source material in order to examine and analyse the creation of the Crown Theatre, its purpose within the prison, its reception by prisoners, as well as the performances staged. The main outcome of this stage of the project will be a short book that is both rigorously researched and easily accessible to a general audience. The second part of the project will reimagine the Crown Theatre as an emerging venue for performance activity.

  3. JANE WOOLLARD (La Trobe, Melbourne, Australia)

    Life and career of Eliza Winstanley
    Eliza Winstanley’s repertoire from 1834 – 1864 spanned popular entertainment and canonical works, and she was also briefly a theatre manager in Australia, so it seems appropriate that research of her performance career should be supported by the Paul Iles Bequest.

    The award will support research in London and Sydney

  4. CHRIS HAY (NIDA, Australia)

    AETT, NIDA and theatre in Australian national life 1949 ­ 1968
    ‘A Vigorous and Significant Force’

    A book which recounts the genesis in 1954 and development of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust ­ so named not only to celebrate the new Queen’s visit to Australia, but also because the explicit aim of the Trust was “to make theatre in Australia the same vigorous and significant force in our national life as it was in England during the reign of the first Elizabeth”.

    This book explores all of the accidents, mis-communications and near-misses that resulted in the formation of the AETT and the theatrical organisations it instigated, including the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), the Trust Players, and the Australian Drama Company.

    The award will cover travel and accommodation costs incurred in accessing the Canberra archives of the National Library of Australia.

  5. HELEN GILBERT (Royal Holloway, London)

    Postcolonial Australian Theatre in the age of the Anthropocene
    In its focus on theatre that explores environmental issues in the context of postcolonial entanglements between indigenous and settler communities in Australia, this research fits squarely within the remit of the Paul Iles Bequest. The transnational dimensions of the project also align with Paul Iles’ own interests in internationalising theatre during a career that spanned work in both Australian and Britain.  The proposed study will feed into one chapter of Helen Gilbert’s in-progress monograph on contemporary indigenous performing arts as they speak to global challenges of our times.

    The award will go towards travels cost for research in Australia.

  6. JIM TAYLOR (Lyon, France)

    Loudon Sainthill
    Exploring how the surrealism and ambivalence that was so characteristic of Sainthill’s work influenced English theatre-goers and critics during a period of Cold War anxiety and imperial crisis. Like other groups of Commonwealth artists and writers, from the Caribbean or West Africa for instance, Sainthill’s work constitutes the vision of a unique diaspora. He formed a deliberately ‘alien’ and unsettling outsider aesthetic that disrupted metropolitan norms and assumptions in a positive though challenging way.

    The award will go toward research at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and British Library Colindale.

  7. LOUISE WINGROVE (Independent, Reading)

    Peggy Pryde in Britain and Australia
    International Pryde:  Investigating the appeal, repertoire differences and constructed persona of variety actress Peggy Pryde in Australia and Britain.

    A project that compares her British and Australian repertoires. This will use newspaper reviews and advertisements, sheet music, interviews and available recordings to look both at how the styles of Pryde’s humour changed over time and between countries, and to explore what her appeal was for Australian theatre and popular entertainment audiences. The award will go towards research in Australian archives in Canberra and Adelaide.