RedCape Theatre, Be Brave and Leave for the Unknown
RedCape Theatre, Thunder Road
ARTEL and Animal Cracker Conspiracy, The Black Hen Society, 2017, photo: Franci Donovan-Brady
The Centre for Contemporary Performance Practices (CCPP) is committed to making connections between academia and the world beyond. We investigate practice as a mode of research (Practice Research), asking questions about the relationships between performance practice and performance and cultural theory.
The expertise held within the centre has shaped national and international conversations concerning the intersections between practice, research and pedagogy. We are experts in performer training, site-specific performance, ensemble theatre and vocal technique. Our practices include devising, directing, dramaturgy, performing and writing.
CCPP currently hosts four staff-led performance companies (RedCape, ARTEL, Adrift Performance Makers, Wrights & Sites), and has been involved with the establishment of Exeter’s Maketank — an artist-led grassroots organisation with a mission to build a sustainable community-based platform for creativity and civic engagement. Our companies perform across the world, receive prestigious arts funding and collaborate with academics and practitioners in a variety of national and international contexts.
Since 2015, RedCape has mounted two newly-devised works, touring the UK; Wrights & Sites has produced two artists’ publications, disseminated in the UK and India, while Stephen Hodge has created two solo works; ARTEL has been developing a collaboration with Animal Cracker Conspiracy and an internet-based art project. AdriftPM has been successful in developing vocal techniques, collaborating with Virginie Magnat (University of British Columbia) in drawing from creative training, mindfulness and cultural practices towards improved wellbeing. The initial symposium (2018) became a research cluster funded by a UBC Eminence Grant and the Wellcome Centre, Exeter.
Find out more
Centre staff
Exeter Digital Archives of Performance Practice, directed by Peter Hulton, currently consists of 25 international archives which have been created and placed under one imprint in order to acknowledge the dynamic range of contemporary performance practice and to support departmental research and teaching. The archives house over 1000 hours of digital audio-visual documentation and are accessible both within the department's Postgraduate Computer Suite and in the main University Library. The archives have also been encoded and exist on an Intranet within the University so that material is accessible within departmental teaching and study spaces. Selected material has been edited and placed within ELE (Exeter Learning Environment) in support of individual departmental modules.
As Director of Exeter Digital Archives Peter Hulton has filmed, edited and produced a number of recently published DVD-ROMs documenting international training and performance.
Key titles
- Core Training by Alison Hodge, Routledge, 2013
- Andrei Drozin’s Physical Actor Training: A Russian Masterclass, conceived and edited by Paul Allain, translated and taught by Natalia Fedorova, Routledge, 2012
- 'Acts of Presence', Nick Kaye and Gabriella Giannachi, The Drama Review, 2011
- Zygmunt Molik’s Voice and Body Work: The Legacy of Jerzy Grotowski, Giuliano Campo with Zygmunt Molik, Routledge, 2010
- Theatre Games: An Approach to Drama Training, Clive Barker, Methuen/Drama 2010
- The Practice of Tadashi Suzuki: A Critical Study, Paul Allain, Methuen/Drama 2009
- Psychophysical Acting: An Intercultural Approach After Stanislavski, Phillip B. Zarrilli, Routledge 2009