Research Staff

The Department has internationally acknowledged expertise in the following research areas:
Theatre and Performance Research
Prof Adrian Kear, BA (Manchester), MSocSc (Birmingham), PhD (Surrey)
- Performance ethics; critical theory; philosophy and psychoanalysis; avant-garde European theatre.
- Performance research; theatre anthropology; comparative dramaturgy; directing practice
Prof Mike Pearson, MA PhD (Wales)
- Performance theory and practice; dramaturgy; interdisciplinary research in archaeology, geography and folklore.
Prof David Ian Rabey, MA (Calif), PhD (Birm)
- Contemporary British and Irish drama, theatre and society
Simon Banham, BA (Newcastle)
- Contemporary scenography; opera design; devised performance.
Richard Downing (BA (Wales)
- Contemporary design in performance; computer aided scenography; directing practice.
Dr Andrew Filmer, BA Hons. I, PhD (Sydney)
- Place and performance; theatre architecture; backstage space; improvisation.
Dr Alison Forsyth, BA (Surrey), MSc (Edinburgh), PhD (Stirling)
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Adaptations of ancient drama; hermeneutics of performance and text; documentary drama
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Queer theory, gay and lesbian theatre, applied theatre, interactive and collaborative performance, improvisation
Dr Karoline Gritzner, MagPhil (Graz), MA PhD (Wales)
- Contemporary British drama; critical theory, aesthetics, psychoanalysis and theatre.
Jill Greenhalgh, Dip Dance and Theatre (Dartington)
- Contemporary women’s theatre and performance; devised performance
Dr Carl Lavery, BA (Wales), MA and PhD (East Anglia)
- Landscape and performance; contemporary French theatre; theatre and the political; walking as performance
Dr Heike Roms, MA (Hamburg), PhD (Wales)
- Contemporary performance practice; postdramatic theatre; archiving performance; theatre and performance in Wales
Dr Sabine Sörgel, MA PhD (Mainz)
- Postcolonial theatre and performance; contemporary dance and dance theatre; theatre and ritual; identity and performance
Fim and Television Research
Prof Martin Barker, (EMERITUS) BA (UWE); DPhil (Bristol)
- Media audience research; censorship and public controversies over film and other media; media adaptations and transformations; contemporary Hollywood
Prof Tom O’Malley, BA PhD (Glamorgan)
- Media history, regulation and policy; media in Wales
Dr Glen Creeber, BA MA (Lancaster), PhD (East Anglia),
- Television drama and dramaturgy and new media
Dr Kate Egan, MA PhD (Nottingham)
- British cinema; the horror film; genre study; film censorship; film history; audience and reception studies; memory and nostalgia; fan culture
Dr Merris Griffiths BA PhD (Wales)
- Children and the media; media literacy; media representations of children and childhood; creative research methods
Dr Jamie Medhurst, FRHistS, BA MLib PhD (Wales)
- Broadcasting history and policy, especially between 1920 and 1960; documentary film history; broadcasting in Wales and the Welsh language; television and national identity
Dr Paul Newland, BA (Hons) English (Exeter), MA English and Film (Exeter), PhD (Exeter)
- British cinema (especially the 1970s); British experimental/avant-garde filmmaking; cinema, architecture and the city; space, place, landscape and location; film and music; interdisciplinary approaches to modernism and postmodernism.
Richard O'Sullivan, BA (Warwick), M.F.A. Film Production/Directing (terminal degree; University of California at Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.)
- Richard is an artist in new media. His videos explore the meanings of place, and have focused on the contradictions of the Californian landscape. He has also produced documentaries which follow personal narratives.
Dafydd Sills-Jones, BA (Hons), PgDip, PhD,(Wales) PGCTHE, FHEA
- History Documentary, Documentary Practice, Political Economy of the Media, Television Production
Dr Sarah Thomas, BA (Hons), MA, PhD (Warwick)
- Film History; Classical Hollywood Cinema; Screen Actors: performance, labour and stardom; American radio history and style - 1930-1950

Welsh Theatre and Media
Prof Elan Closs Stephens,(EMERITUS) MA (Oxon), CBE
- Broadcasting and arts policy in Wales; film and television analysis; theatre in Wales
Margaret Ames, BH (London), MA (Wales), Grad Dip (Surrey)
- Community dance; dance therapy; devised performance
Elin Haf Jones, BA (Wales)
- Minority language media in Europe; regulation and broadcasting policy in regard to stateless nations and linguistic minorities in the EU.
Anwen Jones, BA (Bristol), MPhil (Wales)
- European theatre; theatre in Ireland
Dr Roger Owen, BA, PhD (Wales)
- Contemporary Welsh theatre and performance; Welsh theatre history
Dr Kate Woodward, BA, MA, PhD (Aberystwyth)
- The Welsh Film Board (1971-1986), Early Films of S4C, Welsh cinema during the 1990s.