Research

Queer theory, gay and lesbian theatre, applied theatre, interactive and collaborative performance, improvisation.

Biography

Stephen studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, where he later gained an MA in cultural politics and his PhD on the subject of gender and queer theory in British theatre. After graduating, he worked in a number of jobs in and around the arts and higher education sector, including a period working for the Edinburgh International Festival and in Glasgow University’s Department of Theatre, Film and Television.

He moved to Wales to work at TFTS Aberystwyth in 2008, where he teaches across the undergraduate degree programmes in drama, theatre and performance, as well as contributing to the department’s MA Practicing Performance. Stephen’s current research focuses on queer theory and contemporary British performance, with a secondary interest in new media and interactive works. His first book, Contemporary British Queer Performance (2012), argues for the significance of collaborative working practices in queer performance the UK.

As a practitioner, he has performed in and/or produced comedies, improvised shows and scripted dramas at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every year since 1999, most frequently as associate producer and fixer for sketch comedy and theatre group, The Penny Dreadfuls. Working together since the Fringe of 2004, the group has made a series of sell-out live shows staged at the Greenwich Theatre (London), the Pleasance and Underbelly venues at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Glasgow Comedy Festival, and elsewhere across the UK. The Penny Dreadfuls most recent work includes The Penny Dreadfuls present… Revolution! for BBC Radio 4, starring Richard E. Grant as Robespierre. In what remains of his free time, Stephen writes about games, cultural politics and art on his blog, and runs back and forth on the seafront.

Teaching

Module Coordinator

TP10320 Text Workshop
TP33820 New Media Performance
TP21420 Applied theatre

Contributor

TP10120 Studying Theatre 1
TP10320 Studying Theatre 2
TP10520 Performance Workshop
TP32820 Key Theatre Practices
TP20420 Theatre in Society
TP33120 Theatre, Gender and Sexuality
TP22020 Writing for Theatre
TP21720 Devising Theatre
TPM0130 Theoretical Practices

Publications

Contemporary British Queer Performance (Palgrave 2012).  http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=521800

'Staging legitimacy: theorising identity claims in anti-homophobia Theatre-in-Education’, in Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, Volume 16, Issue 1, 2011.

‘Collaborative performance and asynchronous action: World Without Oil’s fragmented forum’, in International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2011.

'Legitimate Queers: Performance Practices in The Gay Sweatshop,' Edinburgh Review 116, Centre for the History of Ideas in Scotland.

Links

http://www.stevegreer.org