Dionysia Bouzioti

Profile

I am a theatre specialist and practitioner; my work includes theatre production and directing, play-writing and performance design. Both my theoretical approaches and practice draw from semiotics and phenomenology with a particular focus on medical phenomenology, neuroaesthetics and psychoanalysis. I have graduated (BA, MA) from the Theatre Studies Department of the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens with distinction (MA in Global Theatre: Dramaturgy, Practice & Theory). My MA thesis Medical Phenomenology in Drama: An Introduction to the Interpretation of the Absent and the Suffering Body interprets body presence and movement in a collection of contemporary plays, while exploring perception in the performer-audience relationship. My current research runs with the support of the University of Leeds (University Research Scholarship, 2017-2020) and proposes a phenomenological model of interpreting and directing the body in Greek Tragedy. I am examining the body as 'tragic’ to refer to the concepts of suffering and absence, which both are inclusive of any case of physical or mental traumas that have a restricting effect on embodied subjectivity. On a second level, I am quite intrigued about how the embodiment of tragedy and corporeal manifestations affect the audience's perceptual fields.

Previous talks/ Conferences:

• Phenomenology of Pain and the Suffering Body in Greek Tragedy: Analysis of Five Tragedies, 1st Theatre Studies PGR Colloquium, Athens, Nov. 2013
• Towards a Detachment from the Image: Performances & Representations of the Female Subject, Art Exhibition by E. Marathaki, Athens, Jan. 2014
• Vasilis Andreopoulos; Social and Political Reflections of the Period 1960-1970 in his Dramaturgy, 5th Annual Drama Conference: Theatre & Democracy, Athens, Nov. 2014
• Phenomenology of the Body and Interpretation of Perception: Embodiment of Experience in the Performer-Audience Relationship, The Performer in the 21st Century Conference, M. Cacoyannis Foundation, Athens, Mar. 2015

Research interests

My research interests include, but are not limited to:

• Contemporary Theatre, Dance-Theatre & Performance
• Greek Tragedy (and adaptations)
• Theatre Direction & Performer Training
• Performance Analysis & Audience Reception
• Philosophy of Drama
• Phenomenology (Neuro-, Medical) and Psychology

Memberships & Research Groups:

• TaPRA (Theatre and Performance Research Association) 
• ITI (Hellenic Centre of the International Theatre Institute)
• Performance Philosophy Network
• PTPP Research Group, UoL
• Bodies and Performance, UoL

Qualifications

• MA in ''Global Theatre: Dramaturgy, Practice & Theory'', UoA (2013)
• BA in Theatre Studies, UoA (2011)