Dr Campbell Edinborough

Profile

I was appointed as Lecturer in Writing for Performance in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries in the summer of 2020. Before coming to Leeds, I was Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Practice at the University of Hull.  

My creative practice as a writer and theatre-maker spans the fields of theatre, live art, dance and installation - exploring narrative and text as means for shaping the audience’s imaginative engagement with space, place and the performing body. I am particularly interested in how the ever-expanding fields of contemporary performance practice and digital media provide new ways of conceptualising the writer’s work.  My recent work has explored the role of the writer within the context of interactive and immersive performance. My most recent play, Walking Towards Ithaca, was presented at Hull Truck Theatre and Soho Theatre in 2019.  

Both my creative practice and teaching are informed by my research into theatre and performance as relational and embodied practices.  In 2016, my monograph, Theatrical Reality: Space, Embodiment and Empathy in Performance was published by Intellect.  In 2018, I edited a special issue of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, devoted to training for immersive, interactive and participatory performance. My current research is interested in the role of arts and culture within physical education. 

Responsibilities

• Programme Director, MA Writing for Performance and Publication

Research interests

My research investigates theatre as a social, spatial and embodied phenomenon.  My 2016 monograph, Theatrical Reality: Space, Embodiment and Empathy in Performance, investigated how the experience of reality is constructed and understood during performance - looking at case-studies from theatre, dance, immersive and participatory performance, stand-up and film.  The book drew on research from the fields of sociological theory, cognitive psychology and embodiment studies in order to examine how the liminal spaces of performance foster specific ways of conceptualizing time, place, and reality.

I am particularly interested in how the evolving aesthetics of contemporary performance practice shape new modes of artistic production and and reception.  The special issue of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training that I edited in 2018 was the first significant volume in the field to explore the ways in which the aesthetics of interactive, immersive and participatory performance are shaping contemporary approaches to performer training.

I have a long-standing interest in movement and physical education within the context of performance and performer training.  I am a qualified teacher of the Feldenkrais Method and continue to train in a wide range of movement practices.  I am currently engaged in a number of research projects that explore how the arts might be used to promote physical activity and physical literacy.  At the centre of this work is an attempt to theorise art, dance and drama as forms of physical education. 

Qualifications

• PhD Drama and Theatre Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London
• MA (Research) Drama and Theatre Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London
• BA Hons. History of Art, University College London
• Qualified teacher of The Feldenkrais Method

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Student education

I teach on modules and supervise research across the School’s portfolio of programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.  I am the Programme Director for the School of Performance and Cultural Industries’ MA in Writing for Performance.

Research groups and institutes

• Bodies & Performance
• Performance, Training, Preparation & Pedagogy
• Audience, Engagement & Experience

Current postgraduate researchers

• Melissa Wan