Dr Campbell Edinborough

Profile

My creative practice as a writer and performance-maker spans the fields of theatre, live art, dance and film - 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 creative practice has been commissioned and presented in partnership with a wide range of public institutions, including Hull Truck Theatre, the Soho Theatre, Yorkshire Dance, Resonance 104.4FM, Leeds and York Libraries and the Ferens Art Gallery.

Both my creative practice and teaching are informed by my research into theatre and performance as relational and embodied practices. Details of my research can be found below.

Responsibilities

• Co-Lead Leeds Movement and Physical Activity Interdisciplinary Research Network

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. In 2025 I co-edited a special issue of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training exploring the intersections between performer training, health and physical activity promotion. I am a qualified teacher of the Feldenkrais Method and continue to train in a wide range of movement practices and martials arts.

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. Between 2020 and 2025 I was Programme Director for the School of Performance and Cultural Industries’ MA in Writing for Performance and Digital Media.

Research groups and institutes

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

Current postgraduate researchers

• Melissa Wan
• Eve Walton