Staff profiles
Profiles for members of the Drama research area can be found below, followed by a list of Visiting Professors.
Professor Colin Chambers - Director of Research
Professor Colin Chambers is formerly a journalist, theatre critic and Literary Manager of the Royal Shakespeare Company (1981-1997). Before becoming Professor of Drama, he was Senior Research Fellow in Theatre at De Montfort University (1998-2006) and Reader in Drama in Kingston (2006-08).
Research interests: contemporary theatre; playwrights and playwriting; political theatre; currently researching a history of black and Asian theatre in Britain for Routledge.
Sir Peter Hall - Chancellor
Sir Peter Hall is a world renowned theatre director and producer, he made his debut at Windsor in 1953 and was Director of the Oxford Playhouse l954-55. He ran the Arts Theatre London 1954-59 where his productions included the English language world premiere of Beckett's Waiting for Godot.
He created the Royal Shakespeare Company in l960 and became Director of the Royal National Theatre in l973, spending l5 years with the Company and moving it into the new theatres on the South Bank. He has directed at many of the world's leading opera houses and from l984-90 he was Artistic Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera. In 1988 he launched the Peter Hall Company, which has mounted more than 50 productions in London, Bath, New York, Europe and Australia.
In 2003 he was appointed Director of Rose of Kingston and Professor of Drama at Kingston. He has directed more than 300 major theatre productions, including 30 of Shakespeare's plays, and premieres of plays by Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter (nine world premieres), Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, Jean Anouilh, Peter Shaffer, John Mortimer, Simon Gray, David Edgar and Alan Ayckbourn.
He has also directed for film and TV and has written five books. A recipient of many arts awards and nominations including two Tony Awards (for The Homecoming and for Amadeus) and an Olivier Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1999, he was Knighted in l977 for his services to the British Theatre. Other recent Awards include the 2004 New York Shakespeare Medal; in 2005 he was appointed a Member of the Athens Academy in Greece for his outstanding contribution to Greek Classical Drama. In January 2006 he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Theater Hall of Fame in New York. He holds Honorary Doctorates from a number of universities and is Chancellor of Kingston University.
Dr Stephen Knapper
Dr Stephen Knapper has been a Lecturer in Drama at Kingston since 2001. He has been a lecturer at Queen Mary College, University of Westminster and Royal Holloway College, and has also taught and been a performer in Italy. He studied at Ecole Jacques Lecoq and has been a writer, performer and director.
Research interests: carnival, commedia dell'arte, mask and physical theatre; contemporary British theatre companies, especially Complicite; devising practice.
Alex Mermikides
Alex Mermikides has been a Lecturer in Drama at Kingston since 2004. She has also lectured at Wimbledon School of Art and Royal Holloway, and has been a consultant at Central School of Speech and Drama. She is a writer/deviser and member of the Lightwork board.
Research interests: contemporary writing for the stage, dramaturgy, devising processes and the roles and functions within them. Devising in Process, the book she co-edited with Jackie Smart, is being published by Palgrave in 2010.
Trish Reid
Trish Reid has been a Principal Lecturer in Drama at Kingston since 2002. She has lectured at Royal Holloway and Loughborough University and has been an actor/musician.
Research interests: melodrama; pantomime; popular Victorian stage; performance; identity; community. She is completing her PhD on Victorian melodrama.
Jacqueline Smart
Jacqueline Smart has been a Principal Lecturer in Drama at Kingston since 2003. She has been a lecturer at King Alfred's College, Winchester and the University of Salford. She is a choreographer/deviser and director.
Research interests: physical and dance theatre; performance theory; devised performance; interdisciplinary performance. She is currently editing a book on devising practice with Alex Mermikides for Palgrave. Devising in Process, the book she co-edited with Alex Mermikides, is being published by Palgrave in 2010.
Adam Ainsworth
Adam Ainsworth Adam Ainsworth was an actor and director for six years before becoming a lecturer at Middlesex University. He joined Kingston in 2007.
Research interests: pantomime; variety; he is editing a mid-19th centrury pantomime text and organising a workshop to explore it through performance; he is about to undertake a research project on the Kingston Empire variety theatre.
Visiting Professors
Jude Kelly, director/facilitator, Chair of the Arts, Culture and Education Committee of London 2012 and artistic director of the South Bank Centre.
Ruth Leon, writer, critic and producer.
Stephen Unwin, director and writer, founder of English Touring Theatre and artistic director of the Rose Theatre, Kingston.
