Theatre PhD

Theatre research programme at Brunel University London benefits from a dedicated performance centre, sitting at the heart of our creative community and housing a fully equipped main theatre and studio theatre as well as rehearsal and recording studios. Our proximity to central London allows you to engage with an exciting range of performance practices and venues as well. 

Theatre embraces an expanding research environment which advances a transdisciplinary vision connecting artistic performance, dance, spoken, physical and musical theatre, playwriting, digital art, and performance design, along with critical cultural performance and postcolonial studies.

The Theatre team's research activities are organised around several key areas of contemporary performance and involve staff participation in a number of high profile research projects:

• Physical theatre/dance, embodiment and performative relations with experimental poetry and writing practice
• Performances of the body and experimental performance, interconnecting theatre and performance studies, anthropology, sociology, and gender studies
• Intersections of bodies, cultures and identities in intercultural performance (including dance, critical race theory and contemporary South Asian dance)
• The use of the voice in writing and experimental writing by women
• Street theatre, British alternative theatre history, musical theatre, and intersections of gender and sexuality
• Commemorative practices, spectatorship and public performance of collective identity in times of social change
• Digital performance and digital cultures, and the intersections of interactive media technologies with immersive performance, wearable design, and digital scenographies
• Neuroaesthetics and the aesthetic potential of digitized technology for performance (artificial intelligence, motion capture, 3D modelling and animation, biotechnology)

Find out about the exciting research we do in this area. Browse profiles of our experts, discover the research groups and their inspirational research activities you too could be part of. We’ve also made available extensive reading materials published by our academics and PhD students.  

Learn more about research in this area.

Our researchers create knowledge and advance understanding, and equip versatile doctoral researchers with the confidence to apply what they have learnt for the benefit of society. Find out more about working with the Supervisory Team.

You are welcome to approach your potential supervisor directly to discuss your research interests. Search for expert supervisors for your chosen field of research.

This course can be studied 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, starting in January. Or this course can be studied 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, starting in October. Or this course can be studied 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, starting in April.