Staff Profiles

John Freeman joined Curtin University in 2010 from Brunel University West London, where he was Reader in Theatre, Senior Tutor and Deputy Head for the School of Arts. He is a member of the International Association of University Theatre and the International Research Centre for Development and Training, and is a peer reviewer in Humanities, Pedagogy, Creative Writing, Playwriting, Creative Arts, Drama, Theatre, Performance Studies, Performance and Installation Art for the Australian Research Council. 

Books:

1996: Performance Practice (ed.) ISBN 0-9504404-8-5

2003: Tracing the Footprints: Documenting the Process of Performance ISBN 076182510X

2007: New Performance/New Writing: Text and Context in Contemporary Theatre ISBN 9781430998149

2010: Blood, Sweat & Theory: Research Through Practice in Performance ISBN 1907471049

2011: The Greatest Shows on Earth: World Theatre from Peter Brook to the Sydney Olympics (ed.) ISBN 9781907471544

Under contract for 2014:  Remaking Memory: Autoethnography, Memoir and the Ethics of Self.

Chapters:

1996: ‘Forever Elsewhere: Art Movements and the Movement of Art in Interelia ISBN 1900756005 2010:

1996: 'Performance, Performativity and the (Re)Presented Self' in Performance Practice. 63-71.

‘Socializing the Self: Autoethnography and the Social Signature’ in Sensualities/Textualities & Technologies: Writings of the Body in 21st Century Performance ed. Broadhurst & Machon) Palgrave ISBN 97802302290256

2010: ‘Re-Staging the Curriculum’ in Encounters ISBN 9786058839465

2011: ‘The Best Seat in the House’ in The Greatest Shows on Earth ISBN 9781907471544

2011: Life Takes a Cigarette: Jan Lauwers, Needcompany and Isabella’s Room’ in The Greatest Shows on Earth ISBN 9781907471544

Articles:

1990: ‘Battlefields of Desire: The Legacy of Impact Theatre Cooperative’ Performance Magazine Spring. Vol. 56. (35-38)

1992: ‘Dancing in the Margins: From the People Show to Incubus’ Performance Magazine Summer Vol. 64. 60-70.

1994: 'A Matter of Course' Total Theatre, Vol. 6 (1) (13-19)

1994: 'Je ne Cherche pas a Plaire au Public' Al Bayane, (16-09-94) (7-9)

1995: 'Performing Performance: The New Authenticity of Optik' Total Theatre, Vol. 7 (1) (11-15)

1995: 'Kaspar' Performance Practice, Vol. 1. (50-67)

1996: 'Le Theatre ... en Pointilles' Al Bayane, (13-09-96) (11-13)

1998: 'The Location and Theory of Looking' Journal of Dramatic Theory & Criticism, Vol. XII (2) 129-141.

1998: 'Practice Makes Imperfect: in praise of amateurism' Higher Education Review, Vol. 31 (1) 16-24

2000: 'Telling Secrets to Strangers' Journal of Dramatic Theory & Criticism, Vol. XIV (2) 115-120.

2000: 'What's it all About? Modernism, Postmodernism, Meaning & Performance' Higher Education in Europe, Vol. XXV (1) 25-31

2000: 'I Accuse' Guardian, 4-10-00

2001: ‘Cultural Apathy’ Live Art Magazine 3-6

2001: 'Exit Stalls Right' Guardian, 28-11-01

2001: 'Autobiographical Spectatorship' Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, Vol. 2. 1-17

2001: 'What is Happening to Me?' Journal of Creative Behaviour, Vol. XV (3) 27-40

2001: 'Doomed to Fail?' Theatre Forum, Vol. XVIII (1) 44-50

2002: ‘Metro-Boulot-Dodo: Ten Years On’ Hybrid: International Cross-Artform (Vol. 1 (2) 38-41

2003: 'Writing the Self' Studies in Theatre & Performance, Bristol UK Vol. 22 (2) 95-106.

2003: 'Suffering from Certainty' Research in Post-Compulsory Education, Vol. 8 (1) 51-63.

2003: 'Remembering to Forget What Theatre Was' 'Performance Writing' www.scene4 (November) Seattle USA

2003: ‘Observable Occurences: Space and Place in the Abramovic Oeuvre’ Hybrid: International Cross-Artform Vol. 2 (2) (17-21)

2004: ‘All His Walking, All Our Talking: Tehching Hsieh’s One-Year Performance’ Theatre Topics Vol. 15 (1) 22-27

2004: 'Performatised Secrets, Performatised Selves' Contemporary Theatre Review, Vol. 14 (4) 64-77.

2004: 'Battling with Berkoff' Total Theatre Vol. 15 (4) 16-17

2005: 'Forever Elsewhere: Art Movements and the Movement of Art’. Mediactive Issue 4 60-70.

2005: ‘Good Enough to Eat' Child Education Jan 2005 p31

2005: 'Fading Away: Remembering to Forget What Theatre Was' Journal of Dramatic Theory & Criticism University of Kansas USA Vol. XIX (2), 31-41.

2006: 'First Insights: Fostering Creativity in University Performance' Arts & Humanities in Higher Education, Vol. 5 (1) (42-55)

2007: ‘Making the Obscene Seen: Performance, Research and the Autoethnographical Drift’ Journal of Dramatic Theory & Criticism Vol. XXI (2) (7-20) 2

2011: ‘Creative Angels and Exegetical Demons: Artistic Research, Creative Production and Thesis’ Higher Education Review.

2012: ‘Re-Clothing the Emperor: The Dead and Aliveness of Practice-Based Research’ NJ: Australian Drama Vol. 33. No. 2

Founder & Editor of Performance Practice 1993-99.

Regular reviewing of articles and book proposals for international journals and publishers.

Creative practice, conferences and productions:

Conference papers, residencies and performances have been presented in Casablanca, Minsk, Sibiu, Belgrade, Davos, Bochum, Helsinki, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tunis, Malta, Istanbul, Erlangen, Munich, Berlin, Compiegne, Olympia, Amsterdam, Liege, Athens, Rhodes, Madrid and Toronto.

1986: Performer: Stranded Optik

1989: Performer: Jackets (Edward Bond) World Premiere.

1989: Performer: Casualty BBC

1989: Writer/director: Love Lessons. Edinburgh Festival.

1990: Performer: Send for the Man London Weekend Television (LWT)

1991: Performer: (Satan) Chester Mystery Cycle’

1994: Performer: Esprit de Corp UK. ZDF/Deutsche Welle (Germany) TVG (Spain)

1995: Writer/director: Ephemera FITUC, Casablanca, Edinburgh Fringe Festival. 

1996: Director: Kaspar FITUC, Casablanca

1997: Performer: Clair de Luz, dir. Pete Brooks/Insomniac Productions

1998: Writer/director: Pentimento FITUC, Casablanca

1999: ARENA European Performance Symposium, Erlangen: British Theatre & the New Surrealism

1999: Writer/director: At Last Sight RITU Liege, FESTUPIC, Compiegne

2001: ITC Annual Conference New Directions

2001: ATU Conference, INSA, Lyon Performance Composition: The Performing Body

2001: International Festival of University Theatre, Olympia: Ancient Myth & Contemporary Theatre

2002: IATU Postgraduate Seminar, Queens University, Belfast: Documenting Process

2002: British Council, Beograd, April 14th: Keynote address at public colloquy: European Performance and the Academy

2002: Writer/director: Cabin Fever Arena.

2002: ARENA, Erlangen Performance Writing

2003: Cultural Exchanges Conference, De Montfort University: interview with Ekow Eshun and subsequent paper Ekow Eshun and the Politics of Self

2003: Writer: Intrusos Teatro Maria Guerrero, Madrid.

2004: Hawaii International Conference on Education Heuristic Research Methodologies

2004: Cultural Exchanges Conference, De Montfort University: Chair of various panel interviews.

2004: Writer/Director: Still Phoenix Arts Centre UK.

2006: Social Sciences Conference: University of the Aegean, Rhodes: Memory, Place, Identity

2006: Common Ground Conference, Rochester NY: Provocation in lieu of Prescription: Tracing the Creative Process

2006: Fourth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, University of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia Texts and Contexts in Contemporary Performance

2007: MEGAfon Theatre Festival, Bochum: Text into Action

2007: Second Life: Foundations, Sites of Engagement, and Remediations of History, Toronto: workshops in new live performance

2007: Writer/Director: Hello Stranger Off Limits International Dance & Theatre Festival Dortmund

2008: Comparative Drama Conference, Los Angeles: Getting Creative with Creative Practice.

2008: International Conference of Arts Education, Athens: Autoethnography and Performance.

2008: 6th International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, Istanbul. ‘forever/elsewhere’: Communicating (Un)Commonalities

2008: MEGAfon Theatre Festival, Bochum Writing/Devising

2008-2010: Writer/Performer: forever/elsewhere Central and Eastern European venues: Amsterdam, Theatro Z Madrid, University of Liege, MESS Festival Sarajevo, MEGAfon Bochum, MCAST Festival Malta, Poznan Festival Poland. Selected to open the 6th International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, Istanbul 2008

2009: MESS Festival, Sarajevo: Performance Vocabularies

2009: RITU, Liege: The Relationship between University Theatre and Professional Performance

2010: Teatralny Koufar, Minsk: Koufar-in-Motion: Chair of International Jury.

2011: International Theatre Symposium, Sibiu: Blood, Sweat & Theory: Performance Practice and the Practice of Performance

2011: University of Chester: June 2011: Construction and Invention: Text-Performance-Text.

2011: ATINER, Athens: Performing as the Lights fade Out to Black: Studying Drama at a Time of Crisis.

2011: LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore: Cross-Cultural/Cross-Disciplinary Performance.

2012: Research Center for Training & Development (RCTD) International Conference, January 2012: Walking the Walk/Talking the Talk.

2012: Sibiu International Theatre Conference: Crisis-Shall We take Over? Keynote paper: Faith in Doubt: the challenge of internationalism.

2012: His Majesty's Theatre Perth, May 2nd-5th: Salt Water

Recent PhD supervision:

Karen Ann Donnachie. The Human Use of the Human Face.

Gregory Burley. An Investigation of Gender Disruption through Creative Practice.

Kate Rice. Authenticity and Ethics in Writing Theatre Based on Fact.

Raelene Bruinsma. Restoring Inanna: an ancient myth for contemporary women.

Teresa Izzard. SOMATIC DRAMATURGY - 'Bodies' and the transformation of a directorial practice.

Nizar Jabur. Iraqui Memory in Performance: Life narratives, Creativity and Strategies of the Artist During and After War: Historical Memory, Refugees and Performance.

Meredith Godley. Theories of Self-Multiplicity in Relation to Multiple-Identity Performance Practice.

Jamie Coull. Trans(per)formatives: The Performance & Blurring of Gender, Self Identity & Australian Drag Queens.

Harris Jahim. Silat: Martial Arts Training & Performance.  

http://www.brunel.ac.uk/arts/theatre/current-students/helenna-ren

http://www.brunel.ac.uk/arts/theatre/current-students/guilherme-mendonca

http://www.brunel.ac.uk/arts/theatre/current-students/hyeon-go