Drama BA(Hons): Who teaches this course

Frank Whately

Frank has written and directed a variety of productions, many for the National Youth Music Theatre. These have been performed in many leading theatres, in the West End and on Broadway. He has won several awards and his work has been broadcast on radio and television. Frank is a director of Kingston Theatre Trust.

Trish Reid

Trish teaches theatre history and performance in culture. She has worked for a number of years as a musician and actor before entering higher education as a mature student. Trish is particularly interested in how identities, especially national and gender identities, are constituted through performance.

Professor Colin Chambers

Professor Chambers has worked as a journalist and theatre critic for many years and was literary manager of the RSC for more than a decade. He has published widely on contemporary theatre and is currently completing The Routledge Companion to Black and Asian Theatre.

Jackie Smart

Jackie Smart is an expert in physical and devised theatre. She has published work on random dance, forced entertainment and optic theatre companies and has co-edited Devising in Process (Palgrave 2010) with Alex Mermikides. Jackie has directed many theatre productions with both professional and student performers and continues to create work with her physical theatre company, Quisling.

Dr Steve Knapper

Dr Knapper is a specialist in the style and practice of commedia. He studied at Ecole Jacques Lecoq, and has run a small scale touring company. Steve has published a number of articles on Scaramouche, Clown, Moliere and Complicite. He is a judge at Notting Hill Carnival and is a board member of Barracudas Carnival Band.

Dr Alex Mermikides

Dr Mermikides has a research interest in theatre-making processes and models of devising (the subject of her PhD and the book she has co-edited with Jackie Smart, Devising in Process, Palgrave 2010). Her professional practice includes writing for the stage and radio, most recently as dramaturg on Sarajevo Story, with Lightwork Theatre Company at the Lyric Hammersmith.

Adam Ainsworth

Adam Ainsworth is a founder member of both The Institute of Materials and Sittingbones, and has devised a number of projects that have been performed in theatres across London. Adam has also worked as a director and dramaturg for The Irene Taylor Trust. His interests include devised theatre; community drama; aspects of clowning and physical comedy; and the Victorian Music Hall.