Dr Claudia Jazz Haley

For 15 years, I have directed and devised, performed and practised professional theatre. I have also worked with diverse communities on street performances and carnivals with various companies (including: Welfare State International and Emergency Exit Arts, Burnley Youth Theatre, Whalley Range All Stars, and Little Angel Theatre Company) to create magic on a shoestring. In 2010, I co-founded The Rokeya Project, a community theatre programme, and led their series of theatre lecture-workshops in Kolkata and Shantiniketan, India, to celebrate the life and works of humanist and revolutionary writer Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880–1932).

My performance-led practice-based-research PhD focused on the performer-audience relationship within Neo-Burlesque, whilst my MA dissertation considered female comic entertainers throughout history. This followed undergraduate training as a director at Rose Bruford College and intensive clown training at Actors Space, Barcelona.

My research and teaching interests focus primarily on women in theatre, burlesque and cabaret, social and political theatre, clowning and carnival, applied theatre, spectatorship and participation.

• PhD, Theatre, Sheffield Hallam University, 2021
• MA, Theatre and Performance Studies, The University of Sheffield, 2014
• BA(Hons), Directing, Rose Bruford College, The University of Manchester, 2009