Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

ABSTRACT This review of Khalid Abdalla’s solo performance ’Nowhere’ draws on Stuart Hall’s account of globalization and diaspora to argue that it constitutes a deeply eloquent and ambivalent staging of the experience of identity in the contemporary world. By contrast, however, the review argues that Abdalla’s final turn to Palestine, and the image of a dove of peace, constitutes a derogation to the logic and commitments of colonial modernity, and thus to Zionist normalization. It proposes, instead, that the framework of martyrdom, which ghosts Abdalla’s performance, may constitute the ultimate fulfilment of our constitution as political subjects in a genocidal world.

Names are more than just identifiers; they carry the weight of identity, culture, and resilience. This seminar will explore the profound ways in which names shape personal and collective realities while navigating cultural and systemic power dynamics. Anchored in cultural anthropology and intersectionality, the discussion will uncover how names foster belonging, preserve heritage, and resist systemic exclusion. We will draw on key insights from “[My Name Is](https://livedplacespublishing.com/book/isbn/9781915734235)” to examine naming practices as a means of asserting identity, challenging oppression, and connecting with our shared humanity.

Lanskap Bukit Tigapuluh di Provinsi Jambi merupakan salah satu kawasan hutan yang memiliki keanekaragaman mamalia tinggi dan berfungsi sebagai habitat penting bagi spesies-spesies kunci. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk menganalisis distribusi dan kelimpahan mamalia pada tiga kontur habitat yang berbeda, yaitu tepi sungai besar, tepi sungai kecil, dan zona penyangga. Metode yang digunakan adalah pemasangan kamera jebak secara sistematis di lokasi strategis untuk mendeteksi kehadiran satwa liar secara tidak langsung. Data berupa foto dan video dianalisis guna menghitung kelimpahan relatif serta keanekaragaman spesies pada masing-masing kontur. Hasil penelitian menemukan 27 jenis mamalia dari 16 famili yang tersebar di tiga habitat lokasi. Hasil RAI menunjukkan jenis yang paling aktif beraktivitas di 3 lokasi adalah Sigung (Mydaus javanensis), Beruang Madu (Helarctos malayanus) dan Gajah Sumatera (Elephas maximus). Nilai kelimpahan satwa tertinggi ditemukan di sempadan sungai kecil dengan nilai 36,79%, disusul berurutan 24,28% dan 7,01% untuk sempadan sungai besar dan bufferzone. Sedangkan nilai keanekaragaman satwa adalah 3,60;3,26 dan 2,49 untuk sempadan sungai besar, bufferzone dan sungai kecil. Data temuan jenis mamalia dalam penelitian menjadi kontribusi penting bagi pengembangan ilmu ekologi dan sebagai referensi untuk penelitian konservasi selanjutnya. Secara keseluruhan, penelitian ini mengonfirmasi bahwa faktor lingkungan dan tekanan manusia sangat mempengaruhi pola distribusi mamalia, dan temuan tersebut dapat menjadi dasar pengembangan strategi konservasi serta pengelolaan habitat satwa liar yang lebih efektif di masa depan.

Live theater has long relied on the convention of a single actor embodying multiple roles. However, in VR performances where avatars persist within the digital space, managing multiple persistent avatars presents unique challenges. Agile Lens’ annual production of A Christmas Carol VR required a single performer to dynamically switch between avatars while maintaining presence, spatial awareness, and direct engagement with audience members. Initially, the primary challenge was controlling what happens to an avatar when the actor switches roles, and by solving for that problem, Agile Lens uncovered something larger: a real-time self-monitoring system for full-body motion capture performance with broad applications beyond theater.

With a broader range of entries than any other reference book on stage directors, this Encyclopedia showcases the extraordinary diversity of theatre as a national and international artistic medium. Since the mid nineteenth century, stage directors have been simultaneously acclaimed as prime artists of the theatre and vilified as impediments to effective performance. Their role may be contentious but they continue to exert powerful influence over how contemporary theatre is made and engaged with. Each of the entries - numbering over 1,000 - summarises a stage director's career and comments on the distinctive characteristics of their work, alluding to broader traditions where relevant. With an introduction discussing the evolution of the director's role across the globe and bibliographic references guiding further reading, this volume will be an invaluable reference work for stage directors, actors, designers, choreographers, researchers, and students of theatre seeking to better understand how directors work across different cultural traditions.

A lack of a shared understanding of key terms is acknowledged as a significant barrier to interdisciplinary research. This paper examines the ways in which a broadly interdisciplinary team of academics and youth co-researchers involved in mental health research interpreted a number of research and mental health terms that are central to their work in order to understand conceptual differences in how different stakeholder groups approach these terms. Data was collected in four phases (interviews, written responses, and two participatory ‘living labs’) and was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results revealed a wide disparity in the way participants understood key terms (including: ‘research’, ‘data’, ‘loneliness’, ‘safe space’ and ‘resilience’). Our study highlights the need for more inclusive approaches to mental health research, where diverse perspectives and lived experiences inform both methodology and practice from the outset. In conclusion we suggest a new framework (the EQUITY framework) as a tool to operationalise these findings.