This summer Professor Helen Nicholson is spending her time researching a ground-breaking new participatory project at the National Theatre.
This summer Professor Helen Nicholson is spending her time researching a ground-breaking new participatory project at the National Theatre. Helen is leading the research for a production of Pericles, which will be performed by a cast of local people and a small number of professionals in the Olivier Theatre at the end of August. The project, Public Acts, marks a new adventure for the National Theatre, and is the start of a nationwide initiative which will encourage more people to take part in theatre. The director, Emily Lim, worked on the live memorial to the Battle of The Somme in 2016, we’re here because we’re here https://becausewearehere.co.uk/ and now turns her attention to Pericles, adapted by Chris Bush for this large and diverse cast.
Helen’s research team have observed the workshops and are currently rehearsals, and are helping colleagues in the Learning Team at the National Theatre think through the ways in which theatre is changing lives, both inside the National theatre and for their community partners. Even better, she is working with Dr Lizzie Bennett who was awarded her PhD at Royal Holloway this year, and she was delighted to find Royal Holloway alumni Lizzie Coates working in the National Theatre’s team. Royal Holloway drama graduates are everywhere…
