http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/203 2026-04-16T21:55:12Z 2026-04-16T21:55:12Z Gan, Weizhi http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33081 2026-04-02T13:17:52Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Psychedelic layerings: Fluid identities of a self-placed young Chinese immigrant in the U.K. Authors: Gan, Weizhi Abstract: This study aims to explore the complex interplay of cultural identity and artistic expression, situated within my personal experiences in the UK, in which I have imagined or self-placed myself as a young Chinese immigrant through the lens of cultural identity within my privilege as a PhD student. My goal is to address the gap in understanding the nuanced perspectives of a self-placed young Chinese immigrant in Britain, wherein I navigate a sense of dual identities amidst prevailing stereotypes. Through a Practice-led Research approach, this project employs psychedelic experimental film techniques, including non-linear narratives and psychedelic aesthetics, to portray the author's journey of self-placement as a young immigrant in Britain through the lens of cultural identity. The methodology integrates psychedelic aesthetics with auto-ethnography methods in the process of filmmaking, providing a personal exploration of identity which reverberates into the experiences of other members of my community. The key findings attest that psychedelic aesthetics, with its fluid style open to varied analysis, serves as an apt medium for relaying the multifaceted nature of a transnational/cultural persona. My psychedelic film practice will demonstrate how cultural identity places ‘self’ within the context of an anti-essentialist binary form that will create a ‘hybrid space’. This research, therefore, discusses the theoretical intersection of post-colonialism and transnationalism that focuses on cultural identity. The overall research centres around an important question, how can we identify the sensation and affection in psychedelic film elements as a creative method for the perception of our cultural identity in the transnationalism of Chineseness. My film’s visuality serves as key evidence that presents some fresh perspectives for experimental filmmakers involved in transnational experiences. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Sobel, Ariel Whitfield http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/30022 2024-10-30T03:00:36Z 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The actor, the audience and the spy: Tracing actor training methodologies within twentieth century espionage practice and performance Authors: Sobel, Ariel Whitfield Abstract: The research builds a genealogy of actor training methodologies as used within espionage practice, and presents a post-positive historical study with narrative research and phenomenological framework as its methodology. The thesis examines historical case studies where espionage and performance overlap. It analyses Second World War training sites created for the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the personnel, and the training methods used to prepare agents, and how that training was realised in performance in the field from the 1930s to the end of the Cold War. The historical study is preceded by an examination of the 'audience' of undercover events, analysing the actor-spectator relationship, and theorising how undercover operations can be considered acts of theatre as well as performance. To address the theoretical intersections between espionage and theatre, an audience framework entitled Circles of Impact is proposed. The historical study is organised chronologically and is divided into three parts. The first surveys the state of theatre in twentieth century Britain and presents an original study of actor Peter Folliss, who later became an instructor of spies at the SOE's training school at Beaulieu. It argues that the performances that took place at Beaulieu can be linked to forms of theatre practice and modes of rehearsal popular at the time. This is followed by a chapter which explores how this undercover training was realised in performance venues of the Second World War— both by SOE agents and other actors. The final chapter explores approaches to Cold War espionage training, the long-lasting influences of Peter Folliss, and legacies linking to contemporary discussions of actor training. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z Hampton, Claire http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/24625 2022-05-25T02:00:38Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Performing the self(ie): performance studies, selfies and feminist identities Authors: Hampton, Claire Abstract: This thesis examines selfies through the lens of performance studies, specifically mobilising the concepts of dramaturgy, performativity, eventness, and theatricality, to consider the relationship between selfies and feminist new materialist politics of subjectivity. It employs an autoethnographic methodology to reflect on the performative and affective potential of selfie –taking as an embodied and authorial act of space-making and self-witnessing, particularly for female self-narrating subjects who are negotiating trauma and illness. It charts an alternative, feminist, genealogy of the selfie, through Renaissance selfportraiture and 20th century self-reflexive photography practices, considering feminist deployments of staging, framing, and mirroring in the construction of subjectivity via the visual mise-en-scène. It considers the polemic debate between narcissism and agency that has pervaded scholarly and cultural discussions of selfie-taking, offering an alternative reading that emerges from the interstice between pro-selfie feminist rhetoric, selfies as materialist identity practice, and selfie-taking as a political act. Employing a taxonomy of performance (studies), the thesis negotiates the porous boundaries between broad, narrow, and flexible understandings of performance, and applies these to consider the spatiotemporal quality of selfies. It questions how the intermedial conditions that structure selfietaking create a space of liminal potential. The thesis posits the neo-concept of hypernormativity as a way of articulating the transgressive possibilities of self-reflexive visual autobiographical modes of performance, positioning selfies as a practice through which hegemonic norms and subordinating ideologies can be resisted and subverted. The project draws performance (studies) and selfie practices into a reciprocal dialogue and offers a reflection on dramaturgical praxis through the lens of the selfie, coining the portmanteau selfie-turgy as a term to describe self-mediated and reflexive approaches to the holistic and creative design of affective autobiographical performance. Finally, this thesis offers a productive collapse between form and content. The autoethnographic methodology enables the document itself to embody the structure of a selfie, consequently it functions as an example of self-mediated and self-reflexive subjective representation, whilst simultaneously offering theorisations on the same practices. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Xu, Zhi http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/23347 2021-10-20T02:00:36Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Techno-choreography and the embodiment of Chineseness Authors: Xu, Zhi Abstract: This thesis explores the embodiment of Chineseness in digital performance through the methodology of techno-choreography. In this practice-based research, I have created three full-length dance works: X-Body (2018), Mourning for a dead moon (2019) and Unexpected Bodies (2020). These three performances involve professionally trained dancing bodies in Chinese dance, cultural objects, scenography, software tools, real-time interactivity, virtual reality and immersion. The specific choreographing of cultural objects, including chopsticks, gaoqiao, handkerchiefs, fans and red silks, contributes to the research on dance and technology as well as current debates on cultural transexperience. The methodology of techno-choreography in this research draws on the theories of interactivity and immersion developed by Johannes Birringer, Steve Dixon, Scott deLahunta and David Rokeby. This methodology focuses on dancing bodies and objects as interfaces during the process of dance composition within computational system environments. The theories of Chineseness considered in this research are based on Xu Rui and Emily Wilcox’s studies of Chinese dance. This thesis investigates the research questions of how Chineseness contributes to the process of techno-choreography, how technology affects the embodiment of Chineseness, and what Chineseness might be in the context of techno-choreography. The methodology of technochoreography incorporates methods of improvisation, codified movements, motion tracking, programming, immersive design and scenography to explore and demonstrate Chineseness through interactions between dancing bodies and objects in the digital space. For instance, in X-Body, I create sonic chopsticks, a real-time interactive dance exploring chopsticks as interfaces performed by four dancers collaborating with live musician Dee Egan. In Mourning for a dead moon, I demonstrate body memories of Chinese classical dance working with CryptogamicLightCape designed by fashion designer Michèle Danjoux. In Unexpected Bodies, I experiment with red silks in virtual reality and develop writing Chinese characters through a dancing body, working with Oculus Quest 2. The outcome of the research is the generation of interactive performance frameworks which enable embodiments of Chineseness in digital performance. Dancing bodies trained in Chinese dance and cultural objects contribute to the methodology of techno-choreography, contesting to some extent an overly technological gadget driven discursive and performative practice encountered in the West. This thesis is the first to investigate the embodiment of Chineseness in digital performance through interfaces between dancing bodies and cultural objects in digital environments. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London

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