Claire French

POLYFON BLOG

A personal space for reflection that shares the meandering processes of knowledge creation in practice research. An ear toward vulnerability and claims to selfhood, attempting to interrogate some of the ethical problems within applied and social justice theatre.

Show All Activism Life changes Practice as Research Uncategorized Writing with communities
November 20, 2023

I have a routine to prepare for change

This is a short autobiographical poem that I recently wrote as part of our storytelling process for my upcoming play Courage Songs. I have a routine to prepare for change. I turn on all the lamps in
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March 22, 2023

Migration and my songs of courage

For the past two years I have been slowly developing a new play that is inspired by the female-led migration story and told through a memoir of songs. Courage Songs has plagued all aspects of my
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November 21, 2021

Capturing courage

Since autumn, I have been quietly turning to an artistic practice that firmly situates my identity and value as an insider to the work. A yearning to locate my cultural stories and find the tools and
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April 18, 2020

Performing the languages we live

This blog post is a copy of its original publication on the Creative Multilingualism blog here ‘We breathe English, but we don’t live it’ says Dion Nkomo, educator at the University of Cape
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December 11, 2019

Celebrating the PhD, onwards ECR

Yesterday I experienced the PhD viva and left unscathed (!), enthusiastic about the nature of the PhD reviewing and examining process, and able to celebrate, for the very first time, my own prospects
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April 21, 2017

Podcasting with Visible Theatre

I was lucky enough to have access to enough equipment to cobble together some podcasts featuring the post-show panel discussions and artist talks that I led for Visible for their most recent
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July 21, 2015

All we need is space: Old Vic New Voices

This stunning rehearsal studio at Jerwood Studios in London was the beginning of some my key current practice as research inquiries regarding ethics and engagement in auto/biographical performance
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Qualifications

Degrees

The University of Warwick, Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre Studies, ‘Mobilising languaging: Facilitating dynamic linguistic resources in applied performance praxis‘ supervision by Dr Yvette Hutchison & Professor Jo Angouri, Theatre and Performance Studies & Applied Linguistics, pass with minor corrections, 2019

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Master of Arts in Applied Theatre, Drama in the Community and Drama Education, Distinction, 2013-2014

The University of Notre Dame/ Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University, Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies, 2:1, 2003-2007

Certificates

Associate Fellow Higher Education Academy, Certificate of completion, Higher Education Academy, UK, 2018

Preparing to Teach in Higher Education, Certificate of completion, University of Warwick, Coventry, 2017

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), Certificate of completion, United Kingdom Home Office, 2014

Continuous professional development

Alexander Technique, Performance and Wellbeing with Rose Whyman and Gabriella Minnes Brandes, 5-week course, Birmingham and Vancouver (online), February-March 2023

Viewpoints actor training for devising with Ruby Donohoe, 2-day course, Brisbane, Australia, June 2021

Fitzmaurice Voicework with Ryan O’Shea, 10-week course, Los Angeles, United States, September-December 2020

Drawing, multimodality and interaction analytics, Saul Albert, National Centre for Research Methods, University of Southhampton, United Kingdom, November 2019

Workshop with Geese Theatre Company, Louise Heywood, Masks, one-step removed and other theatre-based exercises within Prison Theatre, February 2019

Critical discourse analysis course, Languages in the Workplace Research Network, Meredith Marra and Janet Holmes, University of Wellington, July 2018

Workshop with Frantic Assembly, Movement, gravity and pair-work, July 2014

Barbican participatory arts lab for facilitators, Gerri Moriarty, Barbican ArtWorks, London, June 2014

Risk and ethical leadership with Ovalhouse, Stella Barnes, Ovalhouse, London, March 2014

Working with former prisoners and the criminal justice system, Anna Herrmann, Clean Break Theatre Company, London, November 2013

National Theatre’s child protection and safe-guarding procedures, Rob Watt, National Theatre, London, October 2013

View Claire’s artistic statement here