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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.

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July 24, 2024

Dialogue with global majority audiences: Reflecting on a reading of a recent play

Late in May, we showed the first public reading of my recent play, Courage Songs, at the University of Birmingham’s George Cadbury Hall. The reading aimed to observe the balance of the dialogue and

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

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

June 23, 2022

Breathing through the feet premieres at National Arts Festival

Today, our short film Breathing through the feet premieres at the National Arts Festival Makhanda, South Africa. Breathing through the feet is a call and response film directed by Sibusiso Mkhize and

February 22, 2022

Global Language Advocacy Day 2022: Personal reflections

I recently became a member of the Global Coalition for Language Rights, the leading movement behind Global Language Advocacy Day. My new membership heightened a responsibility to represent the

February 2, 2022

‘Theatre of the real’: how artists at Perth Fringe World are stripping down to reveal their vulnerabilities

Claire French, University of the Witwatersrand. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. At this year’s Fringe World festival

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

July 2, 2021

Decolonising Facilitator Training: Voice messages from the South African day to the Australian night

I have had the pleasure of collaborating with performance practitioner Sibusiso Mkhize since the beginning of the year as part of my postdoctoral research Decolonising language ideologies in the body

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

February 12, 2020

The body, making and languaging: The first time my PhD research meets practice

I will soon be delivering a workshop for performers and practitioners that explores how and when the performer’s body might disrupt otherwise dominant uses of language. This is my first

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

April 30, 2019

Holding value in the last leg: Completing my PhD @ Odox Arts, Birmingham

I thought it’s time I pen a hybrid of the static ‘holding page’ and blog post that details my current position as well as signals the next promising phase. After completing a

October 3, 2017

Barbican ArtWorks: the beginning of research focusing on actors’ linguistic resources

The initial stimuli for researching approaches to drawing from actors’ linguistic resources in performance came in 2013 at the Evelyn Oldfield refugee unit, where I realised that I had no

September 21, 2017

Observer & Researcher of Micia de Wet’s recent Johannesburg production

I am currently observing Micia de Wet’s development and rehearsals of a multilingual production by BA Theatre students at City Varsity, Johannesburg. The production is titled Father, My

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

September 5, 2016

Research Assistant to Prof. Jakelin Troy, University of Sydney

My current sociolinguistic research has been tremendously informed through my experiences working alongside Professor Jakelin Troy, Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research at The

July 11, 2016

Cape to Cape: Notes on South African fieldwork

I have recently spent a little over a month travelling between Cape Town and Grahamstown in South Africa, sitting-in and observing rehearsals for productions showing at the Grahamstown National Arts

May 15, 2016

The Wardrobe Project: Documentary theatre and training ground

With Sonja Linden of Visible I have been conceptualising a type of auto/biographical production process, engaging both process and product. We have aimed towards professional theatre outcomes in

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

May 16, 2015

The War Party: Immersive promenade performance at Fulham Palace

I recently devised a biographical performance about Bishop Fisher, his wife Rosamund Fisher and their six sons, focusing on their challenge of supporting morale on the home front of London during the