Download Professor Stephen Lacey - Theatre and Media Drama Research Unit

Professor Stephen Lacey
Professor of Drama, Film and Television
Department of Drama and Music, Division of Drama
Contact details
Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries,
University of Glamorgan,
Pontypridd. CF37 1DL. Wales, UK.
(0044) 01443 482368
email: [email protected]
Room: A25
Education & Qualifications:
1970 – 73
BA Hons English and Drama, class 2.1 University of Birmingham
1974-6
M.Litt. Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies University of
Birmingham.
Thesis topic: Texts and Contexts: the Politics and History of British
Theatre 1956 - 63.
Main teaching areas
Post-war British theatre; British film and television drama
Film and television performance (practical and critical modules)
Main research areas
Stephen’s main research interests lie in post-war British theatre and television drama,
and he has published widely in these areas. He is also interested in acting for
television, and in the relationships between theatre and television, especially in the
British context.
Research grants/projects
1996 – 2000:
Co-director of HEFCE/AHRB Institutional Fellowship, entitled ‘The BBC Wednesday
Play Drama Series and Post-War British Drama’. The project researched the BBC
Wednesday Play drama series (1964 to 1970), drawing on the Corporation’s Archive
at Caversham, Reading. Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, the research placed
the series in the context of developments within British drama and theatre in the postwar period, and investigated and challenged the public perception of the role that the
series as a whole (and certain individual plays in particular) played within British
culture. The project team also organised a highly successful international conference,
‘On the Boundary: Turning Points in British Television Drama 1965 – 2000’ at
Reading in April 1998, which brought together leading academics and television
professionals. The project produced a range of published outcomes, including Television
Drama: Past, Present and Future, (J. Bignell, S.Lacey and M. Macmurraugh-Kavanagh
(eds), Palgrave 2000).
2002 - 2006
Co-director of AHRC-funded research project (with University of Reading and RHUL)
entitled ‘Cultures of British TV Drama: 1960-82’. The project combines analytical
academic study of British television drama programming 1960-82 (from the 'Golden
1
Age' to Channel 4) with institutional and cultural study of the professional contexts of
British TV drama in the period, and evaluates research materials relevant to these
studies. The research has focused particularly on issues of television historiography;
production cultures (including interviews with practitioners); marginalized television
genres; and drama of, and in, the English regions. The project has produced several
published outcomes, including Popular Television Drama: Critical Perspectives (J.
Bignell and S.Lacey (eds), Manchester University Press, 2005) and the forthcoming
Reviewing Television History: Critical Issues in Television History and
Historiography (H. Wheatley (ed) I.B.Taurus, 2006). There have also been several
one-day symposia on producing television drama and drama in the regions, and a
major international conference (‘Cultures of British Television Drama’, Reading,
September 2005).
Editorships
Co-editor and funding member of Critical Studies in Television (CST), an
international, refereed scholarly journal of fictions for the small screen. CST exists in
both hard-copy and on-line versions and is published by Manchester University Press,
and the first issue will appear in March 2006. The journal is supported by a website
(www.criticalstudiesintelevision.com) which is an important resource for students and
researchers interested in television drama in the broadest sense. The journal has an
editorial board from the UK and the USA, and draws on a wider group of Corresponding
Editors from across the world.
Selected publications:
Books
Popular Television Drama: Critical Perspectives with J. Bignell (eds) Manchester:
Manchester University Press (2005)
Television Drama: Past Present and Future with J. Bignell and M.K. MacmurraughKavanagh (eds) London: Palgrave (2000)
British Realist Theatre: The New Wave in its Context 1956 - 65 London: Routledge
(1995)
Chapters in books
‘When Was the Golden Age? Narratives of Loss and Decline: John Osborne, Arnold
Wesker and Rodney Ackland’ in Luckhurst, M. (ed), A Companion to Modern british
and Irish Drama 1880-2005, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing (2006)
‘A Practical Realism: McGrath, Brecht, Lukacs and Blood Red Roses’ in Brady, D.
and S. Capon (eds) John McGrath: Freedom’s Pioneer, Exeter: Exeter University
Press (2005).
'British Theatre and Commerce: 1979 to 2000' in B. Kershaw (ed) The Cambridge
History of British Theatre Vol 3 Cambridge: CUP, (2004).
'Too Theatrical By Half; film versions of The Admirable Crichton and Look Back in
Anger ': in Mackillop, I. and Sinyard, N. (eds) British Cinema in the 1950s,
Manchester University Press, (2003).
‘John Arden and Ben Jonson: Embarrassments to the Tidy Mind’ in Woolland, B. (ed)
Jonsonians, London: Ashgate Press, (2003).
'"Men are Men and that's all there is to it": Some Images of Masculinity in Post-War
British Theatre, with particular reference to the plays of Alan Ayckbourne' in
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Kuligowska-Korzeniewska, Anna and Kowalskiewj, Marty (ed) Gender/dramat/teatr ,
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu, Lodzkiego, (2001) (translated into Polish).
Selected journal articles:
‘John McGrath: “Blood Red Roses” and Luckacsian Realism’ in International
Journal of Scottish Theatre, Vol. 3 no.2, December 2002.
‘John McGrath: “Blood Red Roses” and Luckacsian Realism’ in New Theatre
Quarterly No 72, November 2002 pp. 325-333.
'Who Framed Theatre?: The "Moment of Change" in Television Drama' with
Macmurraugh-Kavanagh, M. in New Theatre Quarterly No. 57, Feb 1999, pp 58-74
Forthcoming
Tony Garnett (monograph) Manchester University Press, 2007.
Refereed & invited conference contributions
April 9th 2005: organised and hosted ‘Television Drama in the Regions’,a one-day
symposium held at MMU Cheshire under the auspices of the ‘Cultures of British
Television Drama 1960-82’ AHRB-funded project.
October 16th 2004: open discussion and interview with the independent producer,
Verity Lambert conducted at ‘Producing Television Drama in the 1960s and 70s’ at
Reading University.
July 1st 2004: ‘Working on the Front Line: the representation of social institutions in
the recent work of Tony Garnett’ delivered at ‘Visions II’ at the University of Central
Lancashire.
April 16th-18th 2004: Chaired an open discussion on current trends and future
developments in alternative theatre with theatre director Max Stafford Clark and
writer and critic Alex Sierz at ‘Political Futures: Alternative Theatre in Britain Today’
at the University of Reading.
September 19th 2003: ‘On becoming Popular: some reflections on the relationship
between theatre and television in Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home’ delivered
at ‘Reconsidering the Canon: Popular Television Drama in the 1960s and 1970s’ at
the University of Reading, under the auspices of the ‘Cultures of British Television
Drama 1960-82’ AHRB-funded project.
June 15th 2002: ‘Genuinely the Modern Accent: Look Back in Anger as Media Event’
delivered at ‘Theatre and Celebrity: 1660-2002’ at the University of York and
organized by the Dept. of English.
3rd April 2002: ‘John McGrath: “Blood Red Roses” and Lukacsian Realism’ delivered
at a conference to celebrate the life and work of the late John McGrath at RHUL,
organized by the Drama Department.
Research degree examining
External examiner for PhDs at the Universities of London (RHUL) (2001, 2003 and
2006), Sheffield (2001 and 2004) and Central Lancashire (2004).
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