Dr David Overend

I joined RHUL in 2016 after five years at the University of the West of Scotland. I have also taught at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the University of Glasgow. As a director, I have worked for several theatres, including the National Theatre of Great Britain, and toured internationally with award-winning productions. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Humanities and Arts Research Institue at RHUL. I also co-manage the Centre for Contemporary British Theatre.

My research interests are interdisciplinary but focus on contemporary theatre and performance, often at the intersection with cultural geography. My current research explores the performance of mobilities, democracy and wildness. This work is a development of my earlier research on site-specific theatre and audience participation, emerging from my practice-as-research thesis, which aimed to develop a ‘relational theatre practice’ in response to the Arches arts centre in Glasgow. Outputs include articles for Contemporary Theatre Review, Humanities, Cultural Geographies, New Theatre Quarterly, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, and Studies in Theatre and Performance; and performances for the National Theatre, the Arches, Òran Mór and the National Trust for Scotland. I am currently editing a play collection, working on my first monograph and developing a new transdisciplinary research project: Performing Wild Geographies.

At RHUL, I teach Theatre and Performance Making (1st year), Theatre Directing (2nd year) and Making Performance (MA). I would welcome PhD enquiries relating to my research interests.

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy