{"id":963,"date":"2020-02-17T11:57:41","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T11:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/beckett\/?page_id=963"},"modified":"2022-10-25T13:10:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T12:10:55","slug":"profiles","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/beckett\/about\/postgraduates\/profiles\/","title":{"rendered":"Current postgraduates"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ahlam Al-Shihry<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Arabian Beckett: Samuel Beckett\u2019s Reception and Influence on Modern Arabic Theatre: Tawfiq Al-Hakim as Case Study (working title)<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

My thesis considers the Arabic reception of Samuel Beckett in the Middle East and his influence on modern Arabic theatre. \"\"<\/p>\n

There is a central focus in this project on the critical responses to Beckett\u2019s drama including criticism, translation, adaptation, and performance whose chronological aspects illuminate the dramatic shift in reading and receiving Beckett before and after Arab Spring. In investigating the question of what has been Beckett\u2019s Arabic reception, further relevant questions need to be explored: What kind of reaction did his reception produce? Can we consider Tawfiq Al-Hakim to be one such reaction through a close parallel to Beckett?<\/p>\n

I intend to focus, generally, on Beckett\u2019s influence on the dramatists of Levant region and Egypt. I read Al-Hakim and Beckett in parallel through thematic and ecocritical approaches. Silence, Nature, culture, folklore, and other elements of the human condition will be analysed and discussed in a selection of Beckett and Al-Hakim theatrical works.<\/p>\n

My PhD is fully funded by Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau in the UK<\/p>\n

Supervisors<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Steven Matthews, Dr. Younis Lahwej<\/p>\n

Research Interests<\/strong><\/p>\n

Theatre of the absurd, Samuel Beckett, ecocriticism, modernism, comparative literature<\/p>\n

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Chlo\u00e9 Duane <\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2018what?..who?..no!..she!\u2019: Reconsidering<\/strong> the audience in post-millennial Beckett performances \"\"<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

My research examines the intersection of the audience, scenography, and Samuel Beckett\u2019s texts (both prose and drama) in contemporary performances that have taken place in the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong and Portugal since 2000. Through a sustained, qualitative examination of audience feedback, I am considering the affective role of sound, lighting and space in performances of Beckett\u2019s work. There is a central focus in this research on the role of technology (such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and live streaming) and how these technologically enhanced environments expand theatre\u2019s scope for embodied experience. In doing so, this thesis, which is supervised by Professor Anna McMullan and Dr Matthew McFrederick, is also partaking in a detailed look at how theatre practitioners are engaging in a process of modernisation and evolution of Beckett\u2019s oeuvre.<\/p>\n

Happily, I have had the opportunity to teach alongside my research, with recent modules including Comedy on Stage and Screen. I have also had the opportunity to share my research at many conferences including: the Modernist Archives in Context conference in Reading, the Tate Gallery, TaPRA, and Modernist Legacies and Futures conference in Galway. Outside of my interest in Beckett, I am also interested in technology-enhanced learning, having worked with university distance learning programmes in Dublin, Singapore and Hong Kong. Presently, I am supporting various programmes at the Academic Development Centre at the University of Warwick.<\/p>\n

Publications<\/strong><\/p>\n