Biography

Andy Lavender is Professor of Theatre & Performance and Head of the School of Arts at the University of Surrey.

He was previously Dean of Research at Central School of Speech & Drama, University of London.

He is the artistic director of the theatre/performance company Lightwork.

Research Interests

Andy is currently working on a monograph, commissioned by Routledge, on ways in which performance and spectatorship have changed over the past decade.

Practice-research in development includes the exploration of performance space in relation to digital technologies; creative processes for devised production; and acting techniques in intermedial performance environments.

Andy is co-convener of the Intermediality working group of the International Federation of Theatre Research, and was formerly co-convener of the New Technologies for Theatre working group of the Theatre and Performance Research Association. 

Publications

Monograph

Andy Lavender, Hamlet in Pieces: Shakespeare reworked by Peter Brook, Robert Lepage and Robert Wilson, London and New York: Nick Hern Books/Continuum, 2001
ISBN 1 85459 61 87
Study of auteur-led devised theatre, rehearsal practice and the phenomenology of performance.

Co-edited volumes

Jen Harvie and Andy Lavender (eds.), Making Contemporary Theatre: international rehearsal processes, Manchester University Press, 2010
Ten chapters addressing rehearsal room practice in the work of innovative international theatre and performance companies, including the Builders Association (US), Complicite (England), Gekidan Kaitaisha (Japan), Robert Lepage (Canada), Luk Perceval (Germany).

Sarah Bay-Cheng, Chiel Kattenbelt, Andy Lavender and Robin Nelson (eds.), Mapping Intermediality and Performance, Amsterdam University Press, 2010
This is the second book to be produced by the Theatre and Intermediality working group of the International Federation of Theatre Research. It addresses concepts of intermedial performance and features case studies of significant productions and events.

Chapters, essays and articles

‘The Builders Association: Super Vision (2005): digital dataflow and the synthesis of everything’
in Harvie and Lavender (eds.), Making Contemporary Theatre: international rehearsal processes, Manchester University Press, 2010.
8,300-word case study of the development and rehearsal process of an international multimedia theatre company.

‘A digital paradigm for contemporary theatre and performance’
in Bay-Cheng, Kattenbelt, Lavender and Nelson (eds.), Mapping Intermediality and Performance, Amsterdam University Press, 2010.
5,000-word chapter addressing characteristics of digital technology and its bearing on cultural production.

1,000-word review of Steve Dixon (with Barry Smith), Digital Performance: A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and Installation (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press, 2007) and Nick Kaye, Multi-Media: Video – Installation – Performance (London and NY: Routledge, 2007). Theatre Research International, 34.1, 2009, 87-89.

‘Theatre and Technology’
in Mary Luckhurst (ed.), A Companion to Modern British and Irish Drama, Oxford: Blackwell, 2006.
5,000-word chapter on theatre techne, telematic performance and the bearing of digitality on theatre.

‘Mise en scène, hypermediacy and the sensorium’
in Chiel Kattenbelt and Freda Chapple (eds.), Intermediality in Theatre and Performance, Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2006.
5,000-word chapter on multimedia staging, issues of mediation, presence and pleasure in contemporary theatre, drawing on three case studies.

3,000-word feature-review of Gabriella Giannachi, Virtual Theatres: an introduction (London and New York: Routledge, 2004) and John E. McGrath, Loving Big Brother: Performance, privacy and surveillance space (London and New York: Routledge, 2004). Contemporary Theatre Review, 15.2, 2005, 269-273.

‘2D/3D’
Performance/Technologies: A User’s Guide, Total Theatre/King Alfred’s College, Winchester, 2003.
Article on key instances of the use of projected images in theatre across the last century.

‘Pleasure, performance and the Big Brother experience’
Contemporary Theatre Review, 13.2, 2003.
Article on the theatricality of the reality game show.

‘The Moment of Realised Actuality’
in Maria Delgado and Caridad Svich (eds.), Theatre in Crisis?: Performance Manifestos for a New Century, Manchester University Press, 2002.
3,000-word essay on effects of liveness and nowness, with regard to late-capitalist culture.

‘Turns and Transformations’
in Vera Gottlieb and Colin Chambers (eds), Theatre in a Cool Climate, Amber Lane Press, 1999, 179-190.
4,000-word chapter on new and experimental British theatre and performance.

‘Sounds Good: The Work of the National’s Sound Department’
National Theatre programmes, August-October 1998.
1,500-word article published in all programmes for National Theatre productions.

‘EYRE, Richard’
in David Pickering (ed), International Dictionary of Theatre, Volume 3: Actors, Directors and Designers, London & Detroit: St James Press, 1995, pp271-2.
1,000-word essay on then-Director of Royal National Theatre.

‘Edge of Darkness’
in George W Brandt, ed., British Television Drama in the 1980s, Cambridge,  Cambridge University Press, 1993, 103-118.
3,500-word chapter on the themes, form and ideology of the TV serial Edge of Darkness.

‘Theatre in Crisis: Conference Report’
New Theatre Quarterly, Volume V, Number 19, August 1989, pp 210-216.
Report on a conference at Goldsmiths College, University of London, addressing challenges to contemporary British theatre.

Theatre practice as director

The Good Actor  |  installation
Conceived by Andy Lavender and Jo Parker, created and presented by Lightwork
Hoxton Hall, as part of GLAZ Digital Stages Festival, 26 April 2011

The Good Actor  |  online videos
Conceived by Andy Lavender and Jo Coates, created and presented by Lightwork
The Good Actor is a practice-research project across different media. It explores acting, performing, being real, telling the truth, pretending and lying. The project has been developed in theatre/media workshops at the National Theatre Studio and Central. The videos are available at http://www.thegoodactor.co.uk/

The Tempest
by William Shakespeare, presented by Lightwork and Parrabbola. Gdansk Shakespeare Festival (Poland), 2-4 August 2009.
Workshop production exploring the use of digital surveillance devices and technologies in performance.

MyLife
Conceived by Andy Lavender, created and presented by Lightwork with Lewisham Youth Theatre.
Albany Theatre, Deptford, London, 31 July-1 August 2008
Ubiquitous/online video, movement and performance, featuring young people from LYT. The project is archived at www.themylifeproject.com.

Sarajevo Story
Created and presented by Lightwork, from an original idea by David Annen and Gregg Fisher, in association with the Lyric Hammersmith. Lyric Studio, Hammersmith, 26 February-15 March 2008
Devised multimedia drama, including verbatim elements.
‘impressive devised multimedia piece’ (Time Out); ‘technically accomplished…a small company capable of doing big things’ (The Guardian); ‘dazzling…a rich and intelligent production’ (British Theatre Guide)

Back At You
Written by Andy Lavender, presented by Lightwork in association with BAC. Scratch performances: BAC, London, 21-22 April 2007.
Adaptation of the Echo and Narcissus myth, drawing on MySpace, Second Life and YouTube formats.

Once I was Dead
Conceived by Andy Lavender and Douglas O’Connell, written by Andy Lavender, presented by Lightwork. (re)ACTOR: Digital Live Art international conference, Queen Mary, University of London, 11 September 2006
Adaptation of the Daedalus and Icarus myth, with Internet-enabled video calling and digital scenographies.

Here’s What I Did with My Body One Day
Conceived by Andy Lavender, created and presented by Lightwork, written by Dan Rebellato.
National tour (England and Scotland), 26 January-4 March 2006
Pleasance Theatre, London, 7-31 October 2004
Multimedia thriller exploring the work of Roland Barthes, Ernest Chausson and Pierre Curie.
‘smart, sensitive and extremely enjoyable’ (The Times); ‘mind-stretching, funny and elegant’ (The Sunday Times); ‘a hugely stimulating and drop-dead gorgeous piece of theatre’ (Time Out); ‘a hugely enjoyable mixture of head and heart, text and visuals wrapped in an atmospheric and stylish production’ (The Guardian); ‘a brilliant demonstration of the power of formally sophisticated theatre’ (The Scotsman)

Forget Me Not
Created and presented by Black Hole in association with Art of Regeneration, the Albany Theatre and the London International Mime Festival.
Albany Theatre, London, 15-30 January 2004
Clown-mime, robotics, puppetry, pyrotechnics and video.
‘an impressive clown show of haunting dilapidated beauty…Andy Lavender’s artful production is a theatrical high-wire act that quite literally plays with fire.’ (The Guardian) ‘one astonishing production … This is bold and innovative work, filled with marvels’ (What’s On); ‘a wonderful and inspiring show’ (Animations)

London/My Lover
Conceived by David Annen and Andy Lavender, presented by Lightwork in association with the London International Mime Festival.
ICA Theatre, London, 21-23 January 2002
Created by the company. Physical performance, live and pre-recorded video and sound.
‘provocative and successful’ (Total Production).

Blavatsky
Conceived by Clare Bayley and Andy Lavender, presented by Lightwork.
Young Vic Studio, London, 14 September-2 October 1999
Devised by the company, with a script by Clare Bayley. Mixed-media performance combining Victorian stage illusionism and contemporary video projection.
‘a really intelligent piece of theatre ... wholeheartedly embraces multi-media ... always characterised by its complete theatricality’ (The Guardian); ‘a scene ... from the new face of British drama’ (The Observer).

The Singularity
Created and presented by Black Hole, Albany Theatre, London, in association with the London International Mime Festival.
Albany Theatre, London, 22-31 January 1998.
Devised solo performance combining circus skills, robotics, pyrotechnics and theatre.
‘huge amounts of energy and imagination’ (Time Out). Featured in Time Out’s ‘Critic’s Choice’.

The Shift
Conceived by Andy Lavender, presented by Academy Productions.
15 January-7 February 1997, Young Vic Studio, London
Devised by the company with a script by Clare Bayley. Mixed media drama (playtext, live relay video, slide projection)
‘a beguiling visual experience’ (The Guardian), ‘fascinating, touching ... bursting with promise’ (The Daily Telegraph)

Acts Without Words
by Samuel Beckett, presented by Academy Productions.
BAC (main house), London (presented as part of the London International Mime Festival), 18-19 January 1996
Palace Theatre, Périgueux, France (presented as part of Mimos, France's annual international mime festival), 8 August 1996
Staging of Beckett mimes alongside a new devised piece exploring Beckettian idioms.
‘a very fine show ... I’ve not seen the Beckett mimes done better’ (Journal of Beckett Studies, v. 5, n. 1 & 2).

The Duchess of Malfi
by John Webster, adapted by Bertolt Brecht and WH Auden, presented by Academy Productions.
Chelsea Centre Theatre, London, 19 May-12 June 1993
World premiere of this version, featuring Brecht’s radical, ill-fated adaptation. Featured in The Guardian’s ‘Highlights of the Week’ section.

The Man Outside
by Wolfgang Borchert, presented by Academy Productions.
The Green Room, Manchester, in association with the Manchester International Festival of Expressionism, 16-17 March 1992
Chelsea Centre Theatre, London, 27 May-13 June 1992
‘a fringe production of rare subtleties’ (City Limits). Featured in City Limits’ ‘Recommended’ section.  Nominated for Best Lighting Design, London Fringe Awards 1992-3.

External service

Andy is an Associate Editor of the journal Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (Routledge/Taylor & Francis).

He has served on programme validation panels at Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts; Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore; Brunel University; and Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow.

He served on the AHRC's Postgraduate Panel for Music and the Performing Arts and Arts and Science Fellowship Panel.

He has provided consultancy for Birkbeck College, University of London; Edge Hill University; University of Kingston; and Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

He has examined five PhD theses in the area of theatre, performance and technology.

He is chair of the Council of Management of Lewisham Youth Theatre. He was previously a governor of Heber Primary School and chair of the school's Policy & Curriculum Committee.