Theatre and Performance Studies

Theatre and Performance Studies

Exploring culture and identity through performance

Theatre and Performance Studies

Exploring culture and identity through performance

Delve into a vibrant spectrum of drama and performance, including theatre, dance, and live art. From political rallies to sacred rituals and pop stars, we explore how performance shapes culture, history, and personal identity.

The Theatre and Performance Studies program at the University of Sydney attracts global academic visitors and boasts renowned research staff in theatre, dance, dramaturgy, and more.

Our graduates pursue diverse paths, from professional theatre, dance, and production management to drama teaching, arts administration, and beyond while others leverage the discipline's insights and research skills in fields like law, medicine, public administration, social justice, and foreign affairs. Many of our students pursue postgraduate study and become tertiary-level educators.

Our study offering

Current postgraduate research

Explore the major

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Rex Cramphorn Memorial Lecture

Join us on 18 March

  • Associate Professor Ian Maxwell

    Discipline Chair

Useful links

Our research

Our focus includes the expansive realm of performance and its intricate production and reception processes. Our areas of expertise include:

  • Australian theatre and dance history
  • Performance-making processes: theories of acting, dramaturgy, ethnography of rehearsal
  • Historical rehearsal processes and performance practices in Europe
  • Performance and health
  • Performance and social change
  • Placemaking and embodiment
  • Creative practice as research

Our facilities

The Rex Cramphorn Performance Research Studio is our fully-equipped studio facility available to external practitioners through our artist-in-residence program. “The Rex” is located on Level 1 of the John Woolley Building (A20). The studio can be accessed directly from Manning Rd.

Experience artistic collaboration at the Rex Cramphorn Performance Research Studio, where professional artists join forces with our staff and students to advance research in theatre and performance studies. Refer to the What's On Calendar to stay updated on our projects and events.

The Rex Cramphorn Studio, named in honour of a brilliant theatre director and innovator, with significant ties to the discipline, is a versatile open space. This rectangular studio offers practitioners ample room for rehearsals, workshops, and performances, adapting to various formats with ease.

The Studio boasts a main sprung floor and a small foyer area with a kitchenette and toilets. There is also a mezzanine level housing toilets, changing rooms, and showers. The studio is well-equipped with a semi-flexible lighting grid, rated rigging positions, a new LED theatre lighting package with control, a ceiling-mounted data projector, an audio control desk, and a PA system.

Studio size specifications: Length 12.7m | Width 8.5m | Height 4m.

The Rex Cramphorn Performance Research Studio
The Rex Cramphorn Performance Research Studio

Banner image: Angela Goh, Sky Blue Mythic, developed at the Rex Cramphorn Performance Research Studio for Keir Choreographic Awards, Carriageworks, 2020. Photo: Zan Wimberley.

Our people

Contact us

School of Art, Communication and English

John Woolley Building (A20),
The University of Sydney, NSW, 2006

Phone: 1800 SYD UNI (1800 793 864) (in Australia) 
+61 2 9351 2862 (outside Australia) 

Email: sace.enquiries@sydney.edu.au