Professor Adam J. Ledger FHEA, FRSA

• 2018: Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts
• 2011: Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
• 2007: PhD Performance Practice, University of Exeter
• 2000: MA Theatre and Performance Studies, Rose Bruford College
• 1992: Diploma in Acting, Webber Douglas Academy, London

Before joining the department at Birmingham, I was a Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Studies at University College Cork, Ireland, and a Lecturer in Drama at the University of Hull.

Alongside my academic work, I have directed and led projects internationally in a variety of situations and settings, including professional productions and tours, in drama schools and universities, in the community and with my own company.

I am a member of the 'scientific committee' of the Journal of Theatre Anthropology, and the 'Ship of Fools' scholars-in-residence initiative at the Nordisk Teaterlaboratorium; and part of the FRSA100 project.

My teaching and curriculum development work has been particularly practical in focus, based around performance preparation and realisation, with further seminar or study options concerning the history and philosophy of acting, the practice and theory of directing, and text-based courses.

I have supervised in areas related to my research and teaching interests, and welcome enquiries, particularly from those wishing to pursue practice-based research in contemporary theatre-making.

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Find out more - our PhD Drama and Theatre Studies  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

My research interests centre on performance practice, especially directing, acting (and how these are brought together through rehearsal), devising and performer training. My recent research has focussed on Odin Teatret and now especially concerns contemporary directing and performance-making practices.

I have recently published a monograph on contemporary directing, The Director and Directing: Craft, Process and Aesthetic in Contemporary Theatre (Palgrave Macmillan).

My ongoing practice as research activities includes work with The Bone Ensemble, where I am co-artistic director. Recently, the company has created family performances about environmental themes - see https://theatre-environment.bham.ac.uk/. This work has regularly been funded by Arts Council England, the University of Birmingham, several Trusts, and commissioning partners. The company is now creating community performance work.

I have acted as external examiner for other universities and developed distance-learning materials. I have worked with several European and Indian universities.