Dr Amy Skinner

Dr Amy Skinner

Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Practice

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Arts Cultures and Education
  • School of The Arts

Qualifications

  • PhD / DPhil (University of Hull)

Summary

Dr Skinner is a Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Practice. Her primary research interest is in Russian and Early Soviet theatre, particularly the theatre of Vsevolod Meyerhold. She is currently working on the relationship between theatrical cultures and totalitarian political systems.

In addition, she works on theatrical space, scenography, and craft-based activism (craftivism) particularly in the context of audience engagement, public events and eco-arts.

Her teaching interests include theatre directing, Russian and Soviet theatre, theatre for children and young audiences, and theatres of the avant-garde.

Alongside her academic work, Dr Skinner is an active theatre director and scenographer, specialising in interactive and immersive theatre and productions of texts in translation or in multiple languages. She also has experience as a community theatre practitioner, and in creating performance with and for children and young people.

Conference Papers

- 2017 - ‘Resistant Bodies in Protest Spaces: Craftivism and Performance’ TaPRA Annual Conference (University of Salford).

- 2015 - ‘CommonSpace, DistancedSpace, SharedSpace: Meyerhold's Imagined Scenographies'

- 2015 - IFTR Scenography Working Group at the Prague Quadrennial (Prague Quadrennial 2015)

- 2014 - ‘The Philosophy of Shadows, or, how Meyerhold's theatre met the challenge of four dimensions' Theatre and Stratification, IFTR World Congress (University of Warwick)

- 2013 - ‘Soviet Afterlives: The Story of Socialist Realist Theatre in the UK' British Comparative Literature Association Triennial Conference (University of Essex)

- 2012 - ‘Quantum Leaps: Scenography, Collage, and Multiple Consciousness as a Model for Theatre in Translation' IFTR Scenography Working Group (Arts and Theatre Institute, Prague)

Theatre Direction

- 2017 - Weathered Estates (Zodwa Nyoni, after Euripides), Donald Roy Theatre, University of Hull and Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, Women of the World Festival. Co-production with Hull City of Culture 2017 and The Roaring Girls (direction)

- 2014 - A Month in the Country (Ivan Turgenev), Minghella Studio, University of Hull (direction and scenography)

- 2013 - The Light in the Piazza (Adam Guettel), Middleton Hall, University of Hull (direction)

- 2013 - Call Me, Love Me (Melanie Ball, in collaboration with the Samaritans, Hull), Donald Roy Theatre, University of Hull (direction and scenography)

- 2012 - The Suicide (Nikolai Erdman), Donald Roy Theatre, University of Hull (direction)

BA

- Performance Perspectives 1, 2 and 3 (Avant-Garde Theatre, Musical Theatre, Russian Theatre)

- Theatre Practice (Theatre for Young Audiences, Puppetry and Object Theatre)

- Dissertation

MA

- Place, Space and Performance

- Public Engagement through Applied Performance

- Research Project

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Book Chapter

Looking at Meyerhold's Unseen Theatre

Skinner, A. (2022). Looking at Meyerhold's Unseen Theatre. In J. Pitches, & S. Aquilina (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Vsevolod Meyerhold (80-98). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003110804-8

Directing Theatrical Space: Meyerhold's Reconstruction of the Theatre

Skinner, A. (2018). Directing Theatrical Space: Meyerhold's Reconstruction of the Theatre. In The Great European Stage Directors: Meyerhold, Piscator, Brecht. London: Bloomsbury Publishing

Metaphor, Mythology and Metonymy: Russian Scenography in the Yeltsin Era

Skinner, A. (2017). Metaphor, Mythology and Metonymy: Russian Scenography in the Yeltsin Era. In A. Aronson (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Scenography (435-443). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781317422266-41

Journal Article

Learning histories, participatory methods and creative engagement for climate resilience

McDonagh, B., Brookes, E., Smith, K., Worthen, H., Coulthard, T., Hughes, G., …Chamberlain, J. (2023). Learning histories, participatory methods and creative engagement for climate resilience. Journal of Historical Geography, 82, 91-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2023.09.002

Recoveries: Nikolai Evreinov, V kulisakh dushi (1912)

Skinner, A. (2017). Recoveries: Nikolai Evreinov, V kulisakh dushi (1912). Key Words: A journal of cultural materialism, 15, 94-96

Research interests

Russian and Soviet Theatre (particularly the theatre of Meyerhold, directorial approaches in Soviet theatre, Russian stage design, women on the Soviet stage)

Theatre and Totalitarianism

Craftivism, spectatorship and performance

Theatre for young audiences

Eco-Arts

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Creative Advocacy in Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Funder

00 University of Hull

Grant

£3,000.00

Started

1 February 2023

Status

Complete

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Risky Cities: Living with water in an uncertain future climate

Funder

AHRC Arts & Humanities Research Council

Grant

£333,903.00

Started

1 August 2020

Status

Complete

Project

On the Edge: a co-created exploration of young people’s eco-anxiety in the face of climate uncertainty

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£10,000.00

Started

1 July 2021

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Skinner welcomes applications in the areas of Russian and Soviet Theatre, the relationship between theatre direction and scenography, Eco-Arts and craftivism, and the documentation of theatre (particularly theatre photography).​​

Current PhD supervisions

Lucy Fielding, Meyerhold's Biomechanics in Contemporary Actor Training

Eva Danickova, Collaborative Models for Theatre Translation

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