LAMDA hosts international Comparative Drama Conference

LAMDA was proud to host the 47th Comparative Drama Conference between July 9 and 11. This was the first time the conference had been hosted outside of the US, as part of the new transatlantic partnership between LAMDA and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA, which will see the conference hosted biennially at each site up to 2030.

The Comparative Drama Conference (CDC) is an international, interdisciplinary conference founded by Dr Karelisa Hartigan at the University of Florida in 1977, devoted to all aspects of theatre scholarship. Every year, scholars/artists are invited to the conference to present and discuss their work in the field of drama and performance, and new plays receive a staged reading. 

This year’s conference brought together participants from over 36 countries and is a powerful testament to the global reach of theatre and performance research. There could be no better setting than London – a city with a rich history of theatre production, where theatregoing has been a civic ritual for centuries, from Shakespeare’s Globe to today’s bold, diverse and boundary-pushing stages.

This year’s conference featured a diverse programme of presentations, roundtable discussions, plenary sessions, and live performance. Delegates attended in-person, and remotely, over a busy three days. Olivier Award-winning playwright Mark Rosenblatt also featured in the programme, as part of a special in-conversation event, with delegates invited to attend a performance of his award-winning new play, Giant, at the Harold Pinter Theatre, starring LAMDA alumnus John Lithgow.

Plus, delegates were invited to a performance of Tennessee Williams’ Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen in one of LAMDA’s three theatres, staged by recent graduates of LAMDA’s MFA Classical Acting programme and production students, as a special pre-conference welcome. 

During the conference, a performance of a new play, Frat, was also staged at LAMDA for the benefit of delegates. Frat was written by recent graduate actor, Max Allen. The play’s development was nurtured at LAMDA, first performed there, before appearing in London, Brighton, and Prague. Following the conference the play will be staged at this year’s Camden Fringe and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. 

Professor Mark O’Thomas, Principal & CEO, and a co-director of the conference, said, “It is significant for the Comparative Drama Conference to be hosted at LAMDA. We were delighted with the number of attendees and with the quality of discussions and discourse. We look forward to attending next year’s conference in Wisconsin, before welcoming it back to LAMDA in 2027."

Dr. Nicholas Holden, Vice Principal – Education & Research, and a co-director of the conference, said, “Our broadening mission at LAMDA is to further develop our research activity and impact on a global scale, alongside our extraordinary 165-year history. Hosting the conference this year, therefore, has been both inspiring and tangible to these ambitions, and an important milestone to have reached.”

More information about this year's programme can be found here.