Alex Sutherland

Biography

Alexandra is an Associate Professor in Drama Studies at Rhodes University where she heads the Applied Theatre programmes for under-graduate and post-graduate students. Her theoretical interests include British theatre and radical social criticism; how post-colonialism is performed; gender, race and performance; and theatre as/in social change. Her teaching, research and community engagement activities focus broadly on the creation of play and performance spaces within institutional settings as a way to generate alternative physical, social, emotional and political modes of expression and representation. She established the Art of the Street project (2003-2009) with street involved youth, resulting in commissions for the National Arts Festival main programme and the first African youth theatre group selected to perform at the Contacting the World theatre Festival in Manchester, UK (2006). Her current practical and research focus involves the social and aesthetic meanings of performance in criminal justice settings, and the possibilities of performance and play in psychiatric institutions. Her research is published in local and international journals. and she is the 2012 winner of Rhodes University vice-chancellor’s award for community engagement.

Research Interest

Creation of play and performance spaces within institutional settings as a way to generate alternative physical, social, emotional and political modes of expression and representation