I've written an article for Theatre Research International about Laura Bowler's music theatre piece Houses Slide and its representation of climate psychology. It's available here, should you wish to peruse it! shorturl.at/f4VGd. @tandfresearch.bsky.social

I keep saying a version. Knowledge is only gained through labor. Eliminate labor and you eliminate learning. No learning, no knowledge.

Why Does A.I. Write Like … That? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/m...

Re-reading Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, and remembering how joyous it was to perform. We must stir our way onward mixing as we go...

The Climate Choir strikes again in King's Cross! 🎵🎶🎵 Rosebank, Rosebank, YOU SHALL NOT PASS! Burning the #Rosebank oil would emit more than 200 million tons of CO2, while not helping our energy security because the oil would be sold on the international markets. It's madness.

Part of the ‘Gathering Ground’ exhibition at the Tate.

"I Teach Creative Writing. This Is What A.I. Is Doing to Students." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o...

Hugh Shrapnel’s Improvisation Rite 44 (1969): 'Do something impossible, Do something possible; Make the impossible thing seem possible, Make the possible thing seem impossible'.

A funny piece from Cornelius Cardew's The Great Learning (1971)

The Earthlings Family Orchestra has been creating music to, with & about the accompanying ambiences of Exeter's Lower Hoopern Valley. It's been interesting and surprising. I'll write it up soon. In the meantime, these silent pics show a little of the space we shared & the space we made.

ORGANS! clavichord, bon tempi organ, pipe organ, Venta organ, stylophone - Simon Belshaw has been 'converting pieces written to be played by a computer into pieces playable by musicians.' for our ECS concert 14/6. #ECSLostandFound #artweekexeter #artweekexeter25 #awe25 substack.com/home/post/p-...

My book Death in Modern Theatre: Stages of Mortality, first published by @manchesterup.bsky.social‬ in 2019, is now out in paperback at a more affordable price. manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526191236/ The subject matter may be 'heavy', but now the book is lighter...

This petition was created by postgraduates at Plymouth University, responding to the proposed cutting of fine art, performing arts and music. This would be a huge loss to creative education in the region as well as to the city's cultural ecology and wellbeing. Please sign.

Staff & students @uniofexeterdrama.bsky.social attend an in-house screening of Romeo Castellucci’s strange yet beautiful piece Inferno (2008), inspired by Dante’s The Divine Comedy. What dreams may come!

My book The Theatrical Orchestra: British Music Ensembles Experiment with Performance is out! I write about some amazing groups and aim to convey the richness of their work. Please consider ordering a copy for your library. manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526177629/ @manchesterup.bsky.social

Spotted at the Glucksman museum in Cork. I initially thought it was a real person.

Breaking: 200-strong Climate Choir stages flashmob in St Paul's Cathedral, demanding that @churchofengland.org - a top ten UK landowner - #rewild 30% of its land. Nature is in crisis. Time to #RewildTheChurch! @wildcard.land #ChurchofEngland #nature #wildlife #choir #climate #whatwouldjesusdo

Loré Lixenberg's call for The Voice Party, a participatory operatic political structure that proposes to radically musicalise the entire fabric of society. Taken from the open-access book, Classical Music Futures: Practices of Innovation: www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116....

Exeter Drama finalists have presented devised work for audiences around the city. There were shows about female codebreakers, fast fashion, women’s football, AI, the nature of art, our relationship with light, political cabaret, & toxic relationships. Quite a mix! @uniofexeterdrama.bsky.social

A shopfront curiosity in Exeter.

to what shall I / compare this world of ours –

‘The Ostrich Dance of Renita Kramer’ (1950s).

Statement from the Royal Musical Association on the School of Music at Cardiff University: www.rma.ac.uk/2025/02/03/s...

Cardiff University is at the forefront of music education in the UK – a leader in composition, musicology and performance. Losing the music department would be a terrible loss to the cultural life of Wales and the wider musical world. If you care about music at all, please sign the petition below.

Simon Stephens enthusiastically leads a playwriting workshop for Drama and Creative Writing students at the University of Exeter. @uofedrama.bsky.social

Supportive messages and tips from last year's graduating students @exeterdrama.bsky.social on display for this year's finalists as they begin work on their Practical Essay projects -- hat tip to @evom.bsky.social.

Samuel Beckett’s hands, 1980.

For all the interested in the role of music and sound in contemporary theatre, may I shamelessly plug my podcast (with many esteemed guests!) Staging Sound: stagingsound.podigee.io

Out today! Very proud of all the great work of our colleagues: I hope the book finds some interested readers www.routledge.com/Music-and-So...

I may be alone in deriving a strange pleasure from creating a book index.

Coming Soon.

In pre-industrial times, music was played not only during daylight hours. Even in the middle of the night, people would pick up their instruments and play. Hanna Walsdorf, a professor of musicology, is investigating how sleep habits have influenced music.

Proud to be singing with the Climate Choir movement in London today to call on the #britishmuseum to end the £50mn funding deal with BP. Singing truth to power. #fossilfree

‘Lost’ by Naomi Shihab Nye

🐰

Reading Donna Haraway and struck by her brilliantly poetic use of language.

Production photo of Boris Vian's play The Empire Builders (1959). This play features a character called 'the schmürz', on whom the other characters vent their rage. I'm waiting for the word 'schmürz' to enter into common usage. Make it happen, Bluesky!

Pochettes — instruments designed to fit in a pocket — spotted at the Royal College of Music Museum, London.

Continuing my #JulianLage binge. That is so beautiful! www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5gg... #jazz #guitar

bird sounds

This made me smile — from the Chicago Manual of Style.

Modernist whimsy.

I have joined the (e)xodus!