In Place of War wins higher education accolade

26 Nov 2010

A ground-breaking University of Manchester project which gives valuable support to theatre performers in some of the most dangerous places on earth has won a coveted Times Higher Education award.

In Place of War, based in Drama at the School of Arts Histories and Cultures won the 'excellence and innovation in the arts' award at Times Higher annual award ceremony in London last night.

Professor James Thompson, who Directs the project, picked up the prize at  the gala awards dinner yesterday at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London.

There were almost 500 entries across the 18 categories of the awards, now in their sixth year.

He said: “I’m absolutely delighted to receive this award - it’s been an amazing team effort from my drama colleagues Jenny Hughes, Alison Jeffers and Ruth Daniel.

“War has always been a major theme in theatre, but some of the most important performances in recent years have come from war zones themselves.

“Theatre exists in the unlikeliest of places such as refugee camps, war-affected villages, towns under curfew, cities under occupation and refugee communities.

“Our project is about finding out why in times of conflict have individuals and communities turned to performance?”

Theatre practitioners from across the world – including in Kosovo, Gaza, Sudan, DR Congo, Sri Lanka, Northern Ireland and UK have been supported by IPOW.

An IPOW network, recently set up and supported by The Leverhulme Trust, follows the three year Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project exploring theatre and performance practice from sites of crisis and armed conflict.

The Network has have created an online database containing hundreds of documents, films, images and audio files along with a directory of organisations and an events archive connected with war and performance.