Voices in Motion (IN PERSON): Applied Theatre, Migration, Multilingualism and Empowerment through Practice-as-Research

Voices in Motion brings together three interconnected research projects by MA Applied Theatre & Education students at the University of Derby, exploring how applied theatre can respond to urgent social questions around migration, language, identity and gender.

Through participatory practice and performance, the projects explore how people share their experiences, negotiate difference and build understanding in an increasingly divided world.

Exploring migration, multilingualism and identity

Drawing on Lois Weaver’s Long Table methodology, one project explores how gathering, eating and conversation can become performative acts. It investigates how participatory spaces might bring diverse voices together, enabling people to share experiences of migration, displacement, belonging and identity.

A second project examines the role of language in shaping these encounters. Exploring multilingualism, translation and the potential for misunderstanding, it asks how applied theatre might challenge linguistic barriers and prejudice, and create opportunities for meaningful connection across cultural and linguistic differences.

Gender, empowerment and finding a voice

A third project considers the intersection of anti-immigration rhetoric, the manosphere and the hostility experienced by women and girls. Through applied theatre approaches, the research explores how supportive, women-centred spaces might help young women develop confidence, navigate conflict and respond to gendered hostility.

Research through practice

Bringing these projects together, Voices in Motion offers an opportunity to explore how creative practice can generate knowledge, how participatory work can be evaluated, and what applied theatre might contribute to some of the most pressing social challenges of our time.

Keynote speakers and University of Derby MA Applied Theatre & Education students will share their research and practice with a live audience at Derby Theatre. The symposium will also be livestreamed, enabling audiences to participate online.

Join us to explore how applied theatre can open up conversations, make space for different perspectives and help us imagine new ways of connecting across difference.