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Research
Subject
Ecological Playwriting in the Theatre Industry
First and second supervisors
Abstract
In traditional theatre performance contexts, the sets designed are bespoke, conglomerate materials, which are not easily recycled or reused. Therefore, they pose a creative opportunity for reimagining the role of waste and using waste to question the assumptions of conventional performance production.
Hamish's research discusses this through playwriting practice experiments, which challenge the conventions of scenography, dramaturgy and theatrical narrative. He considers the theatre industry in London, contemporary practices and relevant historical works, as a means to explore radical and creative ecological theatre.
Biography
Hamish Muir is a multi-disciplinary researcher. He studied Civil Engineering at Imperial College, London and looked at the waste management of theatre set designs, which his PhD builds upon. He also studied the History of Art with Christie’s Education, associated with the University of Glasgow. There, he studied the set designs of Philip James de Loutherbourg (1740-1812), who employed new design techniques on the London stage and raised the profile of the designer as a theatre artist.
Hamish has worked in the commercial and public art industry in London and Edinburgh. He is also a self-taught artist and creative writer, producing illustration, painting, set designs, plays, and short fiction. In 2017, he founded Arctic Lion, an arts lab that produces creative work, including short films and articles, around the intersection between art and the environment.
Image: The Overgrown Stage by Hamish Muir (acrylic on paper, 2014) Copyright: Hamish Muir