51

Skip navigation

Dr Cormac Power

Assistant Professor

School: Design Arts and Creative Industries

ADSS Cormac Power Facultystaff 255He has, since then, been an active academic researcher and has held various roles in the department, including Programme Director and Programme Leader. He teaches across all three undergraduate Performing Arts programmes, including into the modules Reading Performance, Analysing Performance, Approaches to Performance and Performance Research, among others.

I have a wide range of research interests within the areas of performance studies and performance theory. I have published on areas such as performance and presence, performance and philosophy, performance and failure, performance and theology. The topics I have written about are quite broad, from Christian ecological saints to the contemporary British playwright debbie tucker green. My overarching aim is to explore how different forms of performance expand our awareness of the world in different ways, inviting us to reflect upon existential and spiritual questions.

To date I have completed two monograohs on Theatre and Performance:

Presence in Play: A Critique of Theories of Presence in the Theatre (Rodopi 2008),

Stoicism and Performance: A Joyful Materialism (Brill 2019).

I am currently in the early stages of working on a third monograph whose provisional title is Performance and Faith: A feeling for the Ordinary (Palgrave expected 2028).

My most recent publication is an article that explores representations of the Catholic mass in two sharply contrasting examples:

Power, C. (2023). ‘Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood’ Real presence and personhood in Midnight Mass and Lips of Thomas. Performance Research, 28(1), 55-61.

Later this year, the following article will be published in the journal Performance, Religion and Spirituality: “Contemplation in Action: The Meditation as performance.” This article argues that Marcus Aurelius’ text the Meditations can be read as a kind of philosophical performance manual.

  • Teaching & Learning PCAPL October 05 2006
  • Drama PhD June 30 2006
  • Fellow (FHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2004


Latest News and Features

High up drone footage of Antarctic Mountains
Book cover, Public Involvement and Community Engagement in Applied Health and Social Care Research: Critical Perspectives and Innovative Practice
Newcastle quayside cityscape at dusk
Lukas and Heather making a speech at the IntoUniversity Gateshead centre launch
Chancellor George Clarke
At home finger pricking kit
More news
More events

Upcoming events

51 Carol Service 2025
Collaborating for Capability: Shaping the Future of Supply Chain Talent

Back to top