Dr Oliver Bray
Dean of School Leeds Beckett
- Leeds
Oliver’s current research interests stem from his professional practice in contemporary performance and live art.
Media
Social
Biography
Oliver holds an undergraduate degree, awarded first-class, in Theatre Studies (University of Hull), an MA, awarded with distinction, in Contemporary Art (Manchester Metropolitan University), and a practice-led PhD in the poetics of constraint in performance (University of Leeds). He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Oliver’s well-respected performance and live art practice has toured nationally and internationally to venues and festivals including the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Romania; In between Time, Bristol; and the National Review of Live Art, Glasgow. Oliver is a Board Director for the Centre for Live Art Yorkshire and an Editorial Board member for the Voice and Speech Review, published by Routledge.
Industry Expertise
Areas of Expertise
Education
Manchester Metropolitan University
MA
Contemporary Art
University of Hull
BA
Theatre Studies
Affiliations
- Centre for Live Art Yorkshire : Board Director
- Voice and Speech Review : Editorial Board Member
Links
Languages
- English
Media Appearances
Leeds Beckett to launch new Leeds School of Arts building
Bdaily online
2023-03-08
Dr Oliver Bray, dean of Leeds School of Arts, said: “Leeds School of Arts is a key educator of artists and creatives who go on to enrich and transform all sectors of arts and culture with their limitless ambition and innovation. Our talented students are actively making a difference across art, design, fashion, music, theatre, film, architecture, and creative technologies.
Leeds DJ Tom Zanetti to present on new city radio station LDC Radio
Yorkshire Evening Post online
2020-06-18
Dr Oliver Bray, Director of Arts in the Leeds School of Arts, said: “The Leeds School of Arts is delighted to welcome LDC to our university. The station is a critical part of the cultural landscape of the region and will be broadcasting to a rich and diverse demographic.
Event Appearances
Literary and Theatrical Constraint
(2016) Perec's Geographies / Perecquian Geographies University of Sheffield
Articles
Playing with Constraint: Performing the OuLiPo and the clinamen-performer
Performance Research: A Journal of the Performing Arts2016
Approaching a rare example of constraining literature written for performance, this article introduces the ‘clinamen-performer’, a term used to describe the unpredictable and playful behaviours of the performer under constraint. The OuLiPo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle) (Workshop for Potential Literature) have been using imposed structural constraints to generate new writing since the 1960s. Following an introduction to the group, this article reflects on the performance of Oulipian Georges Perec’s radio play The Machine by contemporary theatre company Third Angel. The Machine reads as a ‘how to’ of oulipian constraint, and while rule-based structures are well known within contemporary theatre, the specifically analytical and granular devices within this particular radio play present a rare opportunity to understand the effects of constraint on the live performer.
