Theatre and Television: Adaptation, Production, Performance
A call for papers for a one-day conference at the University of Westminster, Friday 20 February 2015

Proposals should be submitted by Monday 30 June 2014.

Proposals are invited for twenty-minute papers (or three-paper panels) addressing issues and topics related to theatre plays on British television from 1930 to the present. Strong proposals which engage with the history of theatre plays on the television networks of other countries and offer useful comparands with the British example will also be considered. In order to encourage a truly interdisciplinary discussion we warmly welcome proposals from scholars and postgraduate students engaged with adaptation studies, broadcasting and film histories, media and cultural studies, and the histories of theatre and performance. Possible topics for examination and exploration include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The forms and screen languages of British television presentations of theatre plays.
• The evolution of what may be regarded as the ‘normative’ style of studio drama, and the development of new forms within and beyond the studio.
• Discussions of the concept of ‘adaptation’ applied to television productions of theatre plays.
• Studies of particular genres, plays or playwrights across time.
• Drama on television within educational contexts, such as school or university strands.
• Audience and reception studiesof how viewers engaged with these productions.
• The changing social and cultural meanings of theatre on television and the ways in which these were regarded and exploited by broadcasters in particular historical circumstances.
• The institutional, production, technological and aesthetic contexts of television adaptations within both broadcasting and British theatre.
• The extensive commercial and cultural relationships between the theatre, individual companies and television.
• The movement of practitioners between the spheres of theatre and television.
• Comparative studies of theatre plays on radio and as produced for the British cinema.
• The post-1980s decline of theatre on British television and the recent revival of interest in its possibilities in the multi-platform age.

Proposals in the form of a 250-word abstract and brief biography (or 200-word panel outline, with accompanying individual abstracts and brief biographies), should be submitted to both John Wyver (john@illuminationsmedia.co.uk) and Dr Amanda Wrigley (a.wrigley@westminster.ac.uk) by Monday 30 June 2014.

This conference, the culminating event of the AHRC-funded research project Screen Plays: Theatre Plays on British Television, will be held at the University of Westminster on Friday 20 February 2015.

Fort further details, visit: http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/conference-2015/