Professor Peter Snow
BSc (Auckland), BA MA (Oxford), PhD (Sydney)
Biography
After studying Medicine for three years, I went to Oxford and completed another undergraduate degree, this time in Philosophy and Psychology. I then returned to Medical School, at Oxford, and completed most of fourth year. After abandoning my medical studies I turned to the theatre. I have since worked as a director, writer, theatre-maker and performer, and have helped to create over sixty professional productions in Europe, Asia and Australia.
In 1991 I went to Sydney University and wrote my PhD in the Centre for Performance Studies. Since 1995 I have been at Monash as a theatre and performance academic, and I have also continued my work as a professional theatre artist. My performance research has issued in many new works and directed performances. A recent project, Guilt Frame, created and performed by Tess de Quincey and Peter Snow, was presented at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2008.
I have written research articles on methodologies of making performance, embodiment, contemporary artistic practice, philosophy of performance, and artist-audience relations. I currently supervise twelve PhD and MA research projects. At Monash I have been Director of Theatre and Performance (2004-5) and Head of the School of English, Communications and Performance Studies (2006-9).
Research interests
Making Performance
I am interested in the detailed processes by which directors, theatre-makers, writers, performers and actors create performances. In my view, such micro-processes are available only to participating artists. Current performance projects include Three by Five and After Faust.
Philosophy of Performance
Concepts derived from other disciplines, such as Philosophy, have been highly influential on Performance Studies. I am interested in theories of performance which mobilise these concepts in order to analyse performance and performances. My current project is writing a contemporary poetics of performance.
Contemporary Performance
I am interested in the performance making strategies and performance aesthetic of a wide range of contemporary artists, companies and performances. Topics of interest include embodiment, improvisation, creativity, and the ethics of performing relations.
Selected publications
- Snow, P. and De Quincey, T. (2008) created and performed in Guilt Frame. Sydney Theatre Company.
- Snow, P (2007) Yahweh, in Leavesley, C. and Rolfe, P written and directed, OT: Chronicles of the Old Testament. Season, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne.
- Snow, P. (2006) ‘Performing All Over the Place’ in McAuley, G edited Unstable Ground: Performance and the Politics of Place. Brussels, Peter Lang.
- Snow, P., O’Connell, B., and Ikkola, H. (2002 and 2004) written and directed, The Midas Touch (adapted from Ovid’s Metamorphoses). Scheune-Sommer-Schaubuden Festival in Dresden, Far North Queensland and the Torres Strait Islands.
- Snow, P. (2006) ‘Performing All Over the Place’ in Unstable Ground: Performance and the Politics of Place, ed. Gay McAuley, (Brussels: Peter Lang).
- Snow, P. and van de Ven, F. (2002) created and performed, Thought/ Action: Suites 1-5. Suite 1: Superchannel, Copenhagen. Suite 2: Centre for European Dance Development, Amsterdam. Suite 3: UvA Akadamietheater, Amsterdam. Suite 4: Pianofabriek, Brussels. Suite 5: Filmplateau, Gent.
Competitive grants
- Theatre Performs Culture (1999-2002), Australian Research Council Grant in conjunction with Playbox and Theatreworks, Melbourne.
Many performance projects I have worked on have received competitive grants from funding bodies such as the Australia Council, the NSW Premier’s Dept, and the Queensland Council for the Arts.