ABOUT
Dr Mary Steadman
Artistic Director
2025 - PhD in Drama and Performance, Bath Spa University. Thesis 'Embodying the Eerie: an investigation of the Eerie as a Dramaturgical concept in processes of Directing Devised performance.' HERE.
2023 - Founded Dust Ensemble to reflect a shift in focus, aligning with my practice and research.
2014-2022 - Artistic director of Red Room Productions, directing productions: Red Room, Kusse, Borderland, The Strange Geometry of Time, Dwelling, This Is The Land.
2007-2013 - Co-Founder and joint Artistic Director of the Famous & Divine theatre company.
THE 'DUST ENSEMBLE'
Rooted in research, my practice investigates Eerie Dramaturgies, and themes of Hauntology in performance. The eerie is a feeling that arises from a fascination for the strange and mysterious, holding a tension between the mundane and otherworldly. We create landscapes onstage that are grounded in the everyday: a Derelict Mansion, a Rural Landscape, a Downtrodden Town, and a Domestic Garage, which transform into eerie landscapes. Through a playful ritual of summoning and conjuring, we take our audiences on a journey through the mundane into landscapes of otherness and otherwise, where things are not what they seem. - and safely get them out at the end!
We delight in imagining beyond the known, to enter into mysterious realms as a resistance to hegemony and its flattening effects.
In the words of Nick Cave -
“We, humans, are made up of a rational, mechanistic side, but we also possess a spiritual side, a dimension that leans towards the numinous, the mysterious, and the poetic. Sadly, the world we live in has largely abandoned the mystical and sacred, treating them as unserious and unnecessary impediments to human progress. We now dwell in an essentially materialistic age, and weird experiences that disturb this rational world are often met with scepticism and derision. Unloved, this aspect of our nature can wither and die". Nick Cave, The Red Hand Files #345.
The emergent creative process uses improvisational methods and a strong emphasis on visual dramaturgy to develop highly visual and visceral performances. Our performance approach is lively and playful, addressing universal themes about what and how to live in an uncertain world.
TRAINING
I trained at Dartington College of Arts, where I studied BA Theatre (Hons), with a specialism in Movement, Release Technique and Improvisation with Mary Fulkerson and Miranda Tufnell. Contact Improvisation with Steve Paxton and Julyen Hamilton.
In 1992, I joined Spiral Theatre, where I trained in the approaches of Jerzy Grotowski with Nitin Chandra-Ginatra. This became the basis of my Practice as Research MPhil (Drama) at the University of Kent; my thesis was entitled The Body as Source ©
I completed a PhD in drama and performance at Bath Spa University in 2025. This practice-led research is entitled Embodying the Eerie: An investigation of the Eerie as a dramaturgical concept in processes of directing devised performance ©.
TEACHING
I taught as a Senior Lecturer in Acting at Bath Spa University, my specialisms include devising, embodied movement practices, collaborative and ensemble performance practice (2007-2022). My teaching is informed by research and the notion of embodied imagination, as it is central to creative processes. I previously taught at Northampton University, University of Bedfordshire, De Montfort University (Bedford), and as a guest lecturer at Goldsmiths University, London.
From 2022-24, I was an Associate Lecturer in Performing Arts at Buckinghamshire New University.
I have currently been freelancing and teaching on the BA and MA Dance programme at Bath Spa University.
QUALIFICATIONS
PhD - Drama and Performance Practice led Research -Bath Spa University - (2025)
MPhil - Drama Practice-based Research - University of Kent (2007)
PGCE Drama - Goldsmiths University of London (1995)
BA (Hons) Theatre - Dartington College of Arts (1985)