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Dr Michael Pinchbeck

24 January 2020

Writer, director and theatre maker Dr Michael Pinchbeck joins Manchester Metropolitan

Pinchbeck takes on new role at Manchester School of Theatre

Dr Michael Pinchbeck, writer, director and theatre maker has been appointed as Reader in Theatre, a new role for the Manchester School of Theatre at Manchester Metropolitan University. 

Nottingham-based Pinchbeck co-founded theatre company Metro-Boulot-Dodo in 1997, and has since written several plays for the Nottingham Playhouse which toured internationally. 

His role will sit alongside the Department of Art and Performance, contributing to the creative ecology of the Manchester School of Art. Pinchbeck will help to deliver new collaborations between academic and practice-led fields of enquiry for the 21st century as well as engaging in Practice as Research, leading initiatives and teaching. 

Pinchbeck’s productions at Nottingham Playhouse include The White Album (2006), The Ashes (2011) and Bolero (2014), which subsequently toured to Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo, supported by the Arts Council England and the British Council. 

His work has been selected for the British Council’s Edinburgh Showcase four times. In 2018, he was commissioned by New Perspectives to write and direct a new performance inspired by John Berger and Jean Mohr's 1967 book, A Fortunate Man, which toured to the Edinburgh Fringe, Singapore Fringe and Theaterszene Europa, Cologne. He is now working on a sequel, A Seventh Man, supported by Arts Council England.  

Pinchbeck said: “It's great to start work at Manchester Metropolitan University at this exciting time and join the Manchester School of Theatre before moving into the new Arts and Humanities building. 

“I look forward to contributing to the growing undergraduate and postgraduate portfolio and engaging in an industry-leading profile of innovative practice and research. I'm excited to explore potential for interdisciplinary collaboration across the School of Art. I make work for theatres, galleries, benches, cars and sheds and always interested in finding new contexts.” 

Tim Brennan, Head of the Department of Art said: “Dr Michael Pinchbeck is a UK leading practitioner in the field of contemporary performance. He is a very experienced academic and is going to be a great asset not only for the Department of Art & Performance, but for the Faculty and University. Michael’s ability to work across fields will undoubtedly contribute to Arts and Humanities’ commitment to cultural collaboration and co-operation.” 

Pinchbeck has a Masters in Performance & Live Art from Nottingham Trent University and a PhD from Loughborough University exploring the role of the dramaturg in contemporary performance. He has written for Contemporary Theatre Review, Dance Theatre Journal, Repertorio, Studies in Theatre and Performance and Performance Research. His work has featured in Podium, DIY: Do It Yourself and Routledge's Twenty First Century Performance Reader

I look forward to contributing to the growing undergraduate and postgraduate portfolio and engaging in an industry-leading profile of innovative practice and research.

He recently co-edited Staging Loss: Performance as Commemoration for Palgrave Macmillan and The Trilogy: Acts of Dramaturgy for Intellect's Playtext Series and is currently working on a forthcoming Intellect Playtext publication, The Ravel Trilogy: Following the Score. He is an External Examiner at Leeds Beckett University and Sheffield Hallam University and a Trustee at Derby Theatre.