Tiny Human Dramas

About Tiny Human Dramas

What story would you tell if you only had a day?

Manchester University have teamed up five anthropologists with performers and theatre-makers to turn anthropological research into exciting new plays. The catch? Each team has only 24 hours to create their play from scratch! With all their creativity combined, the possibilities for storytelling onstage are endless. Come out and witness five tiny human dramas… and maybe add yours to the mix!

Running time: 8.00pm - 9:30pm with no interval.

About

Tiny Human Dramas

Dr Meghan Rose Donnelly with Dr Alexandra D’Onofrio and Laura Sophie Helbig.

Tiny Human Dramas brings together anthropologists and theatre makers to co-create short plays based on cutting-edge research. Anthropologists spend a long time – often upwards of a year – researching a topic in the field to help us understand what it is to be human, in all our diversity. Through the magic of theatre, we have the chance to encounter their research, and to imagine new ways to understand each other and live together.

The show features five short plays based on 5 anthropologists’ research, devised collectively over the course of 24 hours. The performance will be followed by an open discussion with the audience about the things we can learn by bringing together research and theatre.

Last year’s show at Contact Theatre was a huge success, reaching a sold-out audience, inviting artists to participate in anthropological research, introducing anthropology to new audiences, and opening possibilities for innovative research and representation.

This year’s show is inspired by research on:

Denuclearisation across Europe (Dr Petra Tjitske Kalshoven and Dr Sarah O’Brien)

Dreams of reincarnation in Druze communities (Dr Maria Kastrinou)

Entrepreneurial overload in India and the UK (Dr Rich Thornton)

Stateless Vietnamese children in Cambodia (Dr Charlie Rumsby),and

Memories of hospice in London (Dr Gaudenz Metzger)

We invite you to join us and engage directly with anthropological research. Come witness these incredible stories and experience with us what it means to be human.