People
The In Place of War Network is directed by Jenny Hughes and James Thompson.
James Thompson is the Project Director of In Place of War and a Professor of Applied and Social Theatre in the Department of Drama at the University of Manchester. In Place of War came out of his work in Sri Lanka, where in 2000 he was invited by UNICEF to run training courses for practitioners working with young people affected by conflict. During these sessions, James was impressed by the extensive use of theatre in response to the 20 year long civil war, which in turn, led to many of the research questions addressed by In Place of War. James has continued work with close colleagues in Sri Lanka, and through In Place of War, has continued to explore his interest in the relationship between performance and war.
James specialises in performance in conflict and disaster zones, theatre with offenders, theatre and development and Sri Lankan theatre. He has documented theatre practice in Sri Lanka, Democratic Republic of Congo, Banda Aceh and the UK.
Michael Balfour is the co-director of In Place of War and a Professor of Applied and Social Theatre at the School of VATE at Griffith University, Australia. Michael has experience running community drama projects in Northern and Southern Ireland, and this has developed his interest in the relationship between performance and conflict. In response, Michael's research focuses on the affect of war on artists and the use of arts during times of extreme social and political crisis. He has also investigated the use of theatre during the Second World War, with particular focus on Fascist propaganda and Russian re-education programmes.
Michael has documented theatre practice in Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Australia.
Jenny Hughes is a Lecturer in Applied Theatre in the Department of Drama at the University of Manchester. Through her work at the Centre for Applied Theatre Research (of which she is a co-director), she has extensive experience developing, researching and evaluating theatre projects in a number of settings (prisons, refugee communities, schools, community centres, etc). Jenny was In Place of War's Research Associate for the first three years of the project and was responsible for 'mapping' performance practice in places affected by conflict and by displaced communities in the UK.
Jenny specialises in theatre in places of conflict, participatory theatre with young people, applied theatre evaluation and research, theatre and political protest and theatre in the Middle East. She has documented theatre practice in Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestinian Territories, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sri Lanka, Britain and Sudan.
