Story

An interview with Sophia New, Course Leader for MA Performance: Politics and Social Justice

Sophia New from waist up facing the camera

Written byEuan McLaren
Published date 23 November 2022

Sophia New has recently been appointed as the Course Leader for MA Performance: Politics and Social Justice at Wimbledon College of Arts, UAL.

Born in south London, Sophia created her first solo performance in 1998 after receiving a Masters in Feminist Performance from Bristol University. She went on to complete a PhD in Exeter University, titled ‘Transforming personal daily GPS data through performances: movement, memory and time’’.

Sophia has worked in the UK and Germany, and has an extensive repertoire in education, performing, video-making and writing. She has a particular interest in experimental theatre and exploring collaborative ways of working, and co-founded plan b with Daniel Belasco Rogers. Since 2002, they have made over 25 projects for festivals and galleries in a number of cities across Europe.

Sophia tells us about her role as an educator, Wimbledon’s MA Performance: Politics and Social Justice course and the link between performance and activism.

Please tell us a bit about your background and entry into theatre and performance.

In my late teens, I volunteered at Battersea Arts Centre, which really helped me see as much theatre and performance as possible.

I have a very broad interest in performance, with a non-traditional attitude to what it encompasses. My first degree was in philosophy and literature with German at Sussex University. During that degree, I looked for opportunities to make theatre, be in films and steer things towards my interests. When I saw 2 words on the noticeboard in the library at Sussex University: feminist performance, I realised: “That’s what I'm missing”. We studied philosophy and yet I hadn’t looked at one piece of work made by women. So, I went on to study a Masters in Feminist Performance at Bristol University Drama Department.

From my MA, I very quickly went into teaching at Cheltenham, which is now Gloucester University. I didn’t have enough time to digest what I'd done, after going straight from finishing an MA to teaching on a BA, so I decided I needed to go and work as a freelance practitioner, which I did for many years.

I worked with an experimental theatre company called Reckless Sleepers, who still exist today. Later, with one of the co-directors of that company, I formed plan b, as we became increasingly interested in how you could do things differently.

Sophia New sitting in the theatre leaning forward with hands clasped — **Sophia New sitting in the theatre at Wimbledon**
, Wimbledon College of Arts, UAL | Photograph: Hayley Jay Garrett

Did you always intend to become an educator, or did you want to be a performer, primarily?

I think I still want to do a bit of both. One of the nice things about Wimbledon is that there are a lot of people who are similar: they're professionals within their field and they’re educators.

I actually got back into teaching after someone saw the work I was doing with plan b and said, “We have a course on metropolitan cultures, and we’re very interested in the work that you're doing around urbanism: would you come and do some performance work with our students?”

After that, we were invited to other universities as artist makers. So, I have been involved as an educator very intensively for the last 10 years as well as making work as a freelancer. They work well together. You have to keep your feet on the ground to really understand the independent scene, what's happening outside, what that means for students when they graduate, what opportunities there are and how you can share your networks, knowledge and experiences as a maker with people who are going into that field.

Can you tell us what students might expect from MA Performance: Politics and Social Justice?

The first unit is called Critical and Creative Methods, and we invite a range of industry professionals to come in to teach. We’ve had people who specialise in dance, dramaturgy, critical theory, performance, PhD students have shared their research with us and recently, students participated in a writing workshop with artist Tim Etchells.

Our second unit focuses more directly on performance practice and exploring how we can connect performance to matters of social justice.

Our third unit is collaborative, and we work with MA Theatre and Performance Design students to explore subjects that have cross-disciplinary relevance. The challenge is in exploring how designers work with people who are primarily interested in the making of performance and how performers work with individuals who have more of an idea about the spatial design and the setting.

Our final unit is called Performance Research and it represents the coming together of the knowledge gained in previous units.

The real privilege for me is following someone's trajectory from the beginning to the end. In the freelance world, it's quite common that you'll only get funded for a six-week chunk, so you don’t necessarily get to see that growth. To have this expanded sense of time to work on your research idea and go into deeper depths is so valuable. And to see that throughout these 4 units is a great privilege within the kind of facilities that we have at Wimbledon.

Do you think the interdisciplinary nature of the Colleges at UAL means theatre students have more opportunity for collaboration?

Yes, I do. I mentioned the work we do in unit 3 with MA Theatre and Performance Design students as one example, but there are many more. This year, I've started the process of introducing the students to as much of our facilities as possible. I want to make sure the students know what we have here so they can decide which direction they would like to take. If students need something really specific, our technicians are always here to help.

I’ve found that it’s a very different atmosphere to be around people that are physically making things; be that costume, thinking about space or having a theatre that people can try ideas out in. There's a lot of potential in finding ways in which we can exchange knowledge and find points of synergy and interest. I really like that this allows cross-fertilisation.

Of course, there's a bit of a learning curve with certain areas like technology. It’s not written into the MA Performance: Politics and Social Justice course that you have to use technology, but it makes sense to take advantage of what's here. We have a fantastic 3D lab, state of the art studios, green screen facilities, light and sound technology – the list goes on. The potential to have collaborations with other people that have expertise in different fields and to develop your interest in new areas is all here.

Sophia New standing in theatre space in green jacket — **Sophia in the theatre performance space at Wimbledon**
, Wimbledon College of Arts, UAL | Photograph: Hayley Jay Garrett

Can students who are coming to study the MA Performance: Politics and Social Justice course expect their perspective, politically, to be developed or challenged?

I really, really hope so. Especially thinking about the people we’re inviting to come in as guest lecturers this semester, specifically looking at decolonial perspectives, for example. People coming to study MA Performance: Politics and Social Justice who have a very different background get exposure to all the skills and talent present at Wimbledon. You might be a theatre maker who didn't necessarily seek out to know more about politics and social justice, but end up becoming very, very curious about it, looking at the wider scope of what we're doing and how can it speak to things like activism.

Do you think theatre is innately political?

Personally, yes. I really believe the personal is political and that is still entirely relevant. For me, that's a way to connect to audiences. People think that if you're incredibly personal somehow it won't then be relevant to other people. But actually, it can be an access point. I'm not saying that we should make theatre into therapy in any way, but I think that finding the political and social context of how we make performance is vital.

You mentioned activism – how does this link with performance?

I think there is a lot of work between art and activism. A lot of people have realised that creatives are able to offer something directly, even in points of extreme crisis. I don't buy the line that people sometimes take when we're in extreme crisis like war or economics or the climate catastrophe – that art has nothing to say to those times. In fact, I think historically it's been proven that interesting art is always made in and through those times. Looking at the crises in Ukraine and Syria – even if you don't necessarily share the same language, there's points where you can find ways to work together and communicate through movement, visual work and other ways of being. There is an inherent politics in the work of gathering.

What are some paths graduates might take after completing the MA Performance: Politics and Social Justice course?

I can imagine a really broad palette. Some people might want to directly become performers and form companies, some graduates will have a background in theatre design so may want to go further into this and some may want to use their skillset as an educator. We have people who are coming from dance as well, so those students tend to be more into movement and may already have some experience working with movement therapy. There are also students who may want to go into writing or research. For people that want to go even deeper into the research processes, we're really hoping to build a PhD program here. In general, for everybody working in this field it’s good to have many strings to your bow.

Find out more about MA Performance: Politics and Social Justice