Charlie Brooker's Dead Set, starring Raj Ghatak
Graduates from our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes go on to a wider variety of careers. The Drama degree provides our graduates with rigorous analytical, research, and communication skills which are vital in a range of fields. Some of our graduates progress to work in the theatre and cultural industries, whether as arts administrators, actors, directors, creative producers, applied arts practitioners, or educators. Others go on to careers in the business, education, or media sectors. Recent alumni include:
Raj Ghatak (BA English and Drama) is a stage and screen actor. Raj's film and TV credits include appearances in Starter for 10, Charlie Brooker's Dead Set, and BBC's Doctors. On stage he has appeared in Bombay Dreams (playing Sweetie) and West Side Story (playing Chino).
Dr Louise Owen (PhD Drama) is Lecturer in Theatre and Performance at Birkbeck, University of London. She completed her PhD project, 'Performing "Risk": Neoliberalization and Contemporary Performance', at Queen Mary under the supervision of Nicholas Ridout and Paul Heritage.
Louise Rhind-Tutt (BA English and Drama) is an award-winning freelance publicist. Louise specialises in traditional and digital PR campaigns for the book and publishing industries, and her clients include Random House International, Pan Macmillan, and National Geographic Books.
Joyti Gurjot Sindhar (BA Drama) presents her own TV show showcasing current affairs and taboo subjects within the Asian society mingled with British views. The show is called Rendezvous and on every Tuesday at 9pm on Brit Asia (Sky Channel 833) and is repeated every day for a week before the new show comes out. Follow her on twitter @gurjotsindhar. She says "Thanks to QM faculty for helping me gain the confidence to follow my dreams!"
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Figs in Wigs is a theatre company founded by a group of Queen Mary's Drama graduates. They have performed in The Roundhouse, The ICA, and The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, amongst other venues. Their show, We Object, has recently completed a successful run at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival.
Sh!t Theatre - founded by two Drama grads, Louise Mothersole and Rebecca (Fuller) Biscuit - is a multi-award winning theatre company. Their 2013 Edinburgh show, JSA (Job Seekers Anonymous) 2013, won the Total Theatre Award for the Best Emerging Company and an Arches Brick Award.
Jean-Luc Godard's King Lear, co-scripted by Peter Sellars
Several key critical thinkers and practitioners have been made honorary fellows of the university. These include:
Professor Patrice André Gilbert Pavis, Professor of Theatre Studies, Paris VIII University; Professor for Theatre Studies, University of Kent, was made an honorary fellow in 2005. Professor Pavis has written extensively about performance, and his books include Theatre at the Crossroads of Culture, Languages of the Stage: Essays in the Semiology of Theatre, and Contemporary Mise en Scène: Staging Theatre Today.
Harold Pinter CH CBE (1930-2008) was an acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, director, actor and also Associate Director of the National Theatre from 1973-1983. His most notable plays include The Birthday Party (1957), The Homecoming (1964), and Betrayal (1978). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.Harold Pinter was made an honorary fellow of the university in 1986. The Harold Pinter Drama Studio is named in his honour, and in 2005 its renovation was marked by a public reading from Pinter and an interview with him.
Peter Sellars, opera and theatre director, and Professor of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA, was made an honorary fellow by the university in 2007. Sellars is known for his striking modern reworkings of classical operas, including Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, and The Marriage of Figaro. He also directed the silent colour film, The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez, and co-scripted Jean-Luc Godard's film of Shakespeare's King Lear.
