Alicia Jane Turner

Profile

I’m a researcher and a composer, sound designer and performer working across contemporary theatre, live art and experimental music, approaching my practice through an intersectional feminist, queer lens.

My work in theatre and live art has toured across the UK and internationally, and I’ve performed at venues including the Southbank Centre, the Barbican, The Almeida, The Yard Theatre and Battersea Arts Centre. In my experimental music practice, I’ve been commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, National Sawdust (New York), the London Philharmonia Orchestra and Spitalfields Music. I was a Bang on a Can (New York) Composer Fellow in 2018, and a London Sinfonietta Writing The Future composer for 2020-2022.

Research

Research Interests:

• Sound Design and Composition
• Lighting Design and Visual Media
• The Senses in Performance
• Feminist Sound Studies
• Phenomenology and Performance

Recent and On-Going Research

My PhD research explores how sound and light operate as affective mediums in contemporary theatre and performance, and experimental music performance to create visceral, atmospheric and immersive experiences. My methodology is rooted in the actualities of practice; how these elements of performances are designed and created, how they perform/are performed live, and received as audience members. My focus on sensorial experiences is rooted in an intersectional feminist phenomenological approach, in which I argue that embodiment, lived experience and the different ways a person moves through the world are integral to expanding discourse on the affectivity of sound and light and sensorial experiences with performance.

Performance

• NYX: Electronic Drone Choir – premiered Dark Mofo, Tasmania – 2023
  we are all made of stars by Freddie Wulf – commissioned by Fierce Festival ­– 2022
• BODIES by Ray Young – commissioned by Southbank Centre, Unlimited – 2022
• “Tell me when you get home.” by Alicia Jane Turner – commissioned by London Sinfonietta, Southbank Centre – 2022
• CRY CRY KILL KILL by Louise Orwin and Co. – commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre and HOME, developed with The Barbican – 2022
• Pain and I by Sarah Hopfinger – commissioned by Take Me Somewhere – 2021
• Little Wimmin by Figs in Wigs – commissioned by The Pleasance and Battersea Arts Centre – 2021
• the night knows what you did by Alicia Jane Turner – commissioned by and premiered at National Sawdust (New York) – 2021
• a place to call home by Alicia Jane Turner – commissioned by Spitalfields Music – 2020
• Thirst Trap by Ray Young – commissioned by Fuel – 2020
• JENNY by RODENT and Alicia Jane Turner – commissioned by SPILL Festival – 2020
• Ur Favourite Scary Movie – commissioned by HOME – 2020
• Destruction/Disorder/Dirt/Pollution by Alicia Jane Turner – commissioned by Spitalfields Music – 2019
• Escape From Planet Trash dir. by Ginger Johnson – commissioned by The Pleasance – 2019
• by Alicia Jane Turner – commissioned by Bang on a Can (New York) – 2018
• How To Catch A Krampus dir. by Ginger Johnson – commissioned by The Pleasance – 2018
• OH YES OH NO by Louise Orwin – toured nationally, commissioned by Camden People’s Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre – 2017
• Kissing The Shotgun Goodnight by Christopher Brett Bailey – toured nationally, commissioned by Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Cambridge Junction, Ovalhouse and Theatr Iolo – 2016
• Breathe by Alicia Jane Turner – commissioned by SPILL Festival – 2016
• THIS IS HOW WE DIE by Christopher Brett Bailey – toured nationally and internationally, commissioned by Ovalhouse – 2014