Rikard Loman

I have been interested in a wide array of subjects and research fields in my theoretical and historical approaches to theatre end performance, as a researcher and as a teacher in the single subject course The Theory & Practice of Theatre, which is a unique collaboration with the Theatre Academy in Malmö. I have a strong interest in aesthetics and aesthetic communication (play- and performance analysis), but also in changing uses and perceptions of live art (immersive theatre, applied theatre, political and activist theatre), and in explorations of different ways of knowing through theatre (artistic research).

I have become increasingly interested in the sociological aspects of theatre, in what theatre tells us about ourselves and the societies we have created for ourselves, in the roles we play and the ways in which we stage our self-understanding in “cultural performances” of different kinds. It is my belief that theatre can help us decipher, articulate and understand the societies and communities outside the theatre, now and in the past.

So far, I have devoted myself primarily to teaching and developing our unique single subject course The Theory & Practice of Theatre with its unusual orientation towards theoretical and practical aspects of theatre and performance. We have in many ways managed to fill a gap in Sweden when it comes to appealing to and attracting a student group which is devoted to thinking about but also creating theatre. My most recent books – Drama- och föreställningsanalys (2016) and Historiska perspektiv på teater/Teaterperspektiv på historien (2019) – are also strongly slanted towards a pedagogical context.

At present I am preparing two studies. One is about theatre and nationalism, i.e. how the nation has been staged, how the past of the nation has been exploited in the attemps to forge or challenge communities in the present, and how nationalism has become that thing that appears again – the familiar in a world of ever increasing foreignness – in the uncertain era of globalization and digitalization. The other study is about provocative theatre and performance art and the intersection of aesthetics and ethics that helps articulate and negotiate and bring to the forefront the most pressing and pertinent (e.g. environmental, racial, xenophobic or homophobic) issues of our time.