Skip to main content
School of the Arts

TaPRA 2026

Queen Mary University of London, 2–4 September 2026

TaPRA 2026
  1. School of the Arts
  2. Research
  3. Department Research
  4. Drama
  5. Drama Research Areas
  6. TaPRA 2026 Conference
  7. Performance Programme

Performance Programme

TaPRA 2026 will feature two evenings of performances, produced as part of the first edition of Backyard Biennial, hosted by Whitechapel Gallery.

Backyard Biennial is an 8-week, free, summer arts festival initiated by Whitechapel Gallery in collaboration with more than 40 local partners across East London. Titled East and featuring exhibitions, installations, screenings, performances, workshops, residencies, walks, open studios and special events, this first iteration of Backyard Biennial will celebrate the unique historic, cultural and creative identity of the East End, and pay tribute to its many diverse communities and industries.

As part of Backyard Biennial, TaPRA 2026 will present two performance events that are free to conference delegates.

Tickets for both performance events have now sold out. You can contact the producers for each event at the links below to ask about being put on a waitlist. On the day of the performance, a limited number of tickets may also become available at the door. 

How to Build a Body

IMG_5437Date: 1 September

Time: 6:30PM–8:00PM

Location: Whitechapel Gallery

A performance-lecture opening the conference from Broderick Chow featuring Ayos Kerung and Benjamin Weil about muscles and men, exploring building a body as a site to work through disappearing certainties about work, gender, and the roles we think we’re meant to play.

Full details and booking information are available on the Whitechapel Gallery website. 

Acts of Cultural Resistance

Date: 2 September

Time: 6:00PM–9:00PM

Location: Queen Mary University of London

Join us for an evening of playful experiment and serious engagement revealing how artists explore the world through acts of cultural resistance.

Artists include: Mojisola Adebayo, Julia Bardsley, Ansuman Biswas, Tallulah Frendo, Samra Mayanja, Martin O’Brien, Daniel Oliver with Eirini Kartsaki, Florence Peake + Eve Stainton, Lois Weaver and Aaron Williamson. 

Curated by Orlagh Woods.

Spread across various spaces simultaneously in the ArtsOne Building, this evening of performances (some duratiional) by artists of multiple generations invites audiences to move through the space to experience live actions as resistant interventions against the new and the old normal. Expect human bodies and voices in joyful, curious and intimate opposition to the ways they are supposed to be. Some performances may include nudity.

Full details and booking information are now available. 

Back to top