Evolution

The 3rd UTAD Conference was held on 4–6 September 2025 in Isparta, in collaboration with the Department of English Language and Literature and the Department of Performing Arts at Süleyman Demirel University. Its theme, “Evolution”, opened up for discussion how theatrical forms, approaches to acting, texts and theories have changed over time, and how theatre responds to shifting social, technological and cultural conditions.

Keynote lectures were given by Prof. Dr. Frieda Ekotto of the University of Michigan (“Shakespeare in African Dress: Negotiating a New Black Identity”) and Prof. Dr. Siân Adiseshiah of Loughborough University.

The programme included workshops on “Bodily Narratives”, a physical approach to actor training drawing on Laban, Chekhov, Lecoq and Grotowski; an improvised forest experience through multisensory stimulation; and reading a play through its dramatic space. It also featured “Listening to Sappho”, a solo performance in which Pınar Yüksel brought folk songs collected across Anatolia together with the poetry of Sappho.

The Book of Proceedings has been published and is available on the conference website.