RESEARCH

Informed by her extensive experience of costume and performance, Lorraine uses practice as research to explore the impact of costume on live performance, costume as somatic tool, risky costume, performance pedagogy, identity and 'otherness'.

Lorraine's other research interests include the effects of directorial presence on the devising process, the embodiment of character in [interactive] performance (i.e. audience - performer relationships) and the balance between the live body, costume, music and lighting when creating immersive experiences for both performer and audience.

Online research repository: PURE - Teesside University

Research affiliations/Memberships

Member of the Centre of Culture and Creativity, Teesside University

Publications

Smith, L. (2022), ‘Costumographic Synergy: devising the costume performance’, Studies in Costume & Performance, 7:1, pp. 85-108, https://doi.org/10.1386/scp_00062_1

Smith, L. (2021), ‘The Risks of Wearing Mr Punch & Other Costumed Performances’, Performing Ethos: International Journal of Ethics in Theatre & Performance, 11, pp. 23–37, https://doi.org/10.1386/peet_00035_1

Smith, L. (2020), ‘Costume as a somatic tool in dance education: A provocation’, Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, 12:2, pp. 255–265, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/jdsp_00027_1

Smith, L. (2019), 'Unleashing Mr Punch', a Dance Mag, Furor issue 2, pp.28-31.

Smith, L. (2018), ‘The costumographer: Revolutions in performance pedagogy’, Studies in Costume & Performance, 3:2, pp. 179–196, doi: 10.1386/ scp.3.2.179_1

Accepted/in press:

2022: 'Beyond Practice & Back Again', chapter in edited collection Beyond Borders? Articulations, provocations and performativities in Arts & Humanities, Birmingham City University. Publisher: Routledge - due 2025.

Selection of conference Papers/Presentations

The Invisible Work of the Costume Performer, 16th NOFOD Conference: The Dancer and the Dance: practices, education, communities, traditions, and histories, Kristiania University College, Department of Performing Arts (Oslo), 23-26/04/2024.

You Can Take Me Home Toni: exploring memory, meaning and metaphor through costume performance, Critical Costume 2022 Conference (Online), 17-20/11/2022.

Costumographic Synergy: devising the costume performance, 15th NOFOD Conference: Moving, relating, commanding. Choreographies for bodies, identities and ecologies, The Danish National School of Performing Arts (Copenhagen), 5-8/07/2022.

Who is choreographing the costume performance? A discussion on shared agency (video presentation), Costume Agency: Critical Costume 2020 (online), Oslo National Academy of the Arts, 21-23/08/20 - video archive available free until 31/12/2021.

The Material Directs: a reflection on the visual costume research project ‘SESSIONS’ (video flash talk), Costume Agency: Critical Costume 2020 (online), Oslo National Academy of the Arts, 21-23/08/20 - video archive available free until 31/12/2021.

Identity exploration and the building of empathy and self-acceptance through Costume, Embodied Learning: Moving Creativity and Agency, Bath Spa University, 19/10/2019.

The Risks of Wearing Mr Punch & Other Costumed Performances, Critical Costume 2018: Costume Ethics, University of Surrey,12-14/09/2018.

The Costumographer: A tool for embodied practice, Embodied Practice and Performance in the Arts, Canterbury Christ Church University, 5-6/04/2018.

Elizabeth and The Three Sisters (Video & Photography), Cabinets of Costume Exhibition (Parkside Gallery), Culture Costume & Dress Conference, Faculty of Arts, Design and Media, Birmingham City University, 10-12/05/2017.

The Impact of Costume on the Performing Body, Costume and Fashion in Context and Practice symposium 2016, the University of Huddersfield, 5-6/12/2016.

Images taken from the rehearsals for the Costume with Textiles Degree Show 2015, Huddersfield University.