Richard Beacham
Professor Richard Beacham, a native of Virginia, did his BA in History and Classics at Yale College (class of 1968). He subsequently earned his DFA in a 4 year taught course at the Yale School of Drama, focussed upon dramatic literature, theatre history, criticism and dramaturgy. and he was privileged to work for 3 years as the personal research assistant of Dr. Alois Nagler, the founder and “godfather” of theatre historical studies as an academic discipline (Theaterwissenschaft) in North America.
In 1976 he was appointed lecturer at the University of Warwick, where he helped to found and shape its School of Theatre Studies, and worked as lecturer, senior lecturer, reader and professor for some 30 years. He has also taught as a visiting professor at Yale and the University of California, Santa Barbara and worked as a Resident Scholar at the J. Paul Getty Museum in California. While there he oversaw productions at the Getty Villa, Malibu of ancient comedy including his own translation of Plautus' Casina professionally presented upon a replica temporary stage based upon his research.
Professor Beacham has been intensely involved in theatre practice, directed and translated ancient plays, including works by Plautus, one of which was performed professionally in a staged reading in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre, London. He has also produced an extensive range of digital outputs both as web-based resources and as a series of educational theatre historical DVDs marketed worldwide.
He is an authority on ancient theatre, and has written The Roman Theatre and Its Audience (Harvard), and Spectacle Entertainments of Early Imperial Rome (Yale). He has also published his translations of Roman comedy (Methuen and Johns Hopkins).
Professor Beacham is the English language authority on the work of the early twentieth-century theatre designer and visionary theoretician, Adolphe Appia, on whom he has published three books, and numerous articles. His German language book on Appia, Adolphe Appia: Künstler und Visionär des Modernen Theaters (Alexander Verlag) was published in September, 2006.
In recent years Professor Beacham has been a pioneer in leading the application of advanced information technology, especially 3-D visualisation, to the research of historic theatre sites and stage settings, as well as more broadly material cultural heritage.
In September 2005, together with his research team (who had worked with him at Warwick by then for some 10 years) he moved to the Centre for Computing in the Humanities (now the Department of Digital Humanities) at King’s College London. There over a period of 6 years he consolidated and extended the work and reputation of his research team, the King’s Visualisation Lab, as a world leader in its field. He continues actively to conceive and lead work in the field of 3-D visualisation, and to seek opportunities to extend it through collaborative projects.
· Professor Beacham convened, helped to draft and now co-chairs “The London Charter for Computer-based Visualisation of Cultural Heritage” a major internationally esteemed and greatly influential benchmark.
· He has helped to conceive, plan and create both UK and international networks of research and communication, e.g. The 3-D Visualisation in the Arts Network and the EU sponsored Virtual Museums Transnational Network of Excellence, V-Must.
· He was the co-ordinator and director of the Theatron Project, an EU sponsored online module comprised of numerous computer-based 3-D models and associated research materials for theatres, ancient and modern. More recently together with his team he greatly extended this research as a “virtual world” in THEATRON 3. For his work on Theatron he was honoured as a “Laureate” under the Computer World Honour’s Programme for “visionary use of information technology”.
· Together with Prof. James Packer he was a director of the Theatre of Pompey Project, the first comprehensive scientific survey and investigation of Rome's earliest permanent theatre.
· As director of a project sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust, he led the work of his research team to the completion of an extensive, highly accurate interactive 3-D model of the Roman Villa of Oplontis, working with Prof. John Clarke, of the University of Texas on the first comprehensive study and publication of this site, the largest and most sumptuously decorated ever found.
Professor Beacham’s work includes 7 single-authored books, a further major co-authored work published with Cambridge University Press, "Living Theatre in the Ancient Roman House. Theatricalism in the Domestic Sphere" and some 60 articles and book chapters. In the past decade he has secured several million pounds in external grants and led numerous
In 1976 he was appointed lecturer at the University of Warwick, where he helped to found and shape its School of Theatre Studies, and worked as lecturer, senior lecturer, reader and professor for some 30 years. He has also taught as a visiting professor at Yale and the University of California, Santa Barbara and worked as a Resident Scholar at the J. Paul Getty Museum in California. While there he oversaw productions at the Getty Villa, Malibu of ancient comedy including his own translation of Plautus' Casina professionally presented upon a replica temporary stage based upon his research.
Professor Beacham has been intensely involved in theatre practice, directed and translated ancient plays, including works by Plautus, one of which was performed professionally in a staged reading in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre, London. He has also produced an extensive range of digital outputs both as web-based resources and as a series of educational theatre historical DVDs marketed worldwide.
He is an authority on ancient theatre, and has written The Roman Theatre and Its Audience (Harvard), and Spectacle Entertainments of Early Imperial Rome (Yale). He has also published his translations of Roman comedy (Methuen and Johns Hopkins).
Professor Beacham is the English language authority on the work of the early twentieth-century theatre designer and visionary theoretician, Adolphe Appia, on whom he has published three books, and numerous articles. His German language book on Appia, Adolphe Appia: Künstler und Visionär des Modernen Theaters (Alexander Verlag) was published in September, 2006.
In recent years Professor Beacham has been a pioneer in leading the application of advanced information technology, especially 3-D visualisation, to the research of historic theatre sites and stage settings, as well as more broadly material cultural heritage.
In September 2005, together with his research team (who had worked with him at Warwick by then for some 10 years) he moved to the Centre for Computing in the Humanities (now the Department of Digital Humanities) at King’s College London. There over a period of 6 years he consolidated and extended the work and reputation of his research team, the King’s Visualisation Lab, as a world leader in its field. He continues actively to conceive and lead work in the field of 3-D visualisation, and to seek opportunities to extend it through collaborative projects.
· Professor Beacham convened, helped to draft and now co-chairs “The London Charter for Computer-based Visualisation of Cultural Heritage” a major internationally esteemed and greatly influential benchmark.
· He has helped to conceive, plan and create both UK and international networks of research and communication, e.g. The 3-D Visualisation in the Arts Network and the EU sponsored Virtual Museums Transnational Network of Excellence, V-Must.
· He was the co-ordinator and director of the Theatron Project, an EU sponsored online module comprised of numerous computer-based 3-D models and associated research materials for theatres, ancient and modern. More recently together with his team he greatly extended this research as a “virtual world” in THEATRON 3. For his work on Theatron he was honoured as a “Laureate” under the Computer World Honour’s Programme for “visionary use of information technology”.
· Together with Prof. James Packer he was a director of the Theatre of Pompey Project, the first comprehensive scientific survey and investigation of Rome's earliest permanent theatre.
· As director of a project sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust, he led the work of his research team to the completion of an extensive, highly accurate interactive 3-D model of the Roman Villa of Oplontis, working with Prof. John Clarke, of the University of Texas on the first comprehensive study and publication of this site, the largest and most sumptuously decorated ever found.
Professor Beacham’s work includes 7 single-authored books, a further major co-authored work published with Cambridge University Press, "Living Theatre in the Ancient Roman House. Theatricalism in the Domestic Sphere" and some 60 articles and book chapters. In the past decade he has secured several million pounds in external grants and led numerous
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For the Romans, much of life was seen, expressed and experienced as a form of theatre. In their homes, patrons performed the lead, with a supporting cast of residents and visitors. This sumptuously illustrated book, the result of extensive interdisciplinary research, is the first to investigate, describe and show how ancient Roman houses and villas, in their décor, spaces, activities and function, could constitute highly-theatricalised environments, indeed, a sort of 'living theatre'. Their layout, purpose and use reflected and informed a culture in which theatre was both a major medium of entertainment and communication and an art form drawing upon myths exploring the core values and beliefs of society. For elite Romans, their homes, as veritable stage-sets, served as visible and tangible expressions of their owners' prestige, importance and achievements. The Roman home was a carefully crafted realm in which patrons displayed themselves, while 'stage-managing' the behaviour and responses of visitor-spectators.
"Von der Theorie zur Praxis"' and "Treffpunkt in Elysium".
They deal with Appia's early work in theatre design and lighting at Dresden; his work with Jaques-Dalcroze at Hellerau, 1911-1913; and his relationship with Edward Gordon Craig.
For the Romans, much of life was seen, expressed and experienced as a form of theatre. In their homes, patrons performed the lead, with a supporting cast of residents and visitors. This sumptuously illustrated book, the result of extensive interdisciplinary research, is the first to investigate, describe and show how ancient Roman houses and villas, in their décor, spaces, activities and function, could constitute highly-theatricalised environments, indeed, a sort of 'living theatre'. Their layout, purpose and use reflected and informed a culture in which theatre was both a major medium of entertainment and communication and an art form drawing upon myths exploring the core values and beliefs of society. For elite Romans, their homes, as veritable stage-sets, served as visible and tangible expressions of their owners' prestige, importance and achievements. The Roman home was a carefully crafted realm in which patrons displayed themselves, while 'stage-managing' the behaviour and responses of visitor-spectators.
"Von der Theorie zur Praxis"' and "Treffpunkt in Elysium".
They deal with Appia's early work in theatre design and lighting at Dresden; his work with Jaques-Dalcroze at Hellerau, 1911-1913; and his relationship with Edward Gordon Craig.
Chapter 14, "Virtual Worlds and the Oplontis Villa A Model", Discusses the research and preparation of a digital Virtual Model of the Villa, prepared by the King's College Visualisation team under the director of Professor Richard C. Beacham
"Throughout, the extent of knowledge on show and the ability to weave together different strands of inquiry is incredibly impressive. The authors move gracefully across the different areas, exploring in detail a huge number of examples, demonstrating an intimate knowledge of Pompeii as they go"
"This is an important book with a rigorous central thesis that is extensively and meticulously explained in a beautifully presented volume with a high number of colour illustrations. It provides a new and sophisticated take on the theatricality of Pompeii, and it will, I suspect, come to be seen as a perfect reflection of early twenty-first century preoccupations with the theatrical and performative in our understanding of life in the ancient world"