Ciaran Clarke

Research interests and expertise

Ciaran's research interests sit at the boundaries of performance and digital technologies, extending into sound studies and spatial audio. His PhD, submitted as a vocal document on a collection of vinyl records, examines the spoken voice, recording technologies and death.

Courses taught

• Acting BA(Hons)
• Theatre & Performance BA(Hons)
• Technical Theatre Arts BA(Hons)

Independent professional practice

As a freelance theatre maker, Ciaran has worked in a variety of creative roles with Miracle Theatre, o-region, Pipeline Theatre, WildWorks, and Kneehigh, primarily as an actor. His technical design includes sound design for Jordan Brookes' binaural stand-up Bleed, which toured to Melbourne Comedy Festival, was recently made available via Soho Theatre on Demand, and received glowing reviews from national publications. He successfully applied for the Creative XR programme with Jordan in 2019, producing Present, a prototype stand-up experience for Amazon Echo devices and smartphones, collaborated with Fight in the Dog as a director, delivering the Edinburgh Unlocked audio project with a range of comedians for Penguin Books, and most recently provided sound design for Jordan Brookes On... for BBC Radio 4.

The work Ciaran makes often sits at the boundaries of technology and performance, and in June 2019 he curated and co-ordinated a Technology Residency for Kneehigh Theatre at their Barns in Gorran Haven. This brought together theatre practitioners, musicians, technologists, guests from BBC R&D North Lab, and Kneehigh writers and directors together as we explored storytelling in technological spaces. As part of this week he delivered a workshop on binaural audio, curated the programme of talks, and helped facilitate the creation of prototype pieces of technologically enabled performance.

He also runs Cornish theatre company Near-ta Theatre, and co-wrote and performs in their annual musical comedy two-hander Christmas. Time.