merrion street

Tuesday 8th October, 2013 Jimmy Deenihan, T.D, Minister for Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht will join with Dr Patrick Prendergast, Provost of Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dr. Eric Weitz, Head of Drama at TCD and Mr. Kunle Animashaun, the successful applicant for the 2013 Samuel Beckett Studentship.

The Annual Beckett Studentship is funded jointly by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Trinity College Dublin Visual and Performing Arts Fund. The Studentship was initiated after the Beckett Centenary celebrations in 2006 and is worth €10,000 to the successful scholar. The winner is selected by a combination of written submission and interview.

The Minister was delighted to announce that the candidate who best met the criteria for the award was Mr. Kunle Animashaun. Mr. Animashaun work examines the relationship between the presentation of humour in a text or performance and how applicable, effective or ineffectual the humour within the text or performances. The research work will focus on the step from social situation to theatre performance, with particular regard to multicultural contexts.

Minister Deenihan said "I want to thank Dr Patrick Prendergast, Provost of Trinity College Dublin and Dr. Eric Wietz, for their commitment to this initiative. It is appropriate that we continue to commemorate Samuel Beckett in this way. In recent years, we have seen 7 students of Trinity College receive funding to advance their research. This year's recipient has chosen a very interesting topic, that of 'humour in text and performance'. I am impressed that as well as being a scholar you are also a practitioner and are working with Tallaght Community Arts as Artistic Director. I'm sure your research will be, not just interesting and informative, but entertaining as well."

The Minister congratulated the successful scholar, Kunle Animashaun and wished him continued success with his academic endeavours.

ENDS

Editor Notes:

The first award was made to Nicholas Johnson (2006), in support of his dissertation on the performance of Samuel Beckett’s prose’. Jackie Blackman (2007) received the award in aid of her work on the influence of a Jewish identity on Beckett’s early post-war ‘resistant aesthetic’; the following year (2008) Joshua Edelman was awarded the studentship for his sociological analysis of the contemporary Irish theatre scene over the preceding quarter century. The next studentship went to Emma Meehan (2009) for her work on somatics in performance and the work of Irish experimental choreographer Joan Davis. Gabriella Calchi-Novati (2010) carried out research in ‘performativities of intimacy’, including biopolitics and performance. Chris Collins (2011) wrote on the subject of J.M. Synge’s plays, with regard to politics and pre-Christian Ireland. Last year, Dan Bergin (2012) used the award in aid of his research into video and computer games engaged through live theatre performance. This year’s recipient, Kunle Animashaun (2013), is investigating the nuances of humour and laughter in the step from social situation to theatre performance, with particular regard to multicultural contexts