Dr. Nicholas Johnson

Associate Professor, Drama

johnson@tcd.ie 3531896 2295 https://tcd.academia.edu/NicholasJohnson

Biography

Nicholas Johnson is Associate Professor of Drama at Trinity College Dublin, where he has worked full-time since 2008. He co-founded the Trinity Centre for Beckett Studies, within which he co-directs the Beckett Summer School and the Samuel Beckett Laboratory. With Jonathan Heron (Warwick), he co-authored the monograph "Experimental Beckett" (Cambridge UP, 2020) and co-edited the "Performance Issue" (23.1, 2014) and "Pedagogy Issue" (29.1, 2020) of the Journal of Beckett Studies. He co-edited two volumes of essays from the Beckett Working Group of the International Federation for Theatre Research: "Influencing Beckett / Beckett Influencing" (L'Harmattan, 2020) and "Beckett's Voices / Voicing Beckett" (Brill, 2021). He has published widely in journals and edited collections on adaptations and intermedial performances of Beckett, directing and acting Beckett, Beckett and censorship, and the use of performance as a tool for research. A secondary research interest, and the topic of a monograph now in progress, relates to how theatre laboratory work can generate new knowledge for more interdisciplinary contexts in a wide range of fields. Johnson has undertaken numerous practice-based research projects since 2008, including collaborations with literature scholars, art historians, educators, translators, sociologists, historians, computer scientists, and medical clinicians in which performance has played a crucial role. As convenor of the Creative Arts Practice college-wide research theme, and as committee member of both the Neurohumanities and Medical and Health Humanities initiatives at TCD, Johnson's research is extending the role of theatre and performance in these alternative settings. Johnson is a literary translator (from German), with current and past projects on Toller, Kafka, Frisch, Trakl, and Brecht, including the first translation and publication of Brecht's "David" Fragments from 1919-21 (Bloomsbury, 2020). These translation projects signal a further research interest in German Expressionism during the Weimar period, and more widely in modernism's legacy. Johnson continues to direct, perform, and work as a dramaturg in a variety of theatre contexts in Ireland, Germany, and the UK, and he gives talks and workshops worldwide. He has held visiting research positions at Freie Universität Berlin and Yale University.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

Peer-Reviewed Publications
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications

"The Neatness of Identifications": Transgressing Beckett's Genres in Ireland and Northern Ireland, 2000-2015 in, editor(s)Trish McTighe and David Tucker , Staging Beckett in Ireland and Northern Ireland, London, Bloomsbury/Methuen, 2016, pp185 - 202, [Nicholas E. Johnson]Book Chapter, 2016, URL
Samuel Beckett, 'No's Knife: Excerpts from Texts for Nothing', White Light Festival, World Premiere, Marjorie S Dean Little Theatre, Lincoln Center, 2015, -Theatre Production, 2015, URL
Samuel Beckett, 'Cascando', Pan Pan Theatre Company, World Premiere, Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity Creative Challenge, 2016, -Theatre Production, 2016, URL
Wyndham Lewis, 'Enemy of the Stars', Fez Festival of University Theatres, World Premiere, Dublin / Fez, Morocco, Fez Festival of University Theatres, 2015, -Theatre Production, 2015, URL
Jonathan Heron and Nicholas Johnson, Critical Pedagogies and the Theatre Laboratory, RIDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 22, (2), 2017, p282 - 287Journal Article, 2017, DOI
Colm Summers (dir.), David O'Shaughnessy (dramaturge), 'Love a la Mode, after Macklin', KNAVES, World Premiere, Dublin, Smock Alley Theatre, 2017, -Theatre Production, 2017, URL
Void Cannot Go: Trauma and Actor Process in the Theatre of Samuel Beckett in, editor(s)Mariko Hori Tanaka, Yoshiki Tajiri, Michiko Tsushima , Beckett and Trauma, Manchester, Manchester UP, 2018, pp46 - 68, [Nicholas Johnson]Book Chapter, 2018
Nicholas Johnson, Performing Embodiment, Review of Performing Embodiment, by Anna McMullan , Journal of Beckett Studies, 25, (2), 2016, p280-284Review, 2016, DOI
Odwyer, N. and Johnson, N. and Bates, E. and Pages, R. and Ondrej, J. and Amplianitis, K. and Monaghan, D. and Smolic, A., Virtual Play in Free-Viewpoint Video: Reinterpreting Samuel Beckett for Virtual Reality, (8088501), 2017, pp262-267Conference Paper, 2017, DOI , URL
Nicholas Johnson and Néill O'Dwyer, Virtual Play: Beckettian Experiments in Virtual Reality, Contemporary Theatre Review, 28, (1), 2018Journal Article, 2018, URL , TARA - Full Text
"Enemy of the Stars" in Performance in, editor(s)Philip Coleman, Nathan O'Donnell, and Kathryn Milligan , BLAST at 100: A Modernist Magazine Reconsidered, Leiden, Brill, 2017, pp147 - 167, [Nicholas Johnson and Colm Summers]Book Chapter, 2017, DOI , URL
Nicholas Johnson and David Shepherd, 'The David Fragments, after Bertolt Brecht', Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin / Greenwood Theatre, London, Society for Old Testament Study, 2017, -Theatre Production, 2017
Nicholas Johnson (dir.), Néill O'Dwyer, Enda Bates, V-SENSE, 'Virtual Play, after Samuel Beckett', Various venues, Trinity College Dublin, 2017, -Theatre Production, 2017, URL
Nicholas Johnson (dir.), Néill O'Dwyer, Enda Bates, Sugarglass, 'Intermedial Play, after Samuel Beckett', ATRL, Trinity College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, 2017, -Theatre Production, 2017, URL
Néill O'Dwyer, Nicholas Johnson, Rafael Pagés, Jan Ondřej, Konstantinos Amplianitis, Aljo a Smolić, Enda Bates, David Monaghan, Beckett in VR: Exploring Narrative Using Free-Viewpoint Video, SIGGRAPH 2018, Vancouver, Canada, 12-16 August 2018, 2018Poster, 2018, DOI , URL , TARA - Full Text
Nicholas E. Johnson and Jonathan Heron, Experimental Beckett: Contemporary Performance Practices, Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2020, 1 - 86ppBook, 2020, DOI , URL
Néill O'Dwyer, Nicholas Johnson, Enda Bates, Rafael Pagés, Jan Ondøej, Konstantinos Amplianitis, David Monaghan and Aljo a Smolic, Samuel Beckett in Virtual Reality: exploring narrative using free viewpoint video, Leonardo, Just Accepted, (10.1162/leon_a_01721), 2019Journal Article, 2019, DOI , URL
David J. Shepherd and Nicholas E. Johnson, Bertolt Brecht and the David Fragments (1919-1921): An Interdisciplinary Study, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2020, 1 - 224ppBook, 2020, URL
Journal of Beckett Studies, "The Pedagogy Issue", 29, 1, (2020), 1 - 158p, Jonathan Heron and Nicholas Johnson, [eds.]Journal, 2020, URL
Laurens De Vos, Mariko Hori Tanaka, and Nicholas E. Johnson, Beckett's Voices / Voicing Beckett, Leiden / Boston, Brill, 2021, 1 - 341ppBook, 2021
Anita Rákóczy, Mariko Hori Tanaka, and Nicholas E. Johnson, Influencing Beckett / Beckett Influencing, Budapest and Paris, L'Harmattan / Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, 2020, 1 - 172ppBook, 2020, URL
Nicholas Johnson and David Shepherd, The David Fragments in Performance, The Brecht Yearbook / Das Brecht Jahrbuch, 44, 2019, p61 - 80Journal Article, 2019, URL
Néill O'Dwyer and Nicholas Johnson, Exploring Volumetric Video and Narrative through Samuel Beckett's "Play", International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 15, (1), 2019Journal Article, 2019, DOI , URL
Nicholas Johnson, Abstract Machines: The Televisual Beckett, Mumbai, India, 1 November, 2014, TATA Lit Live FestivalInvited Talk, 2014
Nicholas Johnson & Colm Summers, 'Enemy of the Stars', BLAST at 100 symposium, Trinity Long Room Hub, 2014, -Theatre Production, 2014
Nicholas Johnson, 'The Way of the Language: Voices from the War on Terror', Dublin Theatre Festival/Project Brand New, Workshops 1 & 2, New York & Dublin, Bleecker Street Theatre / Project Arts Centre, 2009, -Theatre Production, 2009
Nicholas Johnson, 'Three Dialogues, after Samuel Beckett', versions 1, 2, and 3, Dublin, TRIARC / ATRL, 2011, -Theatre Production, 2011
Nicholas Johnson, 'Disjecta: A Samuel Beckett Laboratory', Dublin, Samuel Beckett Theatre, 2007, -Theatre Production, 2007
Samuel Beckett, 'What is the word', Open House Dublin, Dublin, The Old Library/Long Room, TCD, 2006, -Theatre Production, 2006
Eugene O'Brien & Gavin Quinn, 'ELIZA's Adventures in the Uncanny Valley', Dublin, Pan Pan Theatre/Dublin Theatre Festival, 2018, -Theatre Production, 2018
Dead Centre, 'Beckett's First Play', Work-in-Progress, Dublin, ATRL, 2017, -Theatre Production, 2017
Nicholas Johnson, "Accursed Progenitor": Evolving Beckett through the Digital and Virtual Realms, Transdisciplinary Beckett, Mexico City, 9 November, 2018, 4th Samuel Beckett Society ConferenceInvited Talk, 2018
Nicholas Johnson, "Listen to the light": Pan Pan and Beckett's Radio Plays on Stage, Transdisciplinary Beckett, Mexico City, 8 November, 2018Conference Paper, 2018
Nicholas Johnson, From the Digital to the Virtual: Beckett Experiments 2007-17, Beckett and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic, 14 September, 2018, Charles UniversityInvited Talk, 2018
Nicholas Johnson, Restaging Macklin, Charles Macklin & the Making of Eighteenth-Century Theatre, London, UK, 22-23 June, 2018, Notre Dame GlobalInvited Talk, 2018
Nicholas Johnson, Intermedial Play, Virtual Play: Beckett in Digital Culture, Beckett and the Media, Mariastein, Switzerland, 23 March, 2018, Universität BaselInvited Talk, 2018
Nicholas Johnson, How It Is in Performance, How It Is Symposium, Paris, France, 23 February, 2018, Centre Culturel Irlandais / Gare St Lazare IrelandInvited Talk, 2018
Nicholas Johnson, David und die Darstellbarkeit von Fragmenten, Brecht-Tage, Berlin, Germany, 9 February, 2018, Literaturforum im Brecht-HausInvited Talk, 2018
Nicholas Johnson, Festivals, Experimentation, and the Culture Industry, Beckett and Festivals Symposium, Belfast, UK, 18 November, 2017, University of Ulster / the MACInvited Talk, 2017
Nicholas Johnson, The Samuel Beckett Laboratory, between.pomiedczy festival, Sopot, Poland, 15 May, 2017, University of Gdansk (Beckett Seminar)Invited Talk, 2017
Nicholas Johnson, "void cannot go": Trauma and Actor Process in the Theatre of Samuel Beckett, London Beckett Seminar, London, UK, 11 November, 2016, Institute for Advanced Studies, University of LondonInvited Talk, 2016
Nicholas Johnson, Enemy of the Stars in Performance, UCL Talks, London, UK, 10 November, 2016, University College London Art MuseumInvited Talk, 2016
Nicholas Johnson, Acting/Ageing, Ageing, Embodiment and the Self Symposium, Warwick, UK, 18 March, 2016, University of WarwickInvited Talk, 2016
Nicholas Johnson, The Way of the Language: Documentary Theatre and the War on Terror, Centre for Cultural Sociology, New Haven, CT, USA, 3 March, 2016, Yale UniversityInvited Talk, 2016
Nicholas Johnson, Actor Trauma and the Theatre of Samuel Beckett, Beckett Society of Japan, Tokyo, Japan, 9 January, 2016, Aoyama Gakuin UniversityInvited Talk, 2016
Nicholas Johnson, Open-Space Learning in Careers Modules, National Association of Higher Education Careers Services Biennial Conference, Kildare, Ireland, 26 June, 2014, NAHECSInvited Talk, 2014
Nicholas Johnson, Abstract Machines: The Televisual Beckett, Beckett at Reading Conference, Reading, UK, 4 Apri, 2013, University of Reading / Beckett International FoundationInvited Talk, 2013
Néill O'Dwyer, Gareth W.Young, Nicholas Johnson, Emin Zerman, Aljosa Smolic, Mixed Reality and Volumetric Video in Cultural Heritage: Expert Opinions on Augmented and Virtual Reality, Human-Computer Interaction International, Copenhagen, Denmark, 19-24 July, Springer, 2020, pp195 - 214Conference Paper, 2020, DOI
Adrian Curtin, Nicholas Johnson, Naomi Paxton, and Claire Warden (eds.), The Edinburgh Companion to Modernism in Contemporary Theatre, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2023, 1 - 480ppBook, 2023, URL
Nicholas Johnson, "How It Is": Intermedial Prose Performance and the "Unperformable", Samuel Beckett Today / Aujourd'hui, 32, (1), 2020, p86 - 103Journal Article, 2020, DOI , URL
Jonathan Heron and Nicholas Johnson, Beckettian Pedagogies: Learning through Samuel Beckett, Journal of Beckett Studies, 29, (1), 2020, p42 - 62Journal Article, 2020, DOI , URL
Restaging Macklin in, editor(s)Ian Newman and David O'Shaughnessy , Charles Macklin and the Theatres of London, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2022, pp265 - 280, [Nicholas Johnson]Book Chapter, 2022, URL
Love à la Mode in Performance: A Dialogue in, editor(s)Ian Newman and David O'Shaughnessy , Charles Macklin and the Theatres of London, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2022, pp281 - 294, [Colm Summers and Nicholas Johnson]Book Chapter, 2022, URL
Jonathan Heron and Nicholas Johnson, Editorial Note to "Dossier: Pedagogies of Place", Journal of Beckett Studies, 29, (1), 2020, p64 - 65Journal Article, 2020, DOI
Nicholas Johnson (dramaturg), 'Cascando, by Samuel Beckett', Pan Pan Theatre Company, Düsseldorf and Galway, Forum Freies Theater and Galway International Arts Festival, 2020, -Theatre Production, 2020, URL
Nicholas Johnson (dramaturg), 'Cascando, by Samuel Beckett', Pan Pan Theatre Company, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Happy Days: Enniskillen International Beckett Festival, 2019, -Theatre Production, 2019, URL
Nicholas Johnson (dramaturg), 'WHAT IS THE WORD, after Samuel Beckett', Pan Pan Theatre Company, Paris and Belfast, CCI at Cinéma Les 3 Luxembourg / Belfast International Arts Festival at Strand Arts Centre, 2020, -Theatre Production, 2020, URL
Nicholas Johnson (dramaturg), 'D-Project', OT Platform, Dublin, Dublin Theatre Festival / Civic Theatre Tallaght, 2020, -Theatre Production, 2020, URL
Nicholas Johnson (director), 'Augmented Play, after Samuel Beckett', V-SENSE / Volograms, Dublin, 2019, -Visual art production, 2019, URL
Mandy Lee, Balázs Apor, Nicholas Johnson, '"We Persist, Therefore We Have Hope": Trauma and Resilience of Hongkongers through Their Art since 2019', Trinity Long Room Hub, 2022, -Exhibition, 2022
Pan Pan, 'The Sudden', Dublin Dance Festival, Project Arts Centre, 2023, -Theatre Production, 2023, URL
Nicholas Johnson, Language, Multiplicity, Void: The Radical Politics of the Beckettian Subject, Theatre Research International, 37, (1), 2012, p38 - 48Journal Article, 2012, DOI
Nicholas Johnson, Theatrum Philosophicum: A Platonic Turn in Theatre Scholarship, Forum Modernes Theater, 25, (2), 2011, p59 - 64Journal Article, 2011, URL
Nicholas Johnson, Analogue Krapp in a Digital Culture, Journal of Beckett Studies, 20, (2), 2011, p213 - 220Review Article, 2011, DOI
Nicholas Johnson, On Going On: The Ethic of Impossibility in the Performance of Samuel Beckett's Prose, Trinity College Dublin, 2009Thesis, 2009
Nicholas Johnson, That Book Should Be Burned: The Contested Afterlife of Bertolt Brecht, Journal of Postgraduate Research, 5, 2006, p8 - 19Journal Article, 2006
Nicholas Johnson, Language, Multiplicity, Void: Beckett and Philosophy, Beckett and Philosophy, Sofia University, Bulgaria, 21 October 2011, 2011, Department of Foreign Affairs, IrelandInvited Talk, 2011
Nicholas Johnson, Language, Multiplicity, Void: The Radical Politics of the Modernist Subject, Mainz Doctoral Summer School, Johannes Gutenberg Universität, Mainz, 9 July 2010, 2010, DAAD/Mainz UniversityInvited Talk, 2010
Nicholas Johnson, The Way of the Language: Excavating Silence in the Documentary Theatre, Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre, Cairo, Egypt, 9 October 2009, 2009, Ministry of Culture, Government of EgyptInvited Talk, 2009
Nicholas Johnson, Nohow On: Samuel Beckett and the Tradition/Innovation Dialectic, International Federation for Theatre Research Annual Congress, Osaka, Japan, 7-12 August 2011, 2011Conference Paper, 2011
Nicholas Johnson, A Theatre of the Unword: Out of the Archive, Out of the Archive: Samuel Beckett, York, United Kingdom, 23-26 June 2011, 2011Conference Paper, 2011
Nicholas Johnson, The Ghost of the Live: Adapting the Televisual Beckett, Performance Studies International #17, Utrecht, Netherlands, 25-29 May, 2011Conference Paper, 2011
Nicholas Johnson, Beckett and Bolaño: Toward a European Literature of Exile, Irish Society for Theatre Research Annual Conference, Pécs, Hungary, 29-30 April, 2011Conference Paper, 2011
Nicholas Johnson, Beckett and the Radical Politics of the Modernist Subject, International Federation for Theatre Research Annual Congress, Munich, Germany, 26-31 July, 2010Conference Paper, 2010
Nicholas Johnson, Preacher Seeks Unconverted: Spectatorship in Documentary Theatre, Performance Studies International #16, Toronto, Canada, 9-13 June, 2010Conference Paper, 2010
Nicholas Johnson, Evental Texts and Textual Events, Zombomodernism: Practice as Research, Central School of Speech and Drama, London, 26 September, 2009Conference Paper, 2009
Nicholas Johnson, Theatre of the Unword: Beckett and the Law of Genre, International Federation for Theatre Research Annual Congress, Lisbon, Portugal, July 14-17, 2009Conference Paper, 2009
Nicholas Johnson, Said Nohow On: Beckett, Genre, and the Law, Performance Studies International #15, Zagreb, Croatia, 24-28 June, 2009Conference Paper, 2009
Nicholas Johnson, Prose Performance and the Commemoration of Samuel Beckett, Irish Society for Theatre Research Annual Conference, Sligo, Ireland, 7-9 May, 2009Conference Paper, 2009
Nicholas Johnson, Age, Texture and the Virtual, Performance Studies International #14, Copenhagen, Denmark, 20-24 August, 2008Conference Paper, 2008
Nicholas Johnson, Reading, Radio and the Seanchaí, International Federation for Theatre Research Annual Congress, Seoul, Korea, 2008Conference Paper, 2008
Nicholas Johnson, The Ethic of Impossibility, Beckett and Death: A Centenary Conference, Northampton University, UK, September, 2006Conference Paper, 2006
A Spectrum of Fidelity, an Ethic of Impossibility: Directing Beckett in, editor(s)Katherine Weiss , The Plays of Samuel Beckett (Critical Companions), London, Methuen, 2013, pp152 - 164, [Nicholas Johnson]Book Chapter, 2013
The Journal of Beckett Studies: Special Issue on Performance, 23, 1, (2014), 1 - 153p, Jonathan Heron and Nicholas Johnson, [eds.]Journal, 2014
Nicholas Johnson, A Samuel Beckett Laboratory: Praxis, Pedagogy, and Performance, Annual Samuel Beckett Lecture, Tel Aviv University, Israel, 22 May, 2013, Embassy of Ireland, Tel AvivInvited Talk, 2013
Nicholas Johnson, Performative Criticism: Samuel Beckett and Georges Duthuit, Journal of Art Historiography, 9, (December), 2013, p1 - 12Journal Article, 2013, URL , TARA - Full Text
Jonathan Heron and Nicholas Johnson, "First Both": Introduction to "the Performance Issue", Journal of Beckett Studies, 23, (1), 2014, p1 - 10Journal Article, 2014, DOI
Jonathan Heron and Nicholas Johnson, with Burç Îdem Dinçel, Gavin Quinn, Sarah Jane Scaife, and Áine Josephine Tyrrell, Dossier: The Samuel Beckett Laboratory 2013, Journal of Beckett Studies, 23, (1), 2014, p73 - 94Journal Article, 2014, DOI
A Theatre of the Unword: Censorship, Hegemony, and Samuel Beckett in, editor(s)Christopher Collins and Mary Collins , The Rest is History: Ireland, Memory and Performing the Historical Imagination, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, pp36 - 54, [Nicholas Johnson]Book Chapter, 2014
Nicholas Johnson, Theatre of the Unword: Censorship, Hegemony, and Samuel Beckett, One Day: Samuel Beckett, Haccetepe University, Ankara, Turkey, 29 November, 2013, Department of Foreign Affairs, IrelandInvited Talk, 2013
Nicholas Johnson and Brenda O'Connell, Three Dialogues on Enniskillen, The Beckett Circle, Spring 2014, 2014Review Article, 2014, URL

Nicholas Johnson, 'Three Poems by Georg Trakl', Trinity Journal of Literary Translation, Vol III, Trinity College Dublin, 2015, 16 - 19Translation
Scott Hamilton (adaptor) / Nicholas Johnson (performer), 'Ill Seen Ill Said', Dublin & Antwerp, European Research Night / Antwerp Beckett Conference, 2015, -Theatre Production
Nicholas Johnson, 'The Howl Ensemble, after Allen Ginsberg', Samuel Beckett Centre, Dublin, European Research Night 2014, 2014, -Theatre Production
Nicholas Johnson & Chris Collins, 'No Matter: George Berkeley's Three Dialogues', European Research Night 2013, Dublin, Trinity Long Room Hub, 2013, -Theatre Production
Nicholas Johnson, 'The Way of the Language: Voices from the War on Terror', Workshop 3, Dublin, Arts Technology Research Laboratory, 2011, -Theatre Production
Nicholas Johnson, 'On Going On, after Samuel Beckett', Dublin, Studio 192, TCD, 2006, -Theatre Production
Samuel Beckett, 'Endgame', Dublin, Samuel Beckett Theatre, 2006, -Theatre Production
Nicholas Johnson, Samuel Beckett and Border Thinking, Warsaw, Poland, 13 May, 2018, University of WarsawInvited Talk
Nicholas Johnson, How It is and Prose Performance, Perforum, Cork, Ireland, 15 February, 2017, University College CorkInvited Talk
Nicholas Johnson, "Beginning to End" and Prose Performance, Bann Beckett, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, 26 February, 2016, Riverside Theatre / UUCInvited Talk
Nicholas Johnson, The Way of the Language: Excavating Silence in the Documentary Theatre, Drama Seminar, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 28 March, 2012, Queens UniversityInvited Talk
Nicholas Johnson, Beckett's "Three Novels", Cork, Ireland, 28 March, 2012, Cork Opera House / Gare St Lazare IrelandInvited Talk
Nicholas Johnson, Beckett and the Visual Arts, Dublin, Ireland, 27 January, 2012, Irish Museum of Modern ArtInvited Talk
Nicholas Johnson & Sam Slote, Samuel Beckett Summer School, 2018, TCDMeetings /Conferences Organised
Nicholas Johnson, Unfrozen Music: Beckett in the Museum, Museum Ireland, 19, (Autumn), 2009, p36 - 41Journal Article, URL
Nicholas Johnson, Beckett Centenary Symposium, Dublin, The Beckett Circle, 29, (2), 2006, p4 - 7Review Article
Steve Wilmer, Sam Slote, and Nicholas Johnson, Samuel Beckett Summer School 2011, 15-20 July 2011, 2011, Trinity College DublinMeetings /Conferences Organised, URL
Ray Langenbach & Nicholas Johnson, Studio: 2011, 25-29 May 2011, In:Performance Studies International, Artist's Committee, 2011, Utrecht, NetherlandsMeetings /Conferences Organised, URL
Nicholas Johnson, Krapp History: A Late Evening in the Future, The Rest is History: Symposium, Trinity College Dublin, 15-16 April, edited by C. Collins & M. Caulfield , 2011Conference Paper
Melissa Sihra & the Drama Department Staff, Technologies of Performance: ISTR 2010, April, In:Irish Society for Theatre Research Annual Conference, 2010, Trinity College DublinMeetings /Conferences Organised
Nicholas Johnson, Matthew Causey, Abstract Machines: The Televisual Beckett, Irish Society for Theatre Research Annual Conference, Trinity College Dublin, 24 April, 2010, ATRL, DublinInvited Talk
Nicholas Johnson, 'The Brothers Karamazov', Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin, Painted Filly Theatre/Sugarglass Theatre, 2014, -Theatre Production, URL
Nicholas Johnson, On Translating Ernst Toller's "Die Maschinenstürmer", Trinity Journal of Literary Translation, II, 2014, p76 - 91Journal Article, URL
Ernst Toller, trans. & dir. Nicholas Johnson, 'The Machinewreckers', Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin, 2014, -Translation, URL
Samuel Beckett, dir. Nicholas Johnson & Marc Atkinson, 'Ethica: Four Shorts by Samuel Beckett', Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin / National Academy of Theatre and Dance, Sofia, Bulgaria / Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival 2013 / Áras an Uachtaráin, Dublin, 2013, -Theatre Production, URL
Nicholas Johnson, Out of the Dark: Pan Pan's "All That Fall" and "Embers", Edinburgh International Festival, Programme, 2013, p7 - 10Review Article
Nicholas Johnson, The Many Nations of Samuel Beckett, Theatre (X) Cai, Tokyo, Programme, 2014, p7 - 8Review Article
Ernst Toller, trans. & dir. Nicholas Johnson, 'Masses and Man', Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin / Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxembourg-Platz, Berlin, 2008, -Translation, URL
Franz Kafka, trans. and dir. Nicholas Johnson, 'K. - Stories and Fragments by Franz Kafka', Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin, 2009, -Translation
Max Frisch, trans. and dir. Nicholas Johnson, 'Andorra', Samuel Beckett Theatre, Dublin, 2010, -Translation
Jesse Weaver, dir. by Nicholas Johnson & Jesse Weaver, 'Bypass', Dublin Fringe Festival 2012, 2012, -Theatre Production, URL

Research Expertise

I have spent the last decade publishing on Beckett in performance, directing Beckett projects internationally, and contributing to the scholarly infrastructure of international Beckett Studies. These activities culminated in the 2017 establishment of the Trinity Centre for Beckett Studies to consolidate our research, integrating the Samuel Beckett Laboratory, a space founded in 2013 by myself and Jonathan Heron (Warwick) for fundamental research into Beckett in performance, with the Samuel Beckett Summer School that I co-direct, now in its tenth year. How Beckett is received, taught, and understood is being expanded by the work that we do on experimental, intermedial, intercultural, and other forms of "applied" Beckett, and the international reach of the Summer School makes a public contribution as well. With Jonathan Heron, with whom I co-edited the 2014 "Performance Issue" and 2020 "Pedagogy Issue" of the Journal of Beckett Studies (23.1 and 29.1), I co-wrote "Experimental Beckett: Contemporary Performance Practices" for the new "Elements in Beckett Studies" series at Cambridge University Press (2020). Drawing on insights from this research into Beckett and the theatre laboratory, in recent years my work has pivoted to more interdisciplinary research projects in the areas of pedagogy (with Education), acting theory (with Neuroscience), VR and AI (with Computer Science), cultural trauma (with Sociology), and medical humanities (with both Medicine and Nursing/Midwifery). In my capacity as convener of the Creative Arts Practice research theme, I have discovered many opportunities to extend the impact of my "disciplinary" insights from within Drama. I am a literary translator (from German), with current and past projects on Brecht, Toller, Kafka, Frisch, and Trakl. These translation projects signal a further research interest in German Expressionism during the Weimar period, and more widely in the aesthetics and philosophies of modernism in the twentieth century. I am the co-editor of the forthcoming "Edinburgh Companion to Modernism in Contemporary Theatre" (2022).

Title

Summary

Languages and literature, Performing arts,

Recognition

George J. Mitchell Scholarship (US-Ireland Alliance) 2005
John McCormick Fellowship (research travel) 2006
DAAD Research Fellowship (German Academic Exchange Service) 2004
Samuel Beckett Studentship (Government of Ireland/TCD Award) 2007
Wallis Outstanding Senior Award (Northwestern University) 2003
Provost's Award for Teaching Excellence (early career award) 2013

Performance Studies International (PSi) - co-convenor, Artists' Committee 2014
International Federation of Theatre Research (co-convenor, Beckett Working Group) 2018
Theatre Forum Ireland (professional association of Irish theatre artists) present
IMBAS - Irish network of creative arts researchers (co-founder & steering group) present
US-Ireland Alliance (transatlantic non-profit supporting culture, business & politics) present
Modern Languages Association (Member, Samuel Beckett Society) present

Steering Committee Member & co-founder, IMBAS (society for Creative Arts researchers in Ireland)
Steering Committee Member & co-founder, IMBAS (society for Creative Arts researchers in Ireland)
co-convenor, Artists' Committee of Performance Studies International 2010 - 2014
Guest Editor (twice) & Peer Reviewer, Edinburgh University Press (Journal of Beckett Studies)
External Examiner, practice-based research PhD at University of Cape Town
Peer Reviewer, Taylor & Francis (Contemporary Theatre Review)
External Reviewer, Swiss National Science Foundation (humanities research grants)
Scientific Committee Member, Samuel Beckett Society Conference, Mexico City
Peer Reviewer, Cambridge University Press (Theatre Research International)
Guest Editor (twice) & Peer Reviewer, Edinburgh University Press (Journal of Beckett Studies)
Peer Reviewer, Springer (American Journal of Cultural Sociology)
co-convenor, Artists' Committee of Performance Studies International 2010 - 2014
Peer Reviewer, Springer (American Journal of Cultural Sociology)
Scientific Committee Member, Samuel Beckett Society Conference, Mexico City
Peer Reviewer, Taylor & Francis (Contemporary Theatre Review)
Consultant, Irish National Association of Higher Education Careers Services (on open-space learning techniques, affecting module design for career preparedness at national level)
co-convenor, Beckett Working Group, International Federation of Theatre Research 2014 - 2018
Consultant, National University of Ireland (Maynooth) Access Office, creating policy on proofreading and learning support for dyslexic students
Peer Reviewer, Cambridge University Press (Theatre Research International)
Peer Reviewer, Carysfort Press (Devised Performance in Irish Theatre)
Peer Reviewer, Liverpool University Press (Journal of Romance Studies)
External Examiner, practice-based research PhD at University of Cape Town
Consultant, National University of Ireland (Maynooth) Access Office, creating policy on proofreading and learning support for dyslexic students
co-convenor, Beckett Working Group, International Federation of Theatre Research 2014 - 2018
Consultant, Irish National Association of Higher Education Careers Services (on open-space learning techniques, affecting module design for career preparedness at national level)
Peer Reviewer, Liverpool University Press (Journal of Romance Studies)
Peer Reviewer, Carysfort Press (Devised Performance in Irish Theatre)
External Reviewer, Swiss National Science Foundation (humanities research grants)