Faye Rigopoulou (She, her)
Postgraduate Researcher
Drama
About me:
My research focuses on ageing female vocalities in musical theatre. My PhD has proposed the conceptual framework of the ageing female voice as pharmakon in musicals and a taxonomy of such pharmaka, designed to facilitate a deeper comprehension of how the ageing female voice has been presented as an aural/bodily condition of undecidability in the dramaturgies of such characters.
I am co-convening TaPRA's working group 'Sound, Voice & Music' and I am the representative for the South West of the Mercury Musical Developments organisation (MMD). I am a member of IFTR (International Federation of Theatre Research), IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music), ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts), and the co-founder of the Performing Practices Working Group (PPWG). I'm also a member of the Voice, Sound & Music Cluster, and a member of the Centre for Performance Histories and Cultures at the University of Exeter, (https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/drama/research/centres/performancehistoriescultures/) as well as a member of the Centre for Contemporary Performance Practices. (https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/drama/research/centres/contemporaryperformancepractices/).
I have an MA (Distinction, 2017) in Professional Practice (Musical Theatre) (Middlesex University). My research focused on performers education in musical theatre, cross-cultural communication and emotional expression, and musical theatre pedagogies in South East Asia. I have attended the BA programme in Musicology at the Aristoteleion University of Thessaloniki with focus on Pedagogy (1992-1995).
Some of my other formal qualifications include a Piano Virtuosity Diploma (2006, awarded with Distinction), a Harmony Diploma (2003, awarded with Distinction), a Woodwind and Brass Instrumentation Diploma (2003, awarded with Dinstinction), and an Audio Engineering Degree (2010, SAE Institute, Athens). I have received training in Stanislavski's System and Meisner Technique, and training on advanced characterisation (Laban movement). I have trained at the Academy of Russian Ballet (A. Petrova) in Greece (classical ballet) and at the National Conservatoire of Athens (piano virtuosity, voice, and composition). I have been awarded a scholarship from the European Community for Arts and Music to attend Masterclasses with Julia and Konstantin Ganev (Piano Virtuosity) and Dr Alexander Raichev (Music Composition). I have also a Diploma on Byzantine monody sight reading (National Conservatoire Manolis Kalomiris, 1990).
I have had an active career in acting, and performing in musical theatre as well as a long service in directing musical theatre (Greece, Taiwan). I have taught musical theatre for over 20 years and between the years 2010 and 2018 I taught musical theatre, acting, and voice in Taiwan, and designed a performing arts curriculum working for the TW Ministry of Education. I have received the 'Award of Excellent Performance' by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan (18.09.2017) and have facilitated workshops on musical theatre for performers and performing arts educators.
In 2021 I convened, lead and lectured the module 'Voices Across Stage and Screen' (DRA2096), (inspired and originated by Dr Konstantinos Thomaidis). I have taught Greek ancient chorus for the module 'Voice for the Actor' (DRA2086) and I have supervised 'Acting and Directing' (DRA3030) and 'Staging the Text' (DRA2067). I have lead seminars and workshops for the modules: 'Practitioners in Context' (DRA1009) and 'Performance and Interpretation' (DRA2064). I am an active member of the Widening Participation programme of the University of Exeter leading workshops for Drama Scholars on Improvisation and Devising Musical Theatre (01/2019, 03/2019. 07/2019, 02/2020).
I have received the Cawthra fund for the academic years 2018-2020 and the Sir Richard Stapley grant for the academic year 2021-2022.
PhD Thesis: 'Returning from afar, from always, from without': Ageing Female Vocalities in musical theatre.
http://hdl.handle.net/10871/13542
Publications:
2024: ‘The Ageing Female Voice in Musical Theatre’ (2024), in K. Thomaidis (ed), Contemporary Voice and Music Training for Actors, Drama School of the National Theatre of Greece: 150-161 [Original language: Greek].
2022: Journal of Inderdiscplinary Voice Studies 7(2): 219-228:
'The sound of age in musical theatre: A conversation with musical theatre's ageing female performers.
https://doi.org/10.1386/jivs_00066_1
2020: Academic Journal Skene - Aristoteleion University of Salonica, Greece, Vol 12:
'Επιστροφ απ το μακρι, απ το πντα, και απ το χωρς: «Μεγαλτερες» γυνακες στο musical theatre'
2019: Theatre, Dance, and Performance Training Blog (TDPT): 'Where is the vocal training ageing female musical theatre performers?' (12/2019)
Book Reviews:
2023: Studies In Musical Theatre: 'Pick a Pocket or Two. A History of British Musical Theatre by Ethan Mordden (2021). Review
2021: Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies 6(2) pp.225-228
Intellect Limites 2021 https://doi.org/10.1386/jivs_00049_5
Forthcoming:
2024: ‘Still Here? Ageing Female Vocalities in Musical Theatre’, IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music) Journal Special Issue.
2024: ‘‘A Strong, Older Woman’: Lived Experiences of Female Ageing in Contemporary British Theatre’. The Methuen Drama Handbook of Women in Contemporary British Theatre (editors: Marissia Fragkou & Rebecca Benzie), Bloomsbury.
2025: ‘Musical Theatre in Greece: A praxical conversation on its creative characteristics and training idiosyncrasies’,Scene: Academic Journal of Theatre, Aristoteleion University Publications [Original Language: Greek].
Research Project:
My PhD research looks into the artistic and creative vocal presence of ageing female musical theatre performers and the context within which identities of ageing musical theatre characters are constructed, staged, and articulated in relation to the performers and asks: to what extend these approaches reinforce or resist delineations of ageing female stereotypes?
The study looks particularly in musical theatre case studies from late 20th and early 21st century Anglophone (US and UK) original productions and revivals, and across large scale (Broadway/West-End) and smaller scale (independent British theatrical companies) productions.
The theoretical framework of the study draws from Fuchs' "Estragement' concept (2014), Age Studies (or Ageing studies- UK), third and fourth wave Feminism, Gender studies, and Voice studies. It proposes an intersectional approach under Crenshaw's and Lykke's work and definition of intersectionality.
Research Supervisory team:
First supervisor: Dr Konstantinos Thomaidis https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/drama/staff/thomaidis/
Second supervisor: Professor Jerri Daboo http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/staff/daboo
