Katharine Dorney

Biography

After completing my PhD at the University of Sheffield, I spent a year as a postdoctoral researcher at the British Library learning to work with modern theatrical archives. I then became a researcher/interviewer on a project documenting the history of the Liverpool Everyman Theatre before joining the Victoria & Albert Museum as the curator of modern and contemporary performance with a remit to acquire material for, and interpret, the collection. Among the projects I worked on there was leading the curatorial team in the development of a new permanent display of the collection in the museum; the AHRC funded ''Giving Voice to a Nation'' project exploring the history and practice of theatre subsidy through the Arts Council of Great Britain archive; the writing and curation of the iPad app and book Played in Britain: Modern Theatre in 100 Plays which explored the history of post-war British Theatre  and the acquisition of key contemporary performance archives including those of director Peter Brook, the Young Vic, Monstrous Regiment and Paines Plough.