Dr Ildiko Rippel
Senior Lecturer and Course Leader, Mtheatre
Theatre and Performance
email: i.rippel@worc.ac.uk
Ildiko is a performer, writer and lecturer. She is co-founder and artistic director of Anglo-German performance company Zoo Indigo, devising autobiographical performance that engages with social and political themes of gender, cultural identity, displacement and migration. The company has an established reputation for creating innovative interdisciplinary theatre, blending bilingual text, movement and multimedia. Zoo Indigo’s work combines dark humour, song and multimedia in a postmodern and kaleidoscopic approach, producing politically charged performances.
Ildikó has recently completed a Practice as Research PhD at Lancaster University, examining maternal performance and the presence of family members in contemporary theatre. Her current practice research with Zoo Indigo investigates multilingualism and dramaturgies of migration
Ildikó previously worked as a lecturer at De Montfort University, Leicester (Drama and Performing Arts) and at Nottingham Trent University International College (Art and Design), and as an elf in a Santa's Grotto.
Qualifications
- Lancaster University, PhD Theatre (Completion 2017)
- University of Worcester, PGCert, 2014
- Nottingham Trent University, MA Performance Art, 2005
- De Montfort University, Leicester, BA Theatre, 2001
- Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen (Germany), Intermediate Exams in Theatre and Philosophy, 1998
Teaching & Research
Teaching Interests
Devising and Adaptation
Devising productions with students from existing texts, such as novels, films or plays. In 2015, for example, we adapted Tarantino films through the use of live cameras.
Touring Theatre
Directing devised student productions on the MTheatre, using visual and physical theatre techniques.
Devising and Physical Theatre
European movement-based practices and physical theatre, specifically Pina Bausch’s dance theatre.
Theatre and Digital Media
Playfully and innovatively exploring technologies in theatre: live cameras, gaming, online performances, 360 videos and VR and projection mapping.
Research Interests
- Performance and Digital Media
- Autobiography in Performance
- Walking as a performance practice
- Maternal performance and performance with family
- Dramaturgies of Migration
- Multilingualism in Theatre
Performance History
Performance Works (with Zoo Indigo)
2019/2021
Don't Leave Me This Way
A politically charged performance exploring European identity. Collating sounds, songs and videos from their countries of origin, Zoo Indigo embarked on a performance odyssey, looking for Europe. The Zoo Indigo duo perform a series of citizenship catwalks to a live sound score, as they audition for their motherland. In a playful and provocative exploration of cultural belonging, they grieve the loss of identity, home, and the Eurovision song contest.
Commissioned: Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester and In Good Company, Derby Theatre.
Collaboration with musician Rob Rosa and media artist Barret Hogdson
Online Premiere: November 2020, Voila! Europe Festival
Live Premiere: July 2021, Departure Lounge Festival, Derby Theatre
Funded by the Arts Council England, European Regional Development Fund and the Attenborough Arts Centre.
2017
Celluloid Souls
Interactive multimedia Collaboration with media artist Barret Hodgson and musician Matt Marks
Commissioned: Derby Theatre, In Good Company
Premiere: 7 October 2017, Nottingham Playhouse
Funded by Arts Council England
2016
No Woman’s Land (Performance)
Multimedia Collaboration with media artist Barret Hodgson and musician Matt Marks
Work in Progress presented at Camden People’s Theatre, London
Commissioned: Derby Theatre, In Good Company; Premiere: November 2016
Funded by Arts Council England
Touring in the UK in 2017/2018
No Woman’s Land (Film)
By Tom Walsh in collaboration with Zoo Indigo
Premiered: Nottingham European Theatre Festival, June 2016
Touring to festivals in the UK 2016/2017
2015
No Woman’s Land (Research)
Autobiographical Performance Walk
Commissioned: Derby Theatre, In Good Company
Funded by Arts Council England
2012-2014
Blueprint
Multimedia theatre/science collaboration
Commissioned: Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham; premiere: 28 April 2012
Funded: Arts Council England
Touring in the UK in 2012/2013
Flat Out
Street Performance
Commissioned: hatch, Nottingham. Presented at Hazard, Manchester
2011
Circle Symphony
Site-specific durational project at Nottingham Playhouse; part of NEAT11 festival
Commissioned: Nottingham Playhouse
Funded: Arts Council England
2009-2012
Under the Covers
Multimedia performance
Collaboration with Vent Media
Commissioned: HATCH, Arts Council England
Premiered at Forest Fringe (Edinburgh);
Funded: Arts Council England
For previous work please visit the Zoo Indigo website
Publications and Conferences
Forthcoming
Rippel, Ildikó and Rosie Garton (2021) ‘Loss and being lost: performing precarity through multilingual text, song and music in Zoo Indigo’s Don’t Leave Me This Way' (working title), in Critical Stages, online: https://www.critical-stages.org (December 2021).
Publications
Rippel, Ildikó and Rosie Garton (2019) 'No Woman’s Land: Walking as a Dramaturgical Device in Performance of Maternal Migration', in Critical Stages, available at: https://www.critical-stages.org/20/no-womans-land-walking-as-a-dramaturgical-device-in-performance-of-maternal-migration/.
Rippel, Ildikó and Garton, Rosie (2017) ‘Maternal Raptures/Ruptures’, Performance Research Journal, 22:4, 36-43
Rippel, Ildikó and Garton, Rosie (2016) ‘Constructing Performance’, The Drawing Board.
Rippel, Ildikó and Garton, Rosie (2016) ‘Fantasizing Motherhood’ Live Art and the Maternal (Study Room), LADA, online
Rippel, Ildikó and Garton, Rosie (2011) ‘This is now, this is Live’ Body, Space and Technology Journal, online
Conference Presentations
No Woman’s Land (Practice as Research Presentation)
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR THEATRE RESEARCH (IFTR) conference Belgrade University of Arts, Serbia, July 2018
No Woman’s Land (Performance Lecture)
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR THEATRE RESEARCH (IFTR) conference Universidade de São Paulo (USP), July 2017
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CULTURE, COMMUNICATION AND TRANSNATIONAL SOCIETIES Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, February 2016
Blueprint/Fragments (Performance Lecture)
THE BODY IN 20TH CENTURY THEATRE Conference De Montfort University, June 2013
A PLACE, A SPACE Conference University of Worcester, June 2012
This is Now, this is Live (Performance lecture)
PLAY-PERFORM-PARTICIPATE.
Bi-annual Conference of the International Society for Intermedial Studies
Utrecht University, April 2015
CINEMA IN THEATRE
International Conference, University of Lyon 2, December 2014
JOURNEYS ACROSS MEDIA (JAM)
University of Reading, March 2010
(RE)PERFORMING THE POSTHUMAN
University of Sussex, Brighton, May 2010
DRHA CONFERENCE
Brunel University, September 2010
PERFORMING PRESENCE – FROM THE REAL TO THE VIRTUAL
University of Exeter, March 2009
Professional Bodies
Membership of Professional Bodies
International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), member of Performance as Research working group
The Theatre & Performance Research Association (TaPRA), member of New Technologies working group