Elisabeth Massana is Lecturer in the English Literature Section of the Department Modern Languages and Literatures and English Studies at the University of Barcelona.
Elisabeth has been a Tutor for the Department of English Studies at the CA Barcelona of the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) (2011-2016) and has lectured on research techniques for the creative arts in the degrees of Acting and Dance at Campus ESART Barcelona – Bath Spa University (2016-2017).
She graduated in 2005 with a major in English Studies and in 2008 she completed an MA on Construction and Representation of Cultural Identities, both at the University of Barcelona. Her minor thesis focused on an analysis of queerness in Mark Ravenhill’s Handbag and Mother Clap’s Molly House. Her PhD thesis, entitled “The Performance of Racial and Gender Terror in debbie tucker green’s ear for eye (2018) and Travis Alabanza’s Burgerz (2018)” (2023; cum laude) was supervised by Enric Monforte and tutored by Mireia Aragay.
Elisabeth has published on the work of debbie tucker green, Cordelia Lynn, Vivienne Franzmann and Travis Alabanza, among others. She is co-convenor of the Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA) Working Group “Performance, Identity and Community” and she is member of the Editorial Board of the journal Lectora: Journal of Women and Textuality. She was a co-investigator for the four-year research project “British Theatre in the Twenty-First Century: Crisis, Affect, Community”, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the EU European Regional Development Fund (FFI2016-75443). She is co-investigator for the three-year research project ‘Gender, Affect and Care in Twenty-First Century British Theatre’ (PID2021-126448NA-I00) as well as a member of the research group ‘GRC Creació i pensament de les dones’ (2021 SGR 01097).
Contemporary British Theatre
2023: “Teatre incòmode: Cordelia Lynn a Barcelona”, Núvol 14 June https://www.nuvol.com/teatre-i-dansa/teatre-incomode-cordelia-lynn-a-barcelona-326610
2022: “‘I’m not afraid of being labelled a dirty boring feminist’: Reproductive Work, Feminism and/in Crisis at the Royal Court”, Crisis, Representation and Resilience: Perspectives on Contemporary British Theatre. Eds. Clare Wallace, Clara Escoda, Enric Monforte and José Ramón Prado-Pérez. London: Bloomsbury (Methuen Drama), pp. 55-70. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/crisis-representation-and-resilience-9781350180857/
2020: “A ‘La taula’… al primer crit!”, review of La Taula, a performative conference/dialogue devised by Split Britches and organized at Teatre Lliure during the Barcelona Biennal de Pensament, curated by Isaias Fanlo. https://www.nuvol.com/teatre-i-dansa/a-la-taula-al-primer-crit-129509
2020: review of Theatre on Terror: Subject Positions in British Drama (Ariane de Waal, 2017) and Watching War on the Twenty-First Century Stage: Spectacles of Conflict (Clare Finburgh, 2017), Journal of Contemporary Drama in English, 8: 2, pp. 340-45.
2020: “‘We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us’: On the Becoming Nomadic of the post-9/11 Spectator”. Special Issue: Terror on Tour: Borders, Detours & Contingencies, eds. Paul Antick and Ariane de Waal, Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies 16: 2, pp. 1-17. http://liminalities.net/16-2/
2020: “Cartographies of Silence in debbie tucker green’s truth and reconciliation (2011)”, debbie tucker green: Critical Perspectives. Eds. Siân Adiseshiah and Jacqueline Bolton. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 255-73.
2019: “Ningú sobreviu a la vida”, Núvol, 13 March.
https://www.nuvol.com/teatre-i-dansa/ningu-sobreviu-a-la-vida-ansia-de-sarah-kane-59291
2018: editor, “Dossier dedicat a debbie tucker green”, (Pausa.): Quadern de Teatre Contemporani 40-41 http://www.revistapausa.cat/tag/debbie-tucker-green/
2018: “debbie tucker green: una poeta de l’escena”, (Pausa.): Quadern de Teatre Contemporani 40 http://www.revistapausa.cat/debbie-tucker-green-una-poeta-de-lescena
2018: “Sopa de pollastre a la piscina: Arnold Wesker i Mark Ravenhill”, Núvol, 20 March https://www.nuvol.com/critica/sopa-de-pollastre-a-la-piscina
2018: “Castiga’m o salva’m, m’és indiferent”, Núvol, 19 January. https://www.nuvol.com/noticies/castigam-o-salvam-mes-indiferent/
2017: review of Forms of Conflict: Contemporary Wars on the British Stage by Sara Soncini (2015), Studies in Theatre and Performance 3: 1, pp. 368-9.
2017: “Fa vint anys que espero!”, Núvol, 9 September. https://www.nuvol.com/critica/fa-vint-anys-que-espero/
2017: “Anthony Neilson: ‘Entretenir el públic no vol dir ser paternalista’”, Núvol, 20 June. https://www.nuvol.com/entrevistes/anthony-neilson-entretenir-el-public-no-vol-dir-ser-paternalista/
2016: “Sarah Kane sense gluten”, Núvol, 16 November. https://www.nuvol.com/critica/sarah-kane-sense-gluten/
2016: review of Forms of Conflict: Contemporary Wars on the British Stage by Sara Soncini, Studies in Theatre and Performance. Published online 2 September. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14682761.2016.1227576?scroll=top&needAccess=true
2016: “Feminisme i classe als anys 80”, Núvol, 12 July. https://www.nuvol.com/critica/feminisme-i-classe-als-anys-80/
2016: “Caryl Churchill: de la Sala Beckett al Royal Court”, Núvol, 8 April. https://www.nuvol.com/critica/caryl-churchill-de-la-sala-beckett-al-royal-court/
2015: with Marta Tirado, “Entrevista amb Erika Fischer-Lichte: «La sacralitat del text és una ideologia»”, (Pausa.) (Sala Beckett, Barcelona) 37. http://www.revistapausa.cat/entrevista-amb-erika-fischer-lichte-la-sacralitat-del-text-es-una-ideologia/
2014: “Un clàssic de Caryl Churchill a la Sala Beckett”, Núvol, 23 March. https://www.nuvol.com/critica/un-classic-de-caryl-churchill-a-la-sala-beckett/
2013: “Mark Ravenhill en estat pur”, Núvol, 4 May. https://www.nuvol.com/critica/mark-ravenhill-en-estat-pur-benvinguts-als-90/
2013: “Un Pinter sense pausa”, Núvol, 27 March. https://www.nuvol.com/critica/un-pinter-sense-pausa/
2012: “Desentrallant la complexitat humana: Introducció a Simon Stephens”, (Pausa.): Quadern de Teatre Contemporani 34, pp. 141-3.
2012: “Entrevista a Simon Stephens”, (Pausa.): Quadern de Teatre Contemporani 34, pp. 149-53.
2012: “Theatre Uncut”, Núvol, 14 November. https://www.nuvol.com/noticies/theatre-uncut/
Other
2022: “Pròleg. Poètiques possibles de la despossessió”, Jordi Prat i Coll (1999-2022). Tarragona: Arola Editors, pp. 11-18.
2022: “Estudis Anglesos: literatura i teatre, continguts en primera persona”, Saber la singularitat: innovació docent des dels feminismes. Ed. Patricia Victoria Martínez Álvarez. Barcelona: Octaedro, ICE/UB, pp. 14-20. https://octaedro.com/producto/saber-la-singularitat-innovacio-docent-des-dels-feminismes/
2022: “Estudios Ingleses: literatura y teatro, contenidos en primera persona”, Saber la singularidad: innovación docente desde los feminismos. Ed. Patricia Victoria Martínez Álvarez. Barcelona: Octaedro, ICE/UB, pp. 14-20. https://octaedro.com/producto/saber-la-singularidad-innovacion-docente-desde-los-feminismos/
2020: with Cristina Alsina Rísquez, “Poems as Livable Worlds: A Conversation with Afshan D’souza-Lodhi and Jay Bernard”, Lectora: Journal of Women and Textuality 26: 223-46.
2018: “Barcelona, Ciutat Diversa”, Núvol, special issue published on the occasion of “Primera Biennal de Pensament”, Barcelona, October https://www.nuvol.com/llibres/barcelona-ciutat-diversa-56118
2018: “Glossari Ciutat Diversa de termes feministies i LGBTQ”, Núvol, special issue published on the occasion of “Primera Biennal de Pensament”, Barcelona, October. https://www.nuvol.com/llengua/glossari-ciutat-diversa-56128
2018: “Es tracta d’incloure, de fer visible, de donar espai”, interview with Ian Bermúdez, Coordinator of Espai DebuT, Sala Beckett, Barcelona, Núvol, 19 September. https://www.nuvol.com/entrevistes/ian-bermudez-es-tracta-dincloure-de-fer-visible-de-donar-un-espai
2016: “Versions contemporànies i reescriptures de Shakespeare” , “‘To be or not to be…’ 400 anys amb William Shakespeare”, http://crai.ub.edu/ca/coneix-el-crai/biblioteques/biblioteca-lletres/tobeornottobe, curated by Esther Acereda (CRAI, University of Barcelona), Gabriel Tomàs (CRAI, University of Barcelona), Clara Escoda and Enric Monforte.
2011: with Itziar Ziga and Del LaGrace Volcano, Glamur i resistència. Entrevistes a Itziar Ziga i Del LaGrace Volcano. Barcelona: El Tangram Editorial.
Contemporary British Theatre
2023: “…would breathe lighter with someone else”: Addressing Care and the Queer Archive in Travis Alabanza’s work” paper presented in the “Performance, Identity and Community Working Group” at the 2023 Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA) annual conference, University of Leeds, 30 August-1 September.
2021: attendance at “Mainstreaming Queerness: The New Queer Vanguard”, conference organized by the UK community-based Organization Queer/Disrupt, 10-11 June [online].
2021: “Tilting Our Heads in Fake Solidarity: Contesting Dialogue in Travis Alabanza’s Burgerz (2018)”, paper presented at the conference “Dialogue, Performance and the Body Politic in the Twenty-First Century”, Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures, Faculty of Arts, Charles University (Prague), 5-6 February [online].
2019: “Breaking Silences as Feminist Work: The Theatre of debbie tucker green”, paper presented at Jornadas de Estudios Afrodescendientes, University of Barcelona, 1 March.
2017: “Nomadic Spectatorship, Borders and Terror”, paper presented at the PhD Forum at “Nation, Nationhood and Theatre”, 26th Annual Conference of the German Society for Contemporary Theatre and Drama in English (CDE), University of Reading, 29 June-2 July.
2017: “’We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us’: On the Becoming Nomadic of the post-9/11 Spectator”, paper presented at the Interdisciplinary Colloquium “Terror on Tour III: Borders, Detours and Contingencies”, University of Innsbruck, 29-31 March.
2016: chair of panel, “Geographies of Gender and Sexuality”, at “Precarious Subjects: A Conference for Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers in Gender and Sexuality”, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, 10-11 June.
2016: with Marta Tirado, “Failed Subjectivities and Conviviality in the Theatre of Sarah Kane and debbie tucker green [sic]”, paper presented at “Residuos emocionales: regímenes y disidencias afectivas en el mundo moderno”, a conference organized by Centre Dona i Literatura, GRC Creació i Pensament de les Dones, and CCCB, Universitat de Barcelona, 15-16 March.
2015: “Cartographies of Silence in debbie tucker green’s truth and reconciliation”, paper presented at “debbie tucker green International Symposium”, University of Lincoln, 21 November.
2015: registration officer, “Theatre and Spectatorship”, 24th Annual Conference of the German Society for Contemporary Theatre and Drama in English (CDE), University of Barcelona, 4-7 June.
2014: “Bodies on/off Stage: Towards an Analysis of the Performance of Terror in Post-9/11 British Theatre”, paper presented at the New Scholars’ Forum of “Theatre and Stratification”, International Federation for Theatre Research Conference (IFTR/FIRT), University of Warwick, 28 July- 2 August.
2014: “Mark Ravenhill in Performance: Breakfast, Video-Games and War on Terror”, paper presented at the 3rd International Conference “What Happens Now: 21st Century Writing in English”, University of Lincoln, 14-17 July.
2013: “Preliminaries for a chapter on Mark Ravenhill’s Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat”, paper presented at the PhD Forum at “Theatre and Politics: Theatre as Cultural Intervention”, 22nd Annual Conference of the German Society for Contemporary Theatre and Drama in English (CDE), Charles University, Prague, 30 May-2 June.
2012: “Transient Bodies, Altered Meanings. Bodily Co-Presence and Spectatorship Response-Ability in Mark Ravenhill’s Birth of a Nation”, paper presented at “Performing Transformations International Conference”, International Centre for Performance Studies, Tangier (Morocco), 1-4 June.
2010: “Glamour i Resistències: Construint el gènere a cops de taló”, paper presented at “Noves Subjectivitats/Sexualitats Literàries”, Centre Dona i Literatura, Universitat de Barcelona, 4-5 November.
2009: “Re-reading Gender Performativity: Subersion and Parody in British Queer Theatre Representations”, paper presented at the conference “Representing Gender in the Performative Arts”, University of Groningen, 12-13 November.
2009: “Mark Ravenhill vs. Section 28: Family Values Revisited or a Queer Theatre Challenge to Heteronormativity”, paper presented at the “First Conference of Young Researchers on Anglophone Studies” (ASYRAS), University of Salamanca, 1-3 October.
Contemporary British Theatre
2024: co-convenor and speaker at the Performance, Identity and Community Working Group event “Addressing Archives”, Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA), organized in collaboration with Special Collections and the curators of the John Bedford room, University of Leeds, 18 April.
2023: Invited lecture “Posseïda per Doja Cat, o com sobreviure a la defensa de la tesi doctoral” in the Desè Taller de Tesi “Entre línies” organized by the PhD Programme “Construcció i Representació d’Identitats Culturals”, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia, 24 November.
2023: “Queer and Working-Class Forms at Work: Politicizing and Problematizing Care in Travis Alabanza and Debbie Hannan’s Sound of the Underground” paper presented at the symposium Care and/in Twenty-First Century British Theatre within the project “Gender, Affect and Care in Twenty-First Century British Theatre”, organized by the Contemporary British Theatre Barcelona research group, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia i Comunicació, 16-17 November.
2023: “Conversa sobre el teatre britànic actual amb Cordelia Lynn i Simon Longman”, organized by Llibreria Finestres and Obrador d’Estiu de la Sala Beckett, Barcelona, 12 July-
2023: with Cristina Alsina, “Danez Smith: A Conversation”, closing ceremony of the MA Construction and Representation of Cultural Identities, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, 12 May.
2023: participation in the study day on care in/and twenty-first century British theatre within the project “Gender, Affect and Care in Twenty-First Century British Theatre”, organized by the Contemporary British Theatre Barcelona research group, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia i Comunicació, 24 February.
2019: with Cristina Alsina, “A conversation with Afshan D’souza-Lodhi and Jay Bernard”, closing ceremony of the MA Construction and Representation of Cultural Identities, University of Barcelona, 14 May.
2019: “‘I’m not afraid of being labelled a dirty boring feminist’: Feminism and/in Crisis at the Royal Court”, paper presented at the symposium on crisis within the project “British Theatre in the Twenty-First Century: Crisis, Affect, Community”, organized by the Contemporary British Theatre Barcelona research group, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia i Comunicació, 11-12 April.
2019: attendance at the research seminar “The Drama of Ideas: Beckett and the Question of Philosophy” given by Martin Puchner (U. Harvard), co-organized by Grup de Recerca en Estudis Literaris Globals (GlobaLS), U. Oberta de Catalunya, and Contemporary British Theatre Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia i Comunicació, 5 April.
2018: participation in the study day on crisis within the project “British Theatre in the Twenty-First Century: Crisis, Affect, Community”, organized by the Contemporary British Theatre Barcelona research group, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia, 12 April.
2017: participation in the study day on affect within the project “British Theatre in the Twenty-First Century: Crisis, Affect, Community”, organized by the Contemporary British Theatre Barcelona research group, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia, 24 March.
2017: attendance at “Seminar with Jack Halberstam”, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona, 2 February.
2017: attendance at “Conflicted Bodies: Feminist and Queer Responses to Militarism and Violence”, Gender, Sexuality and Violence Research Network, Goldsmiths University, London, 30 September.
2017: “Pensar la frontera desde el feminismo chicano: una herramienta de análisis para el teatro”, a talk given at the Casal Català de la Península de Yucatán, Mérida, Mexico, 8 August.
2017: attendance at “In Context: Queer Stages UK”, Clore Learning Centre, Cottesloe Room, National Theatre, London, 5 July.
2016: co-organiser of the fourth Taller de Tesis (Thesis Workshop) for the PhD Programme “Construcció i Representació d’Identitats Culturals”, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia, 7 October.
2016: participation in the study day on happiness organized by the Contemporary British Theatre Barcelona research group, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia, 12 May.
2016: attendance at the symposium “Sarah Kane Explored: Staging the Unstageable”, Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre, London, 11 March.
2015: “Theories of the In-between: On the Intersections between Terror and Precarity”, paper presented at “Taller de Tesis” PhD Programme “Construcció i Representació d’Identitats Culturals”, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia, 22 May.
2014: attendance at the “Second Augsburg-Barcelona Seminar” organized by the research project “Darstellungen des Prekären im britishen Gegenwartstheater” (“Representations of the Precarious in Contemporary British Theatre”), funded by the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst – German Academic Exchange Service; Projekt-ID: 57049392), University of Barcelona, 15-19 September.
2014: “The Performance of Terror in Post-9/11 British Theatre”, paper presented at “Taller de Tesis” PhD Programme “Construcció i Representació d’Identitats Culturals”, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia, 8 May.
2013: attendance at the “Taller de Tesis”, PhD Programme “Construcció i Representació d’Identitats Culturals”, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Filologia, 14 May.
2013: “Juli Cèsar a escena”, round table with Joan Flores and Mario Gas within the X Festival Shakespeare and the seminar Gabinet de Lectura de Textos Teatrals, Llibreria La Central del Raval, Barcelona, 10 June.
2013: “Mark Ravenhill i el Teatre Britànic”, round table with Josep Maria Mestres, Oriol Rovira and Ferran Vilajosana, organized by Teatre Tantarantana and Llibreria La Central del Raval, 13 May.
2010: “La Irlanda del segle XXI: Creixement Econòmic i Canvi Social”, paper presented within the seminar “Els dijous d’Irlanda”, organized by Amics de la UNESCO, Barcelona, 2 December.
2006: with Rosa González, “La llengua irlandesa: visió històrica i problemàtica actual”, paper presented within the seminar “Els dijous d’Irlanda”, organized by Amics de la UNESCO, Barcelona, 22 February.
Contemporary British Theatre:
In progress: Claudia Maya “Affect, Care and Feminism in Contemporary British Dystopian Drama” (co-supervision)
Other
In progress: Santiago Serdà “An Ontology of Queer Aids Narratives: Considering Conflict in the Construction of AIDS Fiction” (co-supervision)
In progress: Konstantinos Makridakis “A Comparative Approach on Contemporary Queer Performance in Greece and Spain: the cases of Athens and Barcelona” (member of the advisory committee; Department of Theatre Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)