Mark Edward

Dr Mark Edward is a pracademic and currently Reader in Creative Arts at Edge Hill University. Mark is interested in disrupting everyday places/space through the displacement of conventional drag performance. He does this by hijacking supermarkets, shopping malls, housing estates (‘Council House Movie Star’, 2012), churches etc with his drag persona, Gale Force. He also creates performance work through live art, contemporary dance practice, post-modern choreography, dance theatre and autobiographical investigations which are related to wider themes within social sciences. Mark authored the first practical drag module in higher education in the UK in 2015. He is the author of the book ’Mesearch and the Performing Body’ (2018) published by Palgrave Macmillan and co-editor of ‘Contemporary Drag Practices and Performers: Drag in a Changing Scene’ (2020) and ‘Drag Histories, Herstories and Hairstories: Drag in a Changing Scene’ (2020) with Bloomsbury.

Mark has worked for Rambert Dance Company and performed with the American arts activist and performer Penny Arcade in her work ‘Bad Reputation’ and also with Jeremy Goldstein in his ‘Truth to Power Cafe’.

Educationally he holds a PhD (from the University of Leeds) by practice research in autoethnography (or ’mesearch’ as Mark terms it) and the ageing performing body through queer, social and performance theory. He also has an MA in Dance Studies from LJMU, a BA (Hons) in Creative Arts (Live Art, Dance and Drama) from MMU and a PGCLTHE from the University of Chester. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Latest drag books:
‘Contemporary Drag Practices and Performers: Drag in a Changing Scene Volume One (Bloomsbury).

‘Drag Histories, Herstories & Hairstories: Drag in a Changing Scene Volume Two (Bloomsbury).