Dr Ildikó Rippel

Ildiko Rippel

Course leader for the BA Theatre, Acting and Performance

School of Arts

Theatre, Film & Media Production

Contact Details

email: i.rippel@worc.ac.uk

Ildikó 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. 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)

2023

Wilding
Wilding is a politically charged performance exploring radical protest and feminism, featuring Emily Davison’s great-great cousin Emma Bourke, Euro-Punk and a pantomime horse.
Collaborator: Emma Bourke
Commissioned: Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester
Premiere: November 2023, FEAST Theatre Festival, Malvern
Funded by: Arts Council England

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 (2025) Performance and Real Relationships: Family, Intimacy and Domesticity in Contemporary European Theatre. London: Bloomsbury, Drama Engage.

Publications

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).

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

Wilding (Performance Lecture)

International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), Accra, University of Ghana, July 2023.

Wilding (Performance Lecture and video installation)

Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA), Colchester, University of Essex, September 2022.

Don’t Leave Me This Way (Performance Lecture)

International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), Reykjavik, University of Iceland, June 2022.

BRITizenship (Performance Lecture)

International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), Shanghai Theatre Academy, China, July 2019.

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

  • 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