Roberta Mock
@robertamock.bsky.social
780 followers 510 following 240 posts
Professor of Performance at Royal Holloway, London. 🇨🇦 in UK for a long time now. Tikkun olam 🍉. She/her. Posting in personal capacity only.
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robertamock.bsky.social
Hi new folks! This is what I said I was into when I joined last year. Not much has changed tbh.
robertamock.bsky.social
1. Theatre
2. Hotel rooms
3. Live Art
4. Techno
5. Stuffed vine leaves
6. Thrift/2nd hand clothing
7. Korean crime drama
8. Detroit
9. Cats
10. Macaroons
silentbeauties.bsky.social
Get to know your mutuals. List 10 things you're into!

1. Silent and classic films in general
2. History (all eras)
3. Art
4. Languages learning
5. Traveling
6. Cultures of the world
7. Music
8. Social media
9. Media studies
10. Meditation
Reposted by Roberta Mock
tokodofficial.bsky.social
🎙️ New episode! Neurodivergence Support & the PhD 🎙️https://theotherkindofdoctor.wordpress.com/episodes/
robertamock.bsky.social
You can read 'Caryl Churchill's Eco-Socialist Feminism' by Elaine Aston (published by Cambridge University Press) for free online until 22 October:

www.cambridge.org/core/element...
Cover of Cambridge Elements title: Caryl Churchill's Eco-Socialist Feminism by Elaine Aston
Reposted by Roberta Mock
thisisliveart.bsky.social
Are you a live artist or practitioner eager to explore how and why you make?

Applications for Do It Together are now open!

tinyurl.com/49ce24w4

⏰Deadline to apply: Wednesday 12 November, 5pm

#DIT2026
Reposted by Roberta Mock
poetryforsupper.bsky.social
Phenomenology Friday

Insofar as I have a body, I am not a pure consciousness, but am engaged in the world through this body with the aid of which I perceive. […] The role of philosophy is to make us rediscover this bond with the world that precedes thought itself.

— Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Merleau-Ponty. The Merleau-Ponty Reader. Toadvine and Lawler, editors. Cover. Merleau-Ponty. The Contemporary Philosophical Movement. 

From an interview with Maurice Fleurent, Carrefour, no. 92 (23 May 1946).

“The Phenomenology of Perception attempts to answer a question I asked myself ten years ago and which, I think, all philosophers of my generation have asked themselves: how to escape idealism without falling back into the naivete of realism?” Merleau-Ponty. The Contemporary Philosophical Movement. 

“[For instance, my] body is not an object: it is the medium of all my relations with the world.
Insofar as I have a body, I am not a pure consciousness, but am engaged in the world through this body with the aid of which I perceive. I do not merely know the world; as Heidegger says, I am in the world. The role of philosophy is to make us rediscover this bond with the world that precedes thought itself.

On another level, you see the consequences: if man is not only a thinking subject but a situated subject, our relations with others cannot, from the beginning, be the relation of a pure thought with a pure thought.
They are dominated by differences of situation; classical liberal politics ap pear abstract. Generally speaking, philosophy rediscovers a "thickness" and a relation with concrete problems it had lost when it became pure reflection on science.” Merleau-Ponty. The Contemporary Philosophical Movement. 

“I have known Sartre for twenty years. I have had countless conversations with him, and it would be difficult for me to mea sure how much I owe him. I am in complete agreement with him when it comes to defining the human through a certain number of contradictions such as those of consciousness and object, in-itself and for-itself, or that of the for-itself and the for-others. My thinking would differ from his to the extent that he describes these fundamental antitheses as insurmountable.

On the contrary, it seems to me that they are overcome in the very fact that we live, that we perceive things, that we perceive others. In this sense, the synthesis is given along with the antithesis. This is particularly important in the domain of philosophy, history, and politics.

Sartre seems to have thought for a long time that there was no middle ground between a dogmatic philosophy of history, a fatalism, and the philosophy of freedom according to which history has no sense other than that which we decide to give it. In my opinion, there is, on the contrary, a science of history that takes shape in the facts and that we have only to complete, this human intervention being, moreover, a decisive one.

But these are questions to be examined. On this topic, Sartre has not yet expressed himself fully, and one has never demanded of a philosopher that he say, at the age of forty, his last word on all of the nuances of his thought.”
Reposted by Roberta Mock
exeuntmagazine.bsky.social
Chris Goode's voice dominated the theatre blogging culture of the 2010s. @alicesaville.bsky.social reflects on how the abusive theatremaker used his writings to hide in plain sight

Alice points to the need for greater transparency in the theatre industry. In that spirit, this post is free to read
Chris Goode told the truth about who he was. How did we fail to see it?
Goode's voice dominated the theatre blogging culture of the 2010s. Alice Saville reflects on how the abusive theatremaker used his writings to hide in plain sight
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
Reposted by Roberta Mock
jennifercnash.bsky.social
Year 5 of the Black Feminist Theory Summer Institute: Applications are open, more info on our website. Please spread the word.
robertamock.bsky.social
Thank you for introducing me to this network!
robertamock.bsky.social
Loved this piece on activist performance-maker Morgan Bassichis by Alisa Solomon.

Now added to my to-do list: “Study ‘The Witches of Eastwick’ for political strategy.” “Find a therapist who can work quickly.”

jewishcurrents.org/can-morgan-b...
Can Morgan Bassichis Be Famous?
In the wake of their crossover hit Can I Be Frank? , the outspoken anti-Zionist performer is poised to carry their lineage of radical politics to the main…
jewishcurrents.org
robertamock.bsky.social
If you see this, you can post a bridge too! This is the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor Ontario and Detroit. (I took this photo in August.)
Photo from ground level of a suspension bridge stretching over water. There's a freighter passing underneath. You can see the Detroit train station on the other side of the river.
robertamock.bsky.social
Walter Benjamin died on this day 85 years ago.

"This is how one pictures the angel of history... Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage... The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead & make whole what has been smashed." 🪽
Black and white photo of Walter Benjamin.
Reposted by Roberta Mock
exeuntmagazine.bsky.social
As a special treat - and to a say a big thank you / diolch yn fawr iawn to everyone who contributed to this list of brilliant Welsh plays - today's piece is paywall-free and free to read!
The best Welsh plays: an alternative syllabus
There's never been a Welsh play as a GCSE set text. Gary Owen, Seiriol Davies, Owen Sheers, Francesca Goodridge, Tim Price and more have some suggestions....
exeuntmagazine.substack.com
Reposted by Roberta Mock
bendyziggy.bsky.social
1st rule of research methodology 101:

👏correlation 👏 is 👏 not 👏 causation👏
Rep. Michelle Au 
Dr. Michelle Au

It's good once in a while to discuss the difference between correlation and causation.
85% of people who get into car crashes may have had cereal for breakfast.
This doesn't mean, however, that car crashes are caused by cereal.
I mention this today for...no reason whatsoever.
Reposted by Roberta Mock
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
'Research by the group End Sexism in Schools found that women were largely absent from history taught in key stage 3, the first three years of secondary education in England. Monarchs were among only a handful of women mentioned by name alongside...Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison.' 2/2
End Sexism In Schools - Working for education free of sexism
End Sexism in Schools is working for a UK education system free of sexism that allows all children to fulfil their potential.
endsexisminschools.org.uk
robertamock.bsky.social
Bubbeles, don't suffer. Take the Tylenol if your teeth hurt, just not too much. Or buy the even cheaper generic version!

Here in the UK it's called paracetamol and costs about 3 pence per tablet at any supermarket.

This is what the NHS says about their safety: www.nhsinform.scot/tests-and-tr...
Paracetamol
Find out who can take paracetamol, how to take it, what the possible side effects are and what to do if you take too much.
www.nhsinform.scot
Reposted by Roberta Mock
leahbroad.bsky.social
NEW POST

This week I'm thinking about the role of music in political conflict.

Meet French Resistance composer Elsa Barraine, whose compositions responded to the rise of fascism in Europe

"Music would become Barraine's mode of resistance"

open.substack.com/pub/leahbroa...
The composer who defied the Nazis
Eight pieces to start listening to French Resistance composer Elsa Barraine
open.substack.com
robertamock.bsky.social
A Moscow court has sentenced 5 members of the exiled feminist art collective Pussy Riot to prison in absentia on charges relating to anti-war protest and performances critical of Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Pussy Riot Members Sentenced to Russian Prison in Absentia
“I stand by every single word and my anti-war stance is clear,” said Diana Burkot, a member of the exiled feminist art collective.
hyperallergic.com
robertamock.bsky.social
I feel inexplicably deep sadness at the news of Robert Redford's death.
markharris.bsky.social
For decades, Redford had a tortured relationship with acting--one critic described him as behaving like the handsome high school senior who'd grudgingly agreed to star in the class play. Here's some raw transcript from when I asked him about Mike Nichols directing him in Barefoot in the Park. (1/2)
We tried out in New Haven. Now, I was not sure about my own self at that time...So, when I was called out to do the play, part of me was resisting everything, everything. My thought was, I'm going to show everyone why I shouldn't be in this play. When we opened in New Haven, I basically just laid down. I said said “Okay, I'm going to be so bad they're going to get rid of me." So I got terrible reviews. Elizabeth [Ashley] did well. They all loved her and she was great. But, my perversity had everyone down on me. I thought, well, this is good, now they'll replace me. Mike took me to lunch and said, “Look, I think I know what you're doing, and it's not going to work. No matter how bad you try to behave, I'm not going to replace you." So I said, "Well, I'm now going to get worse.” I decides I'm not gonna let him win this one, I'm going to show him. I'm going to be so bad he's gotta replace me.
robertamock.bsky.social
Oh gosh... 😳
thestage.co.uk
Breaking: More than 1,000 staff at the Royal Shakespeare Company are being invited to take voluntary redundancy as the theatre organisation grapples with a "challenging" financial situation 👇
RSC begins voluntary redundancy scheme
More than 1,000 staff at the Royal Shakespeare Company are being invited to take voluntary redundancy as the organisation faces financial challenges
www.thestage.co.uk
robertamock.bsky.social
Text above paraphrased from linked article by Bernardine Evaristo.
robertamock.bsky.social
Maureen Duffy (b. 1933) is one of the working-class playwrights inc. Wesker and Bond who formed the Royal Court Writers Group. In 1968, her play Rites, set in a women’s public toilet, was commissioned by the National Theatre. She's campaigned tirelessly for gay rights since the early 1960s. ✨
Celebrating Maureen Duffy, a true pioneer | The Observer
Older women writers are too often overlooked. My new Royal Society of Literature prize aims to change that – starting with Duffy, a literary trailblazer ...
observer.co.uk
Reposted by Roberta Mock
hesherman.bsky.social
Photos from Jamie Lloyd's "Waiting for Godot" with Keanu reeves and Alex Winter are out. You know you've been curious. Discuss.
robertamock.bsky.social
He goes by many names...
Screenshot of a Google image search of a man with a beard and baseball hat. He appears as Jordan Wade on Flickr, James Emre on X, Michael on Pinterest (with caption "Scammer pictur es, Medical photos, Doctor picture), Mohammad Hashim on Facebook, Robert Nice on LinkedIn) - with the  question "Are these results useful?" on the bottom