Séance: A View Through the Veil (2021)
Category: Film, Performance
This short film captures the evocative atmosphere of the Victorian Parlour Séance, examining the intricate relationship between the medium, the sitter, and the spectacle of belief. The work moves beyond simple historical recreation, using the philosophical concepts of Jacques Derrida to interrogate the nature of deception, presence, and the “veil” between worlds. The film is available to watch on the Media of Mediumship YouTube channel.
Project Details:
- Role: Writer, Director, Performer
- Collaborators: A. Cooper, D. Crowley
- Themes: Victorian Séance, Deception, Mediumship, Derrida, Performance Magic
- Output: Short Film / Digital Product
The Davenports play Huddersfield (2022)
Category: Performance, Writing
A live, one-act play that re-stages the historical and cultural impact of the Davenport Brothers’ visit to Huddersfield. This non-textual performance explores the ensuing riots and the complex interplay between spiritualism, skepticism, and public fascination, drawing connections to iconic figures like Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini. The work is a key part of the “Cultures of Place” research project.
Project Details:
- Role: Performer, Writer
- Collaborators: M. Burrow, A. Carter
- Themes: Historical Performance, Spiritualism, Davenport Brothers, Houdini, Site-Specific Theatre
- Output: Live Performance / One-Act Play
Mr Punch’s Cabinet of Curiosities
Category: Curation
As co-curator, Dr. Taylor helps maintain this unique project: a dark museum of weird and haunted artifacts. The cabinet serves as a physical and conceptual space where objects of magic, folklore, and strange history are collected and displayed. It blurs the line between historical exhibit and performance art, inviting audiences to question the stories and power embedded in the artifacts themselves.
Project Details:
- Role: Co-Curator
- Themes: Curation, Dark Museum, Haunted Artifacts, Folklore, Material Culture
- Output: Ongoing Curatorial Project
Mashing up Magick: Bizarre Magick and the Fuzzy Gothic (2022)
Category: Writing
This academic chapter, published in the collection Gothic Mash-Ups, investigates the intersection of Bizarre Magick and the emerging aesthetic of the “Fuzzy Gothic”. The text analyzes how contemporary performers appropriate and hybridize gothic tropes, storytelling, and historical narratives to create new forms of magickal entertainment that are at once unsettling and intellectually engaging.
Project Details:
- Role: Author
- Themes: Bizarre Magick, Gothic Studies, Performance Theory, Storytelling
- Output: Peer-Reviewed Book Chapter
Identity and Persona (2020)
Category: Writing
A key chapter in the academic anthology The Magiculum II, this work delves into the complex process of constructing a performance persona in magic. Dr. Taylor examines the challenge of authenticity for a magician, arguing that the persona is neither a fictional character nor a simple representation of the self, but a carefully negotiated identity that exists in the space between the trick and the audience’s perception.
Project Details:
- Role: Author
- Themes: Performance Persona, Identity, Magic Theory, Audience Studies
- Output: Peer-Reviewed Book Chapter
Abandoned Magic (2023)
Category: Film, Writing
A practice-as-research project comprising a series of experiments in videography, performance magic, and autobiography. This work explores fragmented narratives and the challenge of representing a practice that is, by its nature, often ephemeral and elusive. The project reflects on the process of making practice concrete through writing and film, embracing the inherent fragmentation as a deliberate artistic and scholarly method.
Project Details:
- Role: Creator, Performer
- Themes: Practice-as-Research, Videography, Autobiography, Performance Theory
- Output: Research Project / Video Works