 
    Overview
Background
Professor Joanne Tompkins is currently seconded to the Australian Research Council as Executive Director of the Humanities and Creative Arts panel, for a period of three years (until 2019).
Her research interests include spatial theories and virtual reality; post-colonial, intercultural, and multicultural drama, literature, and theory; performance theories; and feminist performance.
Her current research includes 3D visualisation and modelling of theatre spaces; the spatial theory of heterotopia; space in Australian and Canadian theatre; database of Australian performance; multicultural theories and drama, and intercultural performance.
She is the author of articles on: Spatial theory and virtual reality; post-colonial, multicultural, and intercultural drama and theory; Australian drama and literature and Canadian drama;
She is author of: Theatre’s Heterotopias: Space and the Analysis of Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014; and Unsettling Space: Contestations in Contemporary Australian Theatre. Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2006.
She is co-author of: A Global Doll's House: Ibsen and Distant Visions. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016 (with Julie Holledge, Frode Helland and Jonathan Bollen); Women's Intercultural Performance, Routledge, 2000 (with Julie Holledge); and Post-colonial Drama: Theory, Practice, Politics, Routledge, 1996 (with Helen Gilbert).
She is editor of: Theatre Journal, "Space and the Geographics of Theatre," a special issue of Modern Drama, 2004; "Theatre and the Canadian Imaginary," a special issue of Australasian Drama Studies, 1996.
She is co-editor of: Performing Site-Specific Theatre: Politics, Place, Practice, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012 (with Anna Birch); Site-Specificity and Mobility, a Special Issue of Contemporary Theatre Review 2012 (with Anna Birch); Performance and Design, a special issue of Australasian Drama Studies (with Andrew Filmer and Miranda Heckenberg) 2012;Modern Drama: Defining the Field, University of Toronto Press, 2003 (with Ric Knowles and WB Worthen); Modern Drama 1999-2005; Performing Women / Performing Feminisms: Interviews with International Women Playwrights (with Julie Holledge).
Availability
- Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, University of Toronto
- Masters (Coursework), University of Waterloo
- Doctoral Diploma, Queen Mary University of London
Research interests
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Theatre and SpatialityI am interested in the creation and manipulation of imaginative space/locations on stage, and the ways in which architecture contributes to imaginative stage space. I am also interested in the relationship between space on stage and space in the cultural context outside a theatre venue. I describe this through the concept of heterotopia, a development of Kevin Hetherington's formulation of Foucault's version of the term. 
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Theatre and Virtual RealityI research the ways in which theatre might engage with virtual reality. I explore this primarily through the redevelopment of historical theatre venues, virtually. These venues are useful to explore architectural structure, how special effects worked, how actors moved and performed on such stages, and how stage properties functioned then. 
Research impacts
Professor Tompkins has made a research impact in terms of the development of cultural spaces for theatres, galleries, and museums. Through the Ortelia project (www.ortelia.com), she, in conjunction with two Virtual Reality modellers, has developed tools for managing contemporary cultural venues. There is also the capacity for curating and archiving gallery and museum exhibitions and designing theatre productions. There is also a historical component to the theatre projects: this aspect of Ortelia models early modern theatres from London to investigate how performance was staged then. Ortelia has also developed the capacity to provide the curation of 3D mobile objects for museum exhibitions and for greater investigation by the museum community and by the cultural community from which the objects have emerged.
She is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from Queen Mary, University of London (2015).
Works
Search Professor Joanne Tompkins’s works on UQ eSpace
2003
Book Chapter
Yellow Fever, Yellow Claw, Yellow Peril: Performing the Fantasy of the
Tompkins, Joanne (2003). Yellow Fever, Yellow Claw, Yellow Peril: Performing the Fantasy of the. Performing National Identities: International Perspectives on Contemporary Canadian Theatre. (pp. 289-302) edited by Grace, Sherrill and Glaap, Albert-Reiner. Vancouver, Canada: Talonbooks.
2003
Book
Modern Drama: Defining the Field
R. Knowles, J. E. Tompkins and W. B. Worthen eds. (2003). Modern Drama: Defining the Field. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
2002
Journal Article
Review of the Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine
Tompkins, Joanne E. (2002). Review of the Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine. Etudes Théatrales/Essays in Theatre, 20 (2), 157-158.
2002
Other Outputs
James Reaney
Tompkins, J. E. (2002). James Reaney.
2001
Journal Article
Peter Dickinson, Here Is Queer: Nationalisms, Sexualities, and the Literatures of Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.
Tompkins, Joanne (2001). Peter Dickinson, Here Is Queer: Nationalisms, Sexualities, and the Literatures of Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.. AUMLA (95), 126-127.
2001
Edited Outputs
Modern Drama
Modern Drama. (2001). 44 (1)
2001
Edited Outputs
Modern Drama
Modern Drama. (2001). 43 (4)
2001
Journal Article
Teaching Canadian Plays in Australia
Tompkins, J. E. (2001). Teaching Canadian Plays in Australia. Canadian Theatre Review, 105 (Winter), 27-28.
2001
Journal Article
'Homescapes' and identity reformations in Australian multicultural drama
Tompkins, J (2001). 'Homescapes' and identity reformations in Australian multicultural drama. Theatre Research International, 26 (1), 47-59. doi: 10.1017/S0307883301000050
2001
Journal Article
Modern: Drama (defining the field), Part II
Tompkins, J. E. (2001). Modern: Drama (defining the field), Part II. Modern Drama, 44 (1), 1-2.
2001
Book Chapter
"Fatherlands and Mother-tongues": Family Histories and Futures in Recent Australian and Canadian Multicultural Theatre
Tompkins, J. E. (2001). "Fatherlands and Mother-tongues": Family Histories and Futures in Recent Australian and Canadian Multicultural Theatre. Siting the Other. (pp. 347-362) edited by M. Maufort and F. Bellarsi. Brussels: P.I.E.-Peter Lang.
2000
Journal Article
The Drama of South Africa, by Loren Kruger
Tompkins, J. E. (2000). The Drama of South Africa, by Loren Kruger. Australasian Drama Studies, 37 (October), 124-126.
2000
Book
Women's Intercultural Performance
Holledge, J. and Tompkins, J. E. (2000). Women's Intercultural Performance. London: Routledge.
1999
Journal Article
Review of Humphrey Bower, Adaptor, Natural Life
Tompkins, J. E. (1999). Review of Humphrey Bower, Adaptor, Natural Life. Australasian Drama Studies, 35 (October), 186-189.
Funding
Supervision
Availability
- Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins is:
- Available for supervision
Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.
Available projects
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TheatreAmong the topics I could supervise are theatre history, theatre theory, and cultural, national, spatial approaches to theatre. I am particularly interested in Australian and Canadian theatre. 
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Digital Humanities and Virtual RealityI am interested in topics relating to digital humanities and theatre and VR theatre. 
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy An Internationalist Turn: Ecocritical Connections in Writing Climate Crisis from Australia and BeyondAssociate Advisor Other advisors: Dr Tom Doig, Associate Professor Stephen Carleton 
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Doctor Philosophy Gender Equality and the Cycle PlayAssociate Advisor Other advisors: Associate Professor Stephen Carleton 
Completed supervision
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2018 Doctor Philosophy Brecht in India: The Poetics and Politics of Transcultural TheatrePrincipal Advisor Other advisors: Dr Bernadette Cochrane 
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2016 Master Philosophy "Being With:" Establishing Co-presence Between Multimedia Images and Performers in Multimedia Performance.Principal Advisor Other advisors: Associate Professor Amelia Barikin 
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2014 Doctor Philosophy Shakespeare's Voice: A Theory of the Voice in PerformancePrincipal Advisor Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Richard Fotheringham 
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2013 Doctor Philosophy Dramaturgy, Playtext, and StructurePrincipal Advisor 
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2013 Doctor Philosophy Really Moving DramaPrincipal Advisor Other advisors: Associate Professor Stephen Carleton 
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2012 Doctor Philosophy Re-Imagining Citizenry: National Identities in Canadian and Australian Multicultural DramaPrincipal Advisor 
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2011 Master Philosophy Carving Out a Space: Founding Performance Space in the CityPrincipal Advisor 
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2010 Doctor Philosophy The space and performance of virtual realityPrincipal Advisor 
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2009 Doctor Philosophy Theatre audience contribution through the post-performance discussionPrincipal Advisor Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Veronica Kelly, Emeritus Professor Richard Fotheringham 
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2008 Doctor Philosophy Staging the North: Finding, Imagining and Performing an Australian Deep NorthPrincipal Advisor Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Veronica Kelly 
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2007 Doctor Philosophy Beyond the Visible: Disability and Performing BodiesPrincipal Advisor 
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2006 Master Philosophy RECONCILIATION ON STAGE: THE POLITICS OF INDIGENOUS REPRESENTATION IN BRISBANE THEATRE'S 1999 'RECONCILIATION PLAYS'Principal Advisor Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Richard Fotheringham 
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2004 Master Arts Creative Writing DEERMEKAARPrincipal Advisor 
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2003 Master Arts Creative Writing Vampires in the Bush (text for performance)Principal Advisor 
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2023 Master Philosophy Concrete Mirage, An Anthropocene Fever Dream: City Space on Stage in a New EpochAssociate Advisor Other advisors: Associate Professor Stephen Carleton 
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2018 Master Philosophy The Nature of Engagement of Audiences in Prison Theatre: a case study of the Shakespeare Prison ProjectAssociate Advisor Other advisors: Associate Professor Rob Pensalfini 
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2015 Doctor Philosophy Posthuman Drama: Identity and the Machine in Twenty-First-Century PlaywritingAssociate Advisor Other advisors: Associate Professor Stephen Carleton 
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2011 Master Philosophy Never the Ordinary: Training and Performance in Contemporary Australian Physical Theatre; a Zen Zen Zo Case StudyAssociate Advisor 
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2008 Doctor Philosophy Happy Together: The Family in Australian Drama since 1975Associate Advisor Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Veronica Kelly 
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2007 Doctor Philosophy WHITE VANISHING: A SETTLER AUSTRALIAN HEGEMONIC TEXTUAL STRATEGY, 1789-2006Associate Advisor Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Alan Lawson 
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2005 Master Philosophy THE KINESTHETICS OF ROCK MUSIC PERFORMANCE: AN EXAMINATION THROUGH PERFORMATIVITY, MASCULINITY, AND NICK CAVE.Associate Advisor Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Graeme Turner 
Media
Enquiries
Contact Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins directly for media enquiries about:
- Australian drama
- Australian fiction
- Canadian drama and fiction
- Computer animation of theatre design
- Cultural space as virtual reality
- Drama
- Fiction
- Intercultural theatre
- Multicultural theatre
- Multimedia in theatre
- Post-colonial drama/theatre
- Spatial theory - theatre
- Stage design
- Theatre stage design
- Virtual reality - stage design
- Virtual reality modelling
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