Overview
Background
Stephen is a Brisbane-based playwright and academic. His plays have been produced across Australia and won awards including the Griffin Theatre Award (2015) for The Turquoise Elephant, the Matilda Award for Best New Australian Play (2017) for Bastard Territory, and the Patrick White Playwrights’ Award (2005) and New Dramatists’ Award (2006) for Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset. Those plays and others including musical Joh for PM (2017, with Paul Hodge), and The Narcissist (2007), have been shortlisted for a range of awards including the Patrick White Playwrights’ Award, the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award, Queensland Literary Awards (Drama), and two AWGIEs.
His main areas of theatre research at present are in c21st Australian playwriting, and the intersections between Gothic drama and Eco-criticism, where he has written the first two of a propsed trilogy of 'cli fi' plays. He has published on the Australian Gothic, and extended this area of interest into Ireland, the UK, the USA, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. He has a background in Postcolonial drama, Australian Drama (from c19th melodramas to c21st playwriting), Spatial Inquiry (focussing on the Australian North), and Cultural Geography. He is also co-creator of the Cultural Atlas of Australia with his colleagues Prof. Jane Stadler and A/Prof. Peta Mitchell.
Availability
- Associate Professor Stephen Carleton is:
- Not available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, La Trobe University
- Masters (Research) of Creative Writing, The University of Queensland
- Doctor of Philosophy of Drama and Theatre Studies, The University of Queensland
Research interests
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Gothic drama and Eco-Criticism
Specialised focus on 'cli fi' and the grotesque in relation to catastrophic climate change and its denial
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Gothic drama and the postcolonial
Specialised focuses on Australian and Irish plays, but extending into the US, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand.
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Spatial Inquiry and Cultural Geography
Specialised focus on the Australian North, and mythic Australian spaces
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Australian Drama
From c19th melodrama to c21st Australian playwriting
Research impacts
Stephen Carleton is a leading Australian playwright, being one of only a small handful to have won both national awards for new Australian playwriting: the Griffin Award, and the Patrick White Playwrights' Award. His plays have generated more than $2m in box office earnings, and played before audiences around the country. He received a 2010 ARC Discovery Grant with colleagues Jane Stadler and Peta Mitchell to undertake research towards producing a Cultural Atlas of Australia which mediates spaces in theatre , film and literature. It is an interdisciplinary research project that investigates the cultural and historical significance of location and landscape in Australian cinema, plays and novels.
Stephen's recent playwriting practice has moved into speculative fiction and 'cli fi' drama incorporating elements of the gothic, the grotesque and eco-criticism to examine catastrophic climate change and denialism. He has also conducted research into contemporary Gothic drama around the world. An Early Career Resarch Grant allowed him to conduct study into the Irish Gothic. His PhD thesis, entitled "Imagining and Performing an Australian Deep North", employed Spatial Inquiry and strands of contemporary cultural studies and theatre theory to explore the ways in which the Australian North has been constructed in theatre history from 1900 to the present day. Recent theatre productions include: New Babylon (2021), The Turquoise Elephant in Sydney and Darwin (2016 and 2018), musical Joh for PM with Paul Hodge in Brisbane (2017), and Bastard Territory in Brisbane (2016), Darwin and Cairns (2014). His seminal work, Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset, sits on the senior drama Australian Gothic curriculum in Queensland.
Works
Search Professor Stephen Carleton’s works on UQ eSpace
2024
Journal Article
Review of: Denise Varney, Patrick White's theatre: Australian modernism on stage, 1960-2018, (Sydney University Press, 2021)
Carleton, Stephen (2024). Review of: Denise Varney, Patrick White's theatre: Australian modernism on stage, 1960-2018, (Sydney University Press, 2021). Australasian Drama Studies (84), 342-348.
2023
Conference Publication
Re-centring Darwin: Restoring the Regional Capital to the Literary Map
Carleton, Stephen (2023). Re-centring Darwin: Restoring the Regional Capital to the Literary Map. Recentring the Regions - Association for the Study of Australian Literature, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 4-7 July 2023.
2023
Book
Contemporary Australian playwriting: re-visioning the nation on the mainstage
Hay, Chris and Carleton, Stephen (2023). Contemporary Australian playwriting: re-visioning the nation on the mainstage. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003176138
2023
Book Chapter
Observation
Carleton, Stephen (2023). Observation. A to Z of creative writing methods. (pp. 120-122) edited by Deborah Wardle, Julienne van Loon, Stayci Taylor, Francesca Rendle-Short, Peta Murray and David Carlin. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Academic.
2022
Conference Publication
Contemporary Australian Playwriting - the Postcards Project
Carleton, Stephen and Hay, Chris (2022). Contemporary Australian Playwriting - the Postcards Project. Travelling Together: the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies Conference 2022, Auckland, New Zealand, 6-9 December 2022.
2022
Other Outputs
Brutal utopias
Stephen Carleton (2022). Brutal utopias. West End, QLD, Australia: Metro Arts Theatre Brisbane.
2022
Other Outputs
Brutal utopias (A fugue for the twenty first century)
Carleton, Stephen (2022). Brutal utopias (A fugue for the twenty first century). Brisbane, Australia: Playlab Theatre.
2022
Book Chapter
Macabre children on the Australian stage: Angela Betzien’s cycle of crime plays
Hay, Chris and Carleton, Stephen (2022). Macabre children on the Australian stage: Angela Betzien’s cycle of crime plays. Theatre and the macabre. (pp. 95-112) edited by Meredith Conti and Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. Cardiff, Wales: University of Wales Press.
2022
Book Chapter
Australian biographical theater on the post-truth stage
Carleton, Stephen and Hay, Chris (2022). Australian biographical theater on the post-truth stage. Theater in a post-truth world: texts, politics, and performance. (pp. 135-154) edited by William C. Boles. London, United Kingdom: Methuen Drama / Bloomsbury Publishing. doi: 10.5040/9781350215887.ch-006
2021
Conference Publication
Absurdism in the Anthropocene
Hay, Chris and Carleton, Stephen (2021). Absurdism in the Anthropocene. Comparative Drama Conference, Orlando, FL United States, 14-16 October 2021.
2021
Other Outputs
New Babylon
Carleton, Stephen (2021). New Babylon. Darwin, Australia: Brown's Mart Theatre.
2021
Other Outputs
New Babylon
Carleton, Stephen (2021). New Babylon. Brisbane, Australia: Playlab Theatre.
2020
Journal Article
‘Global Weirding’: Australian absurdist cli-fi plays
Carleton, Stephen and Hay, Chris (2020). ‘Global Weirding’: Australian absurdist cli-fi plays. Performance Research, 25 (2), 79-86. doi: 10.1080/13528165.2020.1752580
2019
Other Outputs
New dramaturgy: a roundtable
Trenscényi, Katalin, Cochrane, Bernadette, Carleton, Stephen and Kelly, Kathryn (2019). New dramaturgy: a roundtable. Brisbane, Australia: University of Queensland.
2019
Other Outputs
New Dramaturgies
Cochrane, Bernadette, Trenscényi, Katalin, Campbell, Alyson, Carleton, Stephen, Dorney, Marcel and Kelly, Kathryn (2019). New Dramaturgies. Brisbane, Australia: University of Queensland.
2018
Other Outputs
The Turquoise Elephant
Carleton, Stephen (2018). The Turquoise Elephant. Darwin, Northern Territory: Browns Mart Theatre and Knock-em-Down Theatre.
2018
Conference Publication
Pepper’s Ghost Effect: Reading ‘Professor’ John Pepper’s Australian lecture tours (1880-1882) as prototypical ‘celebrity scientist’ performances
Carleton, Stephen (2018). Pepper’s Ghost Effect: Reading ‘Professor’ John Pepper’s Australian lecture tours (1880-1882) as prototypical ‘celebrity scientist’ performances. Australasian Drama Studies, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 26-29 June 2018.
2017
Other Outputs
Joh for PM
Carleton, Stephen and Hodge, Paul (2017). Joh for PM. Brisbane, Australia and Cairns, Qld, Australia: Brisbane Powerhouse and JUTE Theatre Company.
2017
Journal Article
Contemporary Irish gothic drama: The return of the Hibernian repressed during the rise and fall of the Celtic tiger
Carleton, Stephen (2017). Contemporary Irish gothic drama: The return of the Hibernian repressed during the rise and fall of the Celtic tiger. Gothic Studies, 19 (1), 1-21. doi: 10.7227/GS.0016
2016
Other Outputs
The turquoise elephant
Carleton, Stephen (Playwright) (2016). The turquoise elephant. Griffin Theatre, Darlinghurst, Sydney: Griffin Theatre Company.
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Stephen Carleton is:
- Not available for supervision
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Gender Equality and the Cycle Play
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins
-
Doctor Philosophy
As Long As You Keep It Quiet: A History of Queer and Queer-Coded Drama in Australia
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Margaret Henderson
-
Doctor Philosophy
An Internationalist Turn: Ecocritical Connections in Writing Climate Crisis from Australia and Beyond
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins, Dr Tom Doig
-
Master Philosophy
"Another turn of the screw": Re-Adapting Classic Texts for the Stage
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Ted Nannicelli
-
Master Philosophy
"Another turn of the screw": Re-Adapting Classic Texts for the Stage
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Ted Nannicelli
-
Doctor Philosophy
Shifting Sands: Constructions of past, present, and future in contemporary Australian eco-gothic playwriting.
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Helen Marshall
-
Master Philosophy
Fairies Where They Don¿t Belong: Constructing Hybridised Regional Australian Postcolonial Eco-gothic Literature Within Novella and Contextualising Exegesis
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Helen Marshall
-
Master Philosophy
Graham of Morphie and the Kelpie: The Australian Gothic and the Silencing of Female Characters
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Helen Marshall
-
Doctor Philosophy
Families Bent Out Of Shape: Queer Adaptation Strategies For Family Drama
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Emma Cole
-
-
Doctor Philosophy
Families Bent Out Of Shape: Queer Adaptation Strategies For Family Drama
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Emma Cole
-
-
Doctor Philosophy
"Policy as Choreographic act: How the AETT shaped a national dance identity in Australia"
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Chris Hay
-
Doctor Philosophy
Chasing Changelings: Re-visioning Autism Aesthetic and Myth in Theatre
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Beck Wise, Dr Emma Cole
Completed supervision
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Plunging into Society: the indefatigable Walter Bentley
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Chris Hay
-
2023
Master Philosophy
Concrete Mirage, An Anthropocene Fever Dream: City Space on Stage in a New Epoch
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins
-
2022
Master Philosophy
By Way of North: Reorienting the Feminine Other in Australian film
Principal Advisor
-
2022
Master Philosophy
`Keep Laughing, I'm Being Serious: Camp Disruptions in New Australian Playwriting
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Chris Hay
-
2019
Master Philosophy
Might I Have A Bit of Earth: A Contemporary Theatrical Reimagining of The Secret Garden
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Bernadette Cochrane
-
2017
Doctor Philosophy
The Pedagogy of Dramaturgy: A Dramaturgical Practice Framework to Train Dramaturgs
Principal Advisor
-
2015
Doctor Philosophy
Posthuman Drama: Identity and the Machine in Twenty-First-Century Playwriting
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins
-
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Policy as Choreographic Act: How the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust Shaped a National Dance Identity
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Chris Hay
-
2022
Master Philosophy
Pandemic-proof programming: how festivals have adjusted their institutional dramaturgy in response to COVID-19
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Bernadette Cochrane
-
2017
Doctor Philosophy
Outlaw Nation: Bushrangers, Fugitives, and Outcasts from the Colonial Stage to Contemporary Australian Cinema
Associate Advisor
-
2016
Doctor Philosophy
Folio of Compositions and Critical Commentary
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Robert Davidson
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2013
Doctor Philosophy
Really Moving Drama
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Joanne Tompkins
Media
Enquiries
Contact Associate Professor Stephen Carleton directly for media enquiries about:
- Australian drama
- Drama
- Dramaturgy
- Gothic theatre
- Playwriting
- Postcolonial theatre
- Theatre
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