Associate Professor Stephen Carleton
Associate Professor

Stephen Carleton

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+61 7 334 68739

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

Creative Arts and Writing

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

  • Gothic drama and Eco-Criticism

    Specialised focus on 'cli fi' and the grotesque in relation to catastrophic climate change and its denial

  • Gothic drama and the postcolonial

    Specialised focuses on Australian and Irish plays, but extending into the US, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand.

  • Spatial Inquiry and Cultural Geography

    Specialised focus on the Australian North, and mythic Australian spaces

  • 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.

Search Professor Stephen Carleton’s works on UQ eSpace

51 works between 2002 and 2024
All (51) Journal Article (8) Book Chapter (8) Conference Publication (6) Book (4) Other Outputs (25)

41 - 51 of 51 works

2008

Other Outputs

7 deadly Australian sins: Shock jock (lust)

Carleton, Stephen (2008). 7 deadly Australian sins: Shock jock (lust). Cairns, QLD, Australia: JUTE Theatre; Knock-Em- Down Theatre; Darwin Theatre Company.

7 deadly Australian sins: Shock jock (lust)

2008

Other Outputs

The Narcissist

Carleton, Stephen (2008). The Narcissist. Sydney, Australia: Sydney Theatre Company.

The Narcissist

2008

Other Outputs

Staging the north : finding, imagining and performing an Australian 'Deep North'.

Carleton, Stephen (2008). Staging the north : finding, imagining and performing an Australian 'Deep North'.. PhD Thesis, School of English, Media Studies and Art History, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2018.604

Staging the north : finding, imagining and performing an Australian 'Deep North'.

2008

Journal Article

Darwin as the frontier capital: theatrical depictions of city space in the north

Carleton, Stephen (2008). Darwin as the frontier capital: theatrical depictions of city space in the north. Australasian Drama Studies, 52, 52-68.

Darwin as the frontier capital: theatrical depictions of city space in the north

2007

Other Outputs

Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset

Carleton, Stephen (2007). Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset. Darwin, Northern Territory and Cairns, Queensland: Darwin Festival, Darwin Theatre Company and JUTE Theatre Company.

Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset

2007

Other Outputs

The Narcissist

Carleton, Stephen (2007). The Narcissist. Brisbane, Queensland: La Boite Theatre Company.

The Narcissist

2007

Book

The narcissist

Carleton, Stephen J. (2007). The narcissist. Fortitude Valley, QLD, Australia: Playlab Press.

The narcissist

2006

Other Outputs

Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset

Carleton, Stephen (2006). Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset. Brisbane, Queensland: Queensland Theatre Company.

Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset

2006

Book

Constance Drinkwater and the final days of Somerset

Carleton, Stephen (2006). Constance Drinkwater and the final days of Somerset. Fortitude Valley, QLD, Australia: Playlab Press.

Constance Drinkwater and the final days of Somerset

2004

Other Outputs

Surviving Jonah Salt

Ash, Kathryn, Carleton, Stephen, Evans, Gail and Harris, Anne (2004). Surviving Jonah Salt. Fortitude Valley, Australia: Playlab Press.

Surviving Jonah Salt

2002

Other Outputs

Mr Hare's Seraglio

Carleton, Stephen (2002). Mr Hare's Seraglio. Master's Thesis, School of English, Media Studies and Art History, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2020.315

Mr Hare's Seraglio

Current funding

  • 2025 - 2028
    Re-Mapping the Lost Literary Capital: Darwin/Larrakia Nation
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2012
    Haunted Spaces and Haunted Pasts in the Contemporary Gothic Drama of Australia and Ireland
    UQ Early Career Researcher
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2013
    A Cultural Atlas of Australia: Mediated Spaces in Theatre, Film, and Literature
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2009 - 2012
    Australian theatre that engages with South-East Asia and the Pacific
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant

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

  • Master Philosophy

    "Another turn of the screw": Re-Adapting Classic Texts for the Stage

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Ted Nannicelli

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Families Bent Out Of Shape: Queer Adaptation Strategies For Family Drama

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Emma Cole

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Shifting Sands: Constructions of past, present, and future in contemporary Australian eco-gothic playwriting.

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Helen Marshall

  • 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

  • Master Philosophy

    "Another turn of the screw": Re-Adapting Classic Texts for the Stage

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Ted Nannicelli

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

    "Policy as Choreographic act: How the AETT shaped a national dance identity in Australia"

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Chris Hay

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Visual Feedback and Dramaturgy

    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

    Visual Feedback and Dramaturgy

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Emma Cole

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Chasing Changelings: Re-visioning Autism Aesthetic and Myth in Theatre

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Beck Wise, Dr Emma Cole

Completed supervision

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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