
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
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.
2008
Other Outputs
The Narcissist
Carleton, Stephen (2008). The Narcissist. Sydney, Australia: Sydney Theatre Company.
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
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.
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.
2007
Other Outputs
The Narcissist
Carleton, Stephen (2007). The Narcissist. Brisbane, Queensland: La Boite Theatre Company.
2007
Book
The narcissist
Carleton, Stephen J. (2007). The narcissist. Fortitude Valley, QLD, Australia: Playlab Press.
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.
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.
2004
Other Outputs
Surviving Jonah Salt
Ash, Kathryn, Carleton, Stephen, Evans, Gail and Harris, Anne (2004). Surviving Jonah Salt. Fortitude Valley, Australia: Playlab Press.
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
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Stephen Carleton is:
- Not available for supervision
Supervision history
Current supervision
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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
Families Bent Out Of Shape: Queer Adaptation Strategies For Family Drama
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
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2025
Master Philosophy
"Another turn of the screw": Re-Adapting Classic Texts for the Stage
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Ted Nannicelli
-
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
-
-
Doctor Philosophy
Plunging into Society: the indefatigable Walter Bentley
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Chris Hay
-
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
-
-
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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