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Associate Professor Stephen Carleton

Associate Professor

School of Communication and Arts
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
s.carleton@uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 68739

Overview

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.

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.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy of Drama and Theatre Studies, The University of Queensland
  • Masters (Research) of Creative Writing, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, La Trobe University

Publications

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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.

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Grants

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Supervision

View all Supervision

Publications

Book

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.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • "White Australia" in 1909: the background to the play and the two surviving scripts

    Fotheringham, Richard and Carleton, Stephen (2013). "White Australia" in 1909: the background to the play and the two surviving scripts. White Australia or, the empty North. (pp. 6-16) edited by Richard Fotheringham. Brisbane, Australia: Playlab Press.

  • Foreword

    Carleton, Stephen (2013). Foreword. Bag O' Marbles by Kathryn Ash. (pp. 5-7) Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Playlab Press.

  • Foreword

    Carleton, Stephen (2013). Foreword. Men Without Wives by Henrietta Drake-Brockman. (pp. 5-8) Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Playlab Press.

  • Foreword

    Carleton, Stephen (2013). Foreword. The Drovers by Louis Esson. (pp. 5-7) Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Playlab Press.

  • Rethinking regional theatre

    Carleton, Stephen (2013). Rethinking regional theatre. Catching Australian theatre in the 2000s. (pp. 151-170) edited by Richard Fotheringham and James Smith. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi.

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

  • Brutal utopias

    Stephen Carleton (2022). Brutal utopias. West End, QLD, Australia: Metro Arts Theatre Brisbane.

  • 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.

  • New Babylon

    Carleton, Stephen (2021). New Babylon. Darwin, Australia: Brown's Mart Theatre.

  • New Babylon

    Carleton, Stephen (2021). New Babylon. Brisbane, Australia: Playlab Theatre.

  • New dramaturgy: a roundtable

    Trenscényi, Katalin, Cochrane, Bernadette, Carleton, Stephen and Kelly, Kathryn (2019). New dramaturgy: a roundtable. Brisbane, Australia: University of Queensland.

  • New Dramaturgies

    Cochrane, Bernadette, Trenscényi, Katalin, Campbell, Alyson, Carleton, Stephen, Dorney, Marcel and Kelly, Kathryn (2019). New Dramaturgies. Brisbane, Australia: University of Queensland.

  • The Turquoise Elephant

    Carleton, Stephen (2018). The Turquoise Elephant. Darwin, Northern Territory: Browns Mart Theatre and Knock-em-Down Theatre.

  • Joh for PM

    Carleton, Stephen and Hodge, Paul (2017). Joh for PM. Brisbane, Australia and Cairns, Qld, Australia: Brisbane Powerhouse and JUTE Theatre Company.

  • The turquoise elephant

    Carleton, Stephen (Playwright) (2016). The turquoise elephant. Griffin Theatre, Darlinghurst, Sydney: Griffin Theatre Company.

  • Bastard Territory

    Carleton, Stephen (Playwright) (2016). Bastard Territory. South Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Queensland Theatre.

  • Bastard Territory

    Carleton, Stephen (2016). Bastard Territory. Brisbane, Queensland: Playlab Press.

  • The turquoise elephant

    Carleton, Stephen (2016). The turquoise elephant. Strawberry Hills, NSW Australia: Currency Press.

  • Hotel Beche de Mer

    Carleton, Stephen (2014). Hotel Beche de Mer. Surfers Paradise, QLD, Australia: The Arts Centre Gold Coast.

  • Bastard territory

    Carleton, Stephen (Playwright) (2014). Bastard territory. Darwin, NT, Australia; Cairns, QLD, Australia: Browns Mart Theatre, JUTE Theatre Company and Knock-em-Down Theatre.

  • A cultural atlas of Australia: mediated spaces in film, literature, and theatre

    Stadler, Jane, Mitchell, Peta and Carleton, Stephen (2014). A cultural atlas of Australia: mediated spaces in film, literature, and theatre. The University of Queensland. (Collection) doi: 10.14264/uql.2016.839

  • Cultural atlas of Australia

    Stadler, Jane, Mitchell, Peta and Carleton, Stephen (2011). Cultural atlas of Australia. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland.

  • The gatecrasher

    Carleton, Stephen (2011). The gatecrasher. I Will Kiss You in Four Places. (pp. 11-32) Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Playlab Press.

  • 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.

  • The Narcissist

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

  • 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

  • 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.

  • The Narcissist

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

  • Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset

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

  • Surviving Jonah Salt

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

  • 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

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

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

    Master Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • As Long As You Keep It Quiet: A History of Queer and Queer-Coded Drama in Australia

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Gender Equality and the Cycle Play

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

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

    Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Graham of Morphie and the Kelpie: The Australian Gothic and the Silencing of Female Characters

    Master Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

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

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Visual Feedback and Dramaturgy

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

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

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

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

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Completed Supervision

This staff member is a UQ Expert for media in the following fields:

Playwriting, Dramaturgy, Drama, Australian drama, Theatre, Postcolonial theatre, Gothic theatre

They are happy to lend their expertise to your articles or broadcasts and share their research discoveries and insights with the community via media channels.

For additional assistance with story ideas, general advice and information or help with seeking further experts, please email the UQ Media Team or telephone (07) 3365 1120.

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ORCID: 0000-0002-3385-9394

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