Essays and articles

A collection of pieces I have written for various print and online publications.

1. Revenge wheel: The serial protagonists of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus (April 2011)
An essay on Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus, the cyclical nature of violence, violence as entertainment, and how the play deliberately challenges the status quo today, just as much as it did four-hundred-odd years ago. [Written at Macquarie University.]

2. Mirrors, or The Play Chooses You (March 2012)
A musing upon whether the progression of Shakespeare plays on the NSW English syllabus (until 2008) isn’t more than merely coincidental.

3. Suicides and seagulls: Understanding Chekhov’s The Seagull (March 2012)
A ponderance upon some of the symbols and patterns in Chekhov’s The Seagull.

4. Moonrise Kingdom: Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Wes Anderson (September 2012)
An examination of the families feuds and fugues in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.

5. All’s well that ends well: Shakespeare’s Romances as restoratives (December 2013)
In which I try to come to some understanding of a few of the resonances behind Shakespeare’s last plays – PericlesCymbelineThe Winter’s Tale, The Tempest, and the ‘lost play’ Cardenio.

6. Why Shakespeare (April 2014)
Because where there’s a Will, there is always a way.

7. Play-fullness: An Australian approach to the classics (September 2014)
An investigation into the Australian way of playing Shakespeare and the classics. [Written for NITEnews’ Spotlight website.]

8. “Selling you quiet”: The new frontier of digital theatre (January 2015)
An investigation into the possibilities of incorporating digital content into theatrical environments, and Griffin Theatre Company’s digital theatre collaboration with Google’s Creative Labs. [Written for the Australian Writers’ Guild’s Storyline magazine.]

9. Eamon Flack and the bigness of spirit (March 2015)
(excerpt reprinted in Belvoir's subscriber magazine, Interval [May 2015])
A discussion about the classics, compassion, and Babyteeth; Mother Courage, her children, and chaos; Flack’s work at Belvoir, his plans as incoming artistic director of Belvoir; optimism, group dynamics on stage, and those sheep from As You Like It. [The first instalment of The Process interviews with theatre-makers about their work and craft.]

10. The seven ages of John Bell (August 2015)
A profile of director and actor John Bell’s long and illustrious career. [Written for the Australian Writers’ Guild’s Storyline magazine.]

11. Peter Evans: bringing period back to Shakespeare (September 2015)
A discussion about the classics, the nature of period and the contemporary; making the most of Bell Shakespeare’s difference in Australia’s theatrical landscape; Evans’ career as a director, and his fascination with Meyerhold’s system of biomechanics; and what might lie ahead from 2016. [The second instalment of The Process interviews with theatre-makers about their work and craft.]

12. Sarah Goodes and the leap of faith (November 2015)
A discussion about directing, being an independent theatre-maker; the benefits of collaborations; the challenges facing new work, and the thrill of the unknown in the rehearsal room; the Resident Directors program at Sydney Theatre Company; a child’s seriousness in playing, and the importance of learning from it; and what lies ahead in 2016. [The third instalment of The Process interviews with theatre-makers about their work and craft.]

13. Kip Williams and the poetic gesture (November 2015)
A discussion about directing; the use of theatrical space, and the creation of theatrical images; the rhythm and musicality of language; the scale of face in Suddenly Last Summer; the ‘inverted theatre’ in Macbeth; the challenges and ideas surrounding the production of Love and Information; and what lies ahead in 2016. [The fourth instalment of The Process interviews with theatre-makers about their work and craft.]


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