Theatre research interests

Browse the research interests of staff in the Theatre programme.

Overview

Te Whare Ngangahau—Theatre and Performance Studies has a broad range and depth of research interests and skills that combine theory with practice, spanning across time and space from Whare Tapere to contemporary global performance.

We use a range of transdisciplinary theories and methodologies to interrogate both performance and the cultural work it is engaged in. For example, we are involved in digital humanities projects involving motion-capture and live performing arts databases. Creative practice is also an important part of our research, with academic staff working locally and internationally in scenography, devising, dramaturgy, directing, and production.

We have particular strengths in Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori, and Pasifika Theatre and Performance. Our research brings global perspectives to bear on the analysis of performance practices that shape and are shaped by local cultures within Oceania. We also have a strong practice research base in Aotearoa as reflexive practitioners testing theory through directing and embodied storytelling.

Recent publications and creative practice encompass the following areas:

Practice Research

Te Whare Ngangahau are actively engaged in practice research projects that explore research questions through the making of theatre and performance. Here, staff draw on their expertise in design, directing, dramaturgy, and production. Devised performance is a particular strength of the Programme, with many of our graduates going on to form their own theatre collectives. This approach also informs our teaching, with staff conducting original research through collaborative production courses.

Māori and Pasifika Performance Praxes

Te Whare Ngangahau is committed to Mātauranga Māori and has a longstanding relationship with Māori theatre-makers and theatre companies as research collaborators and consultants. Such collaborations include staff members being commissioned to write the history of Taki Rua Theatre. Other publications focus on representations of Indigeneity in contemporary performance and the politics of Haka in performance. Staff are also specialists in Pasifika Theatre, ‘defined here as live performance work created in Aotearoa/New Zealand by artists of Pacific Island ancestry’ (Warrington and O’Donnell 9), publishing award winning studies in the field.

Theatre of Aotearoa New Zealand

From Dame Kate Harcourt to Nathaniel Lees, staff have interviewed and studied the careers and approaches of artists from diverse cultures and across a broad period of history. Te Whare Ngangahau specialises in all aspects of theatre and performance in Aotearoa New Zealand: from the study of playwrights, actors, directors, and designers to documenting and archiving information on key productions and theatre companies. We are also interested in the way that Aotearoa New Zealand theatre travels – through touring and festivals – and how this contributes to how New Zealand cultures are understood both abroad and at home. Staff are also active contributors to performance analysis and theatre criticism who serve as editors of journals Australasian Drama Studies and for review sites Theatre Times and Theatre Scenes.

Digital Humanities

Te Whare Ngangahau actively contribute to the development of emerging technologies and digital tools for the creation and study of contemporary performance. From directing emotion for motion capture to preserving Theatre Aotearoa, a database of live performing arts events in Aotearoa, staff collaborate with colleagues from across disciplines and across borders to actively develop new methodologies for performing arts research.

Gender and Sexuality in Performance

Gender and sexuality in performance are key research concerns for Te Whare Ngangahau. Recent publications explore the Māori feminist discourse of Mana Wāhine to advocate for the ‘recognition of agency, knowledge and mana’ of Māori women (Hyland 207), and responses to institutional sexism in light of #MeToo within contemporary Australian performance. Current research explores asexual and aromantic experiences through performance.