Priyanka Roy

Meet Priyanka, a PhD candidate in our Theatre programme.

Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus is one of Priyanka’s favourite plays of all time. Having seen countless productions of the play, she always found Tamora’s character enthralling. This fascination with the interpretation of female emotions in early modern texts, particularly women’s anger, motivated her to study theatre.

Priyanka’s PhD focuses on feminine rage and its representation in Shakespeare’s plays. Theatre is a place where great stories are told, and it has immense power to engage, influence and empower its audience. Starting from the portrayal of female anger in the early modern period, and concentrating on the depiction of women’s anger in contemporary productions, Priyanka is examining how theatre practitioners use the dramatic medium to present the emotional landscape of women, offering an insight into how performance choices impart female subjects with agency.

The Theatre programme at Victoria University of Wellington with its well-regarded faculty has been the perfect abode for Priyanka’s research project. She feels the supportive staff and colleagues at university make the doctoral journey of students all the more enjoyable. This has been a life-changing experience for her! Priyanka would highly recommend the university's Theatre Programme to everyone who is looking for a great place to pursue theatre studies.

For an overview of all our current postgraduate students, their projects and their supervisors, visit our Research Students page.