Melissa Merchant

This paper investigates the intersection of eco-dramaturgy, Shakespearean villainy and botanical precarity, exploring how Shakespeare’s infamous antagonists resonate with the extraordinary yet vulnerable dynamics of carnivorous plants. By examining the behavioural mechanisms of critically endangered Australian species, this interdisciplinary study considers how these botanical entities function as metaphors for survival, exploitation and environmental fragility. Drawing on ecocriticism and ecological performance studies, we propose that the behaviours of carnivorous plants, such as trapping and consumption, offer a compelling ecological lens through which to reinterpret Shakespeare’s calculating but also ambivalent figures within the play’s landscape. We consider the ways in which these characters’ strategies and power dynamics align with the captivating yet precarious existence of these plants, whose survival depends on both their agency and their vulnerability within delicate ecosystems. Through applying ecological textual readings, eco-performance and pedagogical methodologies, this research contributes to Shakespearean studies’ vibrant engagement with urgent ecological concerns. Discussion further reflects on the role of interdisciplinary creative practice in advancing environmental advocacy, artistic intervention and cross-disciplinary scholarship. This paper forms part of a larger project integrating botanical art, eco-performance and public engagement to reimagine Shakespeare’s villains through an ecological framework, amplifying awareness of endangered plant species in an era of ecological crisis.

In October 2023, an ABC Australia article by Levy and Heaton discussed the ‘gender gap’ in electric vehicle (EV) ownership, noting Australia’s similarity to the United States. where reportedly 67% of EV buyers were men and 33% were women. In Western Australia (WA), Evenergi’s 2023 survey revealed that 83% of the survey’s EV owning respondents were male. Such data suggest a noticeable gender discrepancy in EV ownership, which may be more prominent in WA. Through ten in-depth interviews with female-identifying WA-based EV owners, we sought to investigate this imbalance further, particularly why it might exist and, how it might be overcome. This paper focusses on the everyday experiences and practices of our Perth metropolitan and regionally based interviewees to shed light on potential barriers or issues associated with EV ownership such as purchase costs, driving range, charging, interactions with others about their cars, the use of technology and media coverage, including myths and misinformation. Overall, our interviewees provided insights into how they adjusted to owning and driving an EV in Western Australia, a state known for its isolation and vast distances.

Since 2016, Western Australian-based company BS Productions have presented a series of adaptations and appropriations of the Shakespearean canon, titled Bogan Shakespeare Presents. This article explores how Bogan Shakespeare’s productions appeal to double-access audiences, examining how they facilitate engagement by inclusive and diverse audiences. In order to evaluate the Bogan Shakespeare productions, this article draws on theories of double-access audiences, adaptation and appropriation. With unique insights into Bogan Shakespeare’s workshopping processes, this article considers how each Shakespearean text has been adapted with two audiences in mind, Shakespearean enthusiasts and Australian ‘bogans’. It will outline the Bogan Shakespeare team’s creative process as it evolves from a base script, which is then workshopped and adapted during each performance in response to the audience. Ultimately, this article will explore the strategies, challenges and opportunities afforded by BS Productions while crafting performances aimed at double-access audiences.

This article brings together key texts and theorists from disability studies, which is a growing and vibrant inter/multidisciplinary field. It is an area of inquiry that has been evolving for the past forty years. It is important to note that, as part of the development of disability studies and in reflection of its global nature, there has been discussion and debate around terminology. Different countries, and therefore different researchers, will often use different terms and this is reflected in the sources included. This review includes seven sections, focusing on the most prominent areas of inquiry within the disability studies field: Overview, History and Advocacy, Disability Studies as Academic Inquiry, Critical Disability Studies, Intersectionality, Representation, and Cultural Disability Studies. Disability studies developed as a result of disability activism and advocacy in the 1970s and has subsequently become a fully-fledged area of research and study. Disability studies is not focused on curing disability, rather it examines the social structures that contribute to the marginalization of those with disability. Fundamental to disability studies is its history, which begins in the 1970s in the United States and United Kingdom with the fight for civil rights for those with disabilities. This time period also saw a rejection of the medical model of disability, which positioned disability within the body of the individual, and the rise of a “social model” of disability that emphasizes disability is created by social and environmental factors. The second phase within disability studies was its inclusion in institutions of learning as a field of academic inquiry. This led to a third phase, critical disability studies, which reconsiders what disability is and what it means for individuals and for society more broadly. Critical disability studies acknowledges divergences in approaches and theories and questions the social model of disability. Critical disability studies also advocates for a conscious inclusion of the intersections that have existed within the field since its inception, such as gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. Connected to intersectionality is representation, which is another growing area of disability studies. Representation looks at representation of, as well as representation by, persons with disability in a range of mediums including film, television, literature, and stage. Some theorists argue that the field has now moved beyond critical disability studies and advocate for a cultural disability studies approach, which acknowledges the complex nature of disability and considers the cultural practices and beliefs related to disability. Each of these themes traces the growing field of disability studies as it has developed and become more complex, highlighting the deepening understanding of difference and what it means to be human.

American Movie Classics’ (AMC) popular television series The Walking Dead (2010–present) transports viewers into an apocalyptic zombie dystopia where the lines between safety and precarity, being governed and governing, or being alive and/or dead slip and change. Utilizing Achille Mbembe’s term “necropolitics”, the article explores The Walking Dead’s representation of governance and power in terms of individual and group security. While the zombie has been understood as the liminal figure par excellence, The Walking Dead’s non-zombie characters illustrate diasporic liminality as refugees, hovering on or near the threshold of death. The scale of suffering or prosperity is determined by who leads or governs. Frequently, those deemed “in charge” exercise power and control to discipline, to punish, and to provide security. The series offers a metaphor for the potential uses of power in biological, environmental, or natural disaster situations where survivors grapple with scarce resources and the constant presence of death.

This innovative volume compels readers to re-think the notions of performance, performing, and (non)performativity in the context of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Given these multi-faceted ways of thinking about “performance” and its complicated manifestations throughout the pandemic, this volume is organised into umbrella topics that focus on three of the most important aspects of identity for cultural and intercultural studies in this historical moment: language; race/gender/sexuality; and the digital world. In critically re-thinking the meaning of “performance” in the era of COVID-19, contributors first explore how language is differently staged in the context of the global pandemic, compelling us to normalise an entirely new verbal lexicon. Second, they survey the pandemic’s disturbing impact on socio-political identities rooted in race, class, gender, and sexuality. Third, contributors examine how the digital milieu compels us to reorient the inside/outside binary with respect to multilingual subjects, those living with disability, those delivering staged performances, and even corresponding audiences.

Together, these diverse voices constitute a powerful chorus that rigorously excavates the hidden impacts of the global pandemic on how we have changed the ways in which we perform identity throughout a viral crisis. This volume is thus a timely asset for all readers interested in identity studies, performance studies, digital and technology studies, language studies, global studies, and COVID-19 studies. It was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Intercultural Studies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, theatres around the world closed and performances moved online. Consequently, when the musical Hamilton opened in March 2021 in Australia, it was the only version of the show being performed live on stage anywhere in the world and was marketed as a 'beacon of hope' for the performing arts industry [Crompton, S. 2017, Francis, L., and Ky, J. 2021, Millar, L. 2021]. Hamilton's story is based on White American grand narratives such as the War of Independence, nation building and a 'bootstraps' mentality, which have traditionally excluded persons of colour; however, the musical primarily features Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) performers. After its debut in the US, Hamilton was praised for its diverse storytelling [Clark, J. 2015. Gardner, E. 2015, Quinn, D. 2015.] and this narrative has been repeated for the Australian re-production. Through the lens of racial neoliberal inclusion, this paper explores the COVID-era Australian re-production of Hamilton, interrogating how diversity is performed and the impact the global pandemic has had on these performances. However, while the internal message of the show remains problematic, the depth brought by Indigenous performers in particular, marks a shift in Australian theatre culture.

Shakespeare classes within Australian universities are often filled with students who must take them as required units rather than through a genuine desire to learn about early modern theatre and its associated theoretical, historical, and textual contexts. Thus a challenge for university teachers is to engage students by creating innovative learning experiences that allow them to explore the content in ways they find interesting. Twinned with such engagement is the need to demonstrate how and why Shakespeare Studies retain critical import today through the plays’ themes, characters, aphorisms, significance in popular culture, etc. At Murdoch University, WA, we include three Shakespeare units in our English and Creative Writing major: Shakespeare and Contemporaries, Shakespeare’s Monsters and this year, a final year showcase production of Much Ado About Nothing in Acting and Producing for the Stage. Within these units, we have designed curricula, including topics, themes, texts, additional resources, learning activities, electronic resources, and student-centred assessments to meet the diverse needs of students from different majors (including English and Creative Writing, Theatre and Drama, and Education). In particular, we have introduced negotiated assessment as each unit’s final assignment. This paper thus comparatively examines the implementation of these strategies within these units. We focus on how negotiated assessments contribute to authentic learning, as well as how they fit within the Universal Design for Learning framework. To substantiate our specific strategies for Shakespeare Studies in our contemporary historical moment, our paper moreover shares examples of work produced by students, with their consent, from Shakespeare and Contemporaries Shakespeare’s Monsters and Acting and Producing for the Stage in a bid to elucidate how negotiated assessment can meet unit learning outcomes.

This chapter draws upon existing approaches to screen violence to explore The Walking Dead’s challenging representations of death including controversial episodes where child characters die from fatal violence. We explore how the show positions viewers to interpret extreme violence, especially how violence is accepted or rejected within the narrative context. At times, the show’s narrative works to justify and/or legitimise an aggressor’s conduct, thereby minimising the likelihood of audience rejection of the narrative and/or backlash against the show. We draw upon key analytical tools from Revilla et al. (Communications 46(1):4–26, 2021) and Riddle and Martins (J Commun 72:33–58, 2021) to explore the context of fatal violence, punishment for violent acts, consequences, seriousness, graphicness and explicitness as well as justification and legitimation, particularly relating to child characters. How audience members are positioned in relation to violence may impact their views or understandings of violence or even how they may model certain behaviours in real life (Revilla et al., Communications 46(1):4–26, 2021; Riddle and Martins, J Commun 72:33–58, 2021). In this chapter we argue that violence leading to the death of child characters on The Walking Dead tends to contain low levels of graphicness and explicitness and is often combined with careful narrative justification or legitimation to explain the reasons for that death.

This special issue of the Journal of Intercultural Studies is titled ‘Performing Identity in the Era of COVID-19’, and co-mingles our current critical inquiries into the pandemic meaning of ‘performance’’ with our earlier research in global diasporas. While invoking our previous historical context of ‘the era of COVID-19’, we shift focus from migratory liminality to the many ways that we can re-think the notions of performance, performing, and performativity (and the nonperformative) in the context of the global pandemic...