Sarah Courtis

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.

As the end of the first quarter of the 21st century approaches, scholars of migration, diaspora, and empire studies are witness to global, interlinked crises that behove us to urgently rethink the ways in which “diaspora” has been conceived. Historically defined as populations that have been dispersed or displaced, diasporic communities today are adrift in the tumult of the global coronavirus pandemic that has exacerbated the contraction of economies and the closure of borders that might have once provided a safe port, or at least safe passage, to those forced to flee. Dehumanization of historically marginalized citizen-subjects (for instance, people of colour; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual [LGBTQIA+] people; migratory labourers) stages the broader sense in which, as a species, we are as much rethinking individual relations with one another as with our species’ relation to animals and the Earth. Indeed, the Anthropocene’s “collapse of the age-old humanist distinction between natural history and human history” (Chakrabarty 2009, 201) is itself silhouetted by what Thomas Nail (2019) has called “the Kinocene”, an epoch of movement characterized by the ontological sense of an era in which movement as much convulses human beings as it does life itself. To be is to be agitated.

This article explores the use of songs in fantasy televisual media, considering what types of songs are being sung, where they are placed within the context of the show, and by whom they are being sung. I analyze elements of culture and character that enhance worldbuilding as well as explore the use of repetition through leitmotifs, context, and intertextual Invoking Petra Zimmerman's concept of the "semantic co-text" (2013), I examine the context of each song, including what occurs before and after the choice for characters to sing, considering what drives them to the point of song and what it adds to their internal story. This, combined with a hermeneutic approach to semiotic analysis, allows for a close reading of the lyric text. Finally, I draw together the analysis through a consideration of the phonaesthetic choices (Fimi 2010) and the performance of each song as an act of "musicking" (Small 1998) to consider them as individual moments as well as connected motifs within the broader fantasy context. Songs in longform fantasy media enrich the fabric of the text and provide audiences textual clues to hook into and return to. Music is integral to cultural practices; therefore, when examining texts which create new fan communities and new fantastic contexts, it is imperative to pursue the elements which support interior authenticity and allow audiences to accept the context and authority of the story being told.

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.

Stephen Sondheim’s 1994 musical Passion is rarely discussed or deconstructed, more often relegated to a footnote within his collected works. However, it poses many important questions about disability and sexuality, which remain largely unexplored as themes within the musical theatre canon. In this article, I consider my own readings and reactions to this text from two moments in time: 2014 and 2023. My approach to this text is framed by my intersectional understanding of the labels I use to identify myself: asexual, disabled and female-presenting. I explore my own response to the musical in relation to these labels, and discuss how my growing understanding of myself was aided by my first viewing and complicated by the second viewing.

This production of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing explored how eco-theatrical techniques and biophilic scenography might be applied to indoor proscenium arch theatre for greater liveness. Staged at Murdoch University's Nexus Theatre with the final year Theatre and Creative Production students, the production examined integrating sustainability initiatives to reduce environmental impact and enhance the play's sensory connection to the natural world. Soundscapes, dynamic staging techniques and upcycled materials were applied to pedagogical practice for public performance. Direction and scenography by Alys Daroy, with Sarah Courtis and Stephen Platt as co-directors and Tim Brain as set designer and lighting and sound designer/manager.

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.

The lyric in musical theatre is often enjoyed as an art form: however, as yet, there are few extensive, theoretically informed analytical approaches to the performative text. This exegesis begins with an original script (including annotations) of 2084: a musical, before turning to a critical analysis of the lyric in contemporary musical theatre. Asking questions about the use of the lyric to craft meaning and engage with audiences on multiple levels of meaning-making, I use a mixed methodology of practice as research, semiotic interpretation and audience reception theory to explore ways in which the lyric can be approached. The study presents potential modes of lyrical analysis before putting them into practice through three case studies. The first examines Hamilton: an American Musical, in order to discuss methods of signification and the impact an audience’s context can have on interpretation. The second interrogates the lyrics of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, to explore questions concerning adaptation and anachronism. The third discusses the artefact 2084: a musical, through the lenses of the previous case studies, with focus on authorial intent and how it can be used to craft fluid meaning in the lyric. Finally, the exegesis concludes that the lyric as a literary and performative text has the potential to be crafted to be both aesthetically pleasing and to have deep meaning ingrained for a varied audience. This study opens up the vista of what is possible when approaching the lyric as a practitioner and theorist.