Professor Stuart Young, Our people, School of Performing Arts, University of Otago, New Zealand

Stuart Young profile photo

Professor
MA(Hons)(Well) PhD(Cantab)

Tel +64 3 479 9614
Email stuart.young@otago.ac.nz

Research interests
Productions
Translations
Conferences
Supervisions
Publications

Research interests

Documentary/Verbatim Theatre
Russian drama, in particular Chekhov, and its reception abroad
Translation Studies and translation for the theatre
Modern British drama and theatre
New Zealand drama and theatre
Gay and queer drama
Theatre directing

In recent years Stuart has been engaged in practice-led research on verbatim theatre, undertaken in collaboration with colleague Hilary Halba and other professional theatre-makers in Dunedin. That work has resulted in the creation of Hush: A Verbatim Play about Family Violence, which played in various parts of New Zealand from 2009 to 2011, and Be | Longing, which explores immigrants’ experiences of settling in New Zealand. Be | Longing premièred at the New Performance Festival in Auckland in February 2012 before playing for a season in Dunedin.

Stuart has published articles in Modern Drama, Theatre Journal, New Theatre Quarterly, Australasian Drama Studies, New Zealand Slavonic Journal, and Journal of Dramatic Theory And Criticism as well as in other serials and books.

Stuart is also a director, translator, and performance reviewer, and he is member of the community arts group Talking House and on the board of trustees of the Fortune Theatre. He has translated plays by Chekhov, Pushkin, and Simon Gantillon. Circa Theatre, Wellington, has produced his translations of The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya.

He is a member of the International Federation of Theatre Research (IFTR), where he belongs to the Translation, Adaptation and Dramaturgy Working Group and the Queer Futures Working Group, and the Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies (ADSA).

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Productions

As a director, Stuart’s productions include:

Chekhov’s Three Sisters
Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Love of the Nightingale
David Hare’s The Secret Rapture
Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart

with Murray Edmond:

Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine
Shakespeare’s The Tempest
Mysteries, Miracles and Mayhem, based on Tony Harrison’s The Nativity
Vanya on Shortland St, based on Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya

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Translations

◦ Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard (produced at Circa Theatre, Wellington, 2005)
◦ Uncle Vanya (Circa Theatre, Wellington, 2007)
◦ Three Sisters
◦ The Bear, The Proposal, and The Anniversary
◦ Pushkin’s Mozart and Salieri
◦ Maya by Simon Gantillon

Conferences

Stuart regularly attends and contributes papers at international conferences, in particular those held by the International Federation of Theatre Research. In 2010, Stuart and colleague Hilary Halba were keynote speakers at the "Acting with Facts" conference at the University of Reading, UK.

Supervisions

PhD - Alison Stone, “Film Adaptations of Shakespeare” (with Prof. Lyn Tribble), 2012 -
PhD - Emily Duncan, “Orangapai: A Historical Theatre Project about the Tuberculosis Sanatorium and Waipiata Borstal site and its inhabitants at Waipiata” (with Dr Jonathan Marshall), 2013-
MA - Francis Kewene, “Verbatim theatre techniques as a tool for documenting and examining stories of health” (with Hilary Halba), part-time 2013-

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Publications

Young, S. (2021). The state of the British garden: Mike Bartlett's Albion and its Chekhovian scions. Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance, 14(2), 209-232. doi: 10.1386/jafp_00054_1

du Plessis, H. (cello), Halba, H. (writer, curator, director), O'Connor, S. (writer, curator, director), Young, S. (writer, curator, director), & Kalogeropoulou, S. (choreographer) (2021, 2-10 July). Struggling with Lentils, an immersive theatre installation, presented by Talking House in association with the School of Performing Arts, Allen Hall Theatre, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Performance].

Young, S. (2021). Making the representation real: The actor and the spectator in Milo Rau's 'theatrical essays' Mitleid and La Reprise. New Theatre Quarterly, 37(3), 223-245. doi: 10.1017/S0266464X21000130

Young, S. (2019). The state of the British garden: Mike Bartlett's Albion and its Chekhovian scions. Proceedings of the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) Conference: Theatre, Performance and Urbanism. (pp. 328). Retrieved from https://www.iftr.org

Young, S., & Halba, H. (2019). Embodied technology in a specific verbatim theatre practice. Archée arts médiatiques & cyberculture, December. Retrieved from http://archee.qc.ca/wordpress/embodied-technology-in-a-specific-verbatim-theater-practice

O'Toole, E., Pelegrí Kristić, A., & Young, S. (Eds.). (2017). Ethical exchanges in translation, adaptation and dramaturgy. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 220p. doi: 10.1163/9789004346376

Edited Book - Research

Young, S. (2017). The ethics of the representation of the real people and their stories in verbatim theatre. In E. O'Toole, A. Pelegrí Kristić & S. Young (Eds.), Ethical exchanges in translation, adaptation and dramaturgy. (pp. 21-42). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. doi: 10.1163/9789004346376_003

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2016). From exploring identity to facing the world: Drama since 1990. In M. Williams (Ed.), A history of New Zealand literature. (pp. 330-346). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2015). 'Speaking through another's voice' in the modern British theatre: Timberlake Wertenbaker and Martin Crimp translate Sophocles's Trachiniae. In F. Benocci & M. Sonzogni (Eds.), Translation, transnationalism, world literature: Essays in translation studies 2010-2014. (pp. 393-411). Novi Ligure, Italy: Joker.

Chapter in Book - Research

Halba, H., & Young, S. (2014). Theatre as an artistic intervention in post-trauma situations: Hush: A verbatim play about family violence. In H. Barnes & M.-H. Coetzee (Eds.), Applied drama/theatre as social intervention in conflict and post-conflict contexts. (pp. 103-116). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2013). 'Formless', 'pretentious', 'hideous and revolting': Non-Chekhov Russian and Soviet drama on the British stage. In R. Beasley & P. R. Bullock (Eds.), Russia in Britain, 1880-1940: From melodrama to modernism. (pp. 87-112). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199660865.003.0006

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). Feminist drama. In G. H. Cody & E. Sprinchorn (Eds.), The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Vol. 2). (pp. 964). New York: Columbia University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). Geary, David (1963-). In G. H. Cody & E. Sprinchorn (Eds.), The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Vol. 1). (pp. 511-512). New York: Columbia University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). Hall, Roger (1939-). In G. H. Cody & E. Sprinchorn (Eds.), The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Vol. 1). (pp. 578). New York: Columbia University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). Lord, Robert (1945-1992). In G. H. Cody & E. Sprinchorn (Eds.), The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Vol. 1). (pp. 834). New York: Columbia University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). Mason, Bruce (1921-1982). In G. H. Cody & E. Sprinchorn (Eds.), The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Vol. 2). (pp. 875). New York: Columbia University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). Masque(e)rades of masculinity: Cross-dressing women on the New Zealand stage. In M. Maufort & D. O’Donnell (Eds.), Performing Aotearoa: New Zealand theatre and drama in an age of transition. (pp. 163-181). Brussels, Belgium: P.I.E. Peter Lang.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). McGee, Greg (1950-). In G. H. Cody & E. Sprinchorn (Eds.), The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Vol. 2). (pp. 882-883). New York: Columbia University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). New Zealand: 1870-1960. In G. H. Cody & E. Sprinchorn (Eds.), The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Vol. 2). (pp. 960-961). New York: Columbia University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). New Zealand: 1960-1980. In G. H. Cody & E. Sprinchorn (Eds.), The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Vol. 2). (pp. 961-962). New York: Columbia University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). New Zealand: 1980-present. In G. H. Cody & E. Sprinchorn (Eds.), The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Vol. 2). (pp. 962-963). New York: Columbia University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). Renée (1929-). In G. H. Cody & E. Sprinchorn (Eds.), The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Vol. 2). (pp. 1131-1132). New York: Columbia University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2007). Thompson, Mervyn (1936-1992). In G. H. Cody & E. Sprinchorn (Eds.), The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama (Vol. 2). (pp. 1353). New York: Columbia University Press.

Chapter in Book - Research

Young, S. (2009). A blind spot: Chekhov's deepest horizons [Reprint from Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, 2007, 21(2), 65-78]. In H. Bloom (Ed.), Anton Chekhov. (New ed.) (pp. 153-167). New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism.

Chapter in Book - Other

Journal - Research Article

Young, S. (2021). The state of the British garden: Mike Bartlett's Albion and its Chekhovian scions. Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance, 14(2), 209-232. doi: 10.1386/jafp_00054_1

Journal - Research Article

Young, S. (2009). Making the 'unstageable' stageable: English rewritings of Chekhov's first play. Modern Drama, 52(3), 325-350. doi: 10.3138/md.52.3.325

Journal - Research Article

Young, S. (2009). Playing with documentary theatre: Aalst and Taking care of baby. New Theatre Quarterly, 25(1), 72-87.

Journal - Research Article

Young, S., & Te Puea Hansen, M.-L. (2009). A dramatic hijacking: Arthur Millerising Haruru Mai at the Auckland Theatre Company. Australasian Drama Studies, 55, 30-43.

Journal - Research Article

Young, S. (2007). A blind spot: Chekhov's deepest horizons. Journal of Dramatic Theory & Criticism, XXI(2), 65-78.

Journal - Research Article

Young, S. (2007). Playing (with) Chekhov in New Zealand: Vanya on Shortland St. Landfall, 213, 170-178.

Journal - Research Article

Young, S. (2019). [Review of the book I have loved me a man: The life and times of mika]. Australasian Drama Studies, (74), 331-336. [Book Review].

Journal - Research Other

Young, S. (2017). [Review of the play Mitleid. Der Geschichte des Maschinengewehrs (Compassion: The history of the machine gun)]. Theatre Journal, 69(3), 427-429. doi: 10.1353/tj.2017.0053

Journal - Research Other

Young, S. (2015). [Review of the book Then it was now again: Selected critical writings]. Australasian Drama Studies, 66, 296-301. [Book Review].

Journal - Research Other

Young, S. (2013). [Review of the play The Master and the Margarita adapted by Simon McBurney, Edward Kemp]. Theatre Journal, 65(4), 572-574. doi: 10.1353/tj.2013.0124

Journal - Research Other

Young, S. (2012). [Review of the book Stanislavsky: A life in letters]. New Zealand Slavonic Journal, 46, 133-135. [Book Review].

Journal - Research Other

Young, S. (2012). London Road [Review]. Theatre Journal, 64(1), 101-102. doi: 10.1353/tj.2012.0026

Journal - Research Other

Young, S. (2008). [Review of the plays The cherry orchard, Uncle Vanya, Three sisters, and The seagull]. Theatre Journal, 60(1), 129-132.

Journal - Research Other

Young, S. (2006). [Review of Shakespeare and Chekhov in performance and reception: Theatrical events and their audiences]. Modern Drama, XLIX(I), 127-129.

Journal - Research Other

Young, S. (2006). [Review of The Pickle King, Krishnan's Dairy, The Candlestickmaker]. Theatre Journal, 58(3), 491-495.

Journal - Research Other

Young, S. (2010). Inside the enigma [Review of the book The possessed: Adventures with Russian books and the people who read them]. New Zealand Listener, (24-30 July), 39.

Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

Halba, H., & Young, S. (2013). Making verbatim theatre: Processes of mediation in Hush: A verbatim play about family violence. In L. Kempf & T. Moguilevskaia (Eds.), Le théâtre neo-documentaire résurgence ou réinvention? (pp. 171-180). Paris, France: PUN: Editions Universitaires de Lorraine. [Full Paper]

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper

Halba, H., & Young, S. (2012). A verbatim dráma színrevitelének egy lehetséges módja Új-Zélandon [An approach to staging verbatim theatre in New Zealand]. Ujrahasznosított Valóság a Színpadon [Proceedings of Recycling Reality on Stage: New Documentary Drama and Theatre in East-Central Europe]. (pp. 12-13). Retrieved from http://www.szinhaz.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36532:ujrahasznositott-valosag-a-szinpadon-melleklet&catid=73:2012-november&Itemid=7

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper

Young, S. (2006). ″A mist of loveliness″: The role of translation in shaping and attempting to reshape the British Chekhov. In D. Walton, H. Liu & S. Ferner (Eds.), Proceedings of the XIVth National Conference of the New Zealand Society of Translators and Interpreters. (pp. 28-42). Auckland, New Zealand: NZSTI. [Full Paper]

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper