Associate Professor Laura Ginters
I am an interdisciplinary scholar with a background in both Theatre and Performance Studies and Germanic Studies. In my work I recuperate, document and analyse the circumstances and nature of the creation, performance and reception of live performance, situating it within its social, cultural and historical contexts, and demonstrating how theatre both contributes to the development of national identities, and is emblematic of it. The focus of my research is in several, intersecting, mutually informing areas. These include: Rehearsal Studies (historical and contemporary); Australian theatre history; the interrogation of traditional binaries in theatre (especially popular vs “high” culture and professional vs amateur); and the role of women in theatre.
- Australian theatre history
- Women in theatre
- Dramaturgy
- Historical and contemporary rehearsal practices
- German theatre history
- Writing for performance, especially Australian playwrights
Teaching
PRFM1602 Dangerous Performances
PRFM2602 Performance: Production and Interpretation
PRFM2603 Between Improvisation and Text
PRFM2607 Performance Histories
PRFM3611 Dramaturgy
PRFM3961 Rehearsal Studies
PRFM5902 Rehearsal Studies
FASS3999 Interdisciplinary Impact
Supervision
I welcome enquiries from prospective HDR students with topics related to: dramaturgy and translation; Australian theatre history (including student and amateur theatre; 19th and early 20th century female theatre makers); Australian playwrights; feminist approaches/women in theatre; German theatre and theatre history (especially Büchner, Brecht and theatre practice in the 18-19thC); law and performance; production histories; rehearsal studies/history of rehearsal.
Current Postgraduate Candidates
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PhD |
Bridget MacEochgáin, “Radicalising Rape on Stage” |
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PhD |
Izabella Nantsou, “The Subsidy Question: Community Theatre and the Integral State” |
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PhD |
Ting Zhang, “The transformational role of dramaturgy between production teams, critics and audiences in the transitional society of China” |
|
PhD |
Lawrence Ashford, “Towards a Dramaturgy of Interactive Theatre” (Associate Supervisor) |
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MA(Res) |
Rowan Greaves, “White Faces and Nervous Laughter: Subversive Comedy in Australian Performance” |
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MA(Res) |
Natalia Savvides, “Unearthing ‘the real England’ Foreign Influences in the Landscape of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia” |
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MA(Res) |
David Gray, “Dramaturgy without Borders: Making Meaning Beyond the Moment of Performance” [currently suspended in 2023] |
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MA(Res) |
Jimena Puente Trevino, “Los Empeños de Una Casa, written by Mexican 17thCentury nun, poet, philosopher and playwright, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz” (Associate Supervisor) |
Postgraduate Completions
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2022 |
PhD |
Sally Blackwood, “(Re)Claim the Frame: a rethinking of opera and operatic practice in Australia” (Co-supervised with Dr Stephen Mould, Conservatorium of Music) |
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2022 |
MA(Res) |
Kerrie Roberts, “Gertrude’s Hamlet: In Search of the King of Denmark’s Daughter in Shakespeares Play” [Published as: Hamlet’s Hereditary Queen. Performing Shakespeare’s Silent Female Power. Routledge, 2023] |
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2021 |
MA(Res) |
Katrina Foster, “Firing the Can(n)on: Canon and Repertoire in Australian Theatre” |
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2019 |
PhD |
Elisabetta Peruzzi, “Kangarusskies: Behind the Revolution. Ballet technique and approaches to acting among Ballets Russes émigrés in Australia” (Associate Supervisor) |
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2019 |
MPhil |
Rebekah Woodward-Hanna, “The Performance of Redress in Vanuatu” (Associate Supervisor) [Winner, Veronica Kelly Prize for Best Postgraduate Paper, ADSA Conference, 2013] |
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2018 |
PhD |
Julie Lynch, “Costume’s Mirror Up To Nature: A study of how design contributes to the production of meaning for Shakespeare in performance.” (Associate Supervisor) |
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2017 |
PhD |
Katherine Johnson, “Performing Pasts for Present Purposes” (Associate Supervisor) |
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2015 |
PhD |
Janet McGaw, “Country Awakening: Amateur Theatre in NSW Regional Communities 1945-1970” [Runner up, Veronica Kelly Prize for Best Postgraduate Paper, ADSA Conference, 2012 and 2013] |
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2014 |
MA(Res) |
Kathleen Roma Greer, “‘He Puts Out His Hand. You Put Out Your Hand.’ Emerging, Urban, Aboriginal Theatre-Makers. What Does It Take To Emerge?” |
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2013 |
PhD |
May-Brit Akerholt, “The Dramaturgy of Translation” |
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2012 |
DArts |
Liza-Mare Syron, “The Rise of the Indigenous Actor in Australia. Traversing Cultural and Pedagogical Terrains” |
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2010 |
MA(Res) |
Camilla Ah Kin, “A Chance Gathering of Strays. The Australian Theatre Family” |
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2008 |
PhD |
Kate Leader, “Trials, Truth-Telling and the Performing Body” |
The Diary of Ernestine Engels: A New Digital Humanities Edition
Ernestine Engels was an actress at Goethe’s famous Court Theatre in Weimar from 1805 until her death in 1845.The diary she wrote in the first half of 1816 has never been published (in full in German; at all in English) but offers rich insights into the daily life and working practices of an actress at a time when significant changes in theatre practice (ultimately leading to the rise of the modern director) were being implemented.
In Stage 1 of this project the diary will be digitized, transcribed and translated into English.
In subsequent stages of the project, an international collaboration is proposed between the Goethe Museum Düsseldorf (where the diary is held), Goethehaus Frankfurt, Goethe Nationalmuseum/Klassik Stiftung Weimar, to create a full, annotated and edited digital humanities edition of the diary, including links to documents, images and other objects from their collections, ultimately presenting an accessible, engaging and richly illustrated “snapshot” of life in Weimar in 1816.
Rehearsal in Europe 1550-1880: Performance Preparation before the Director
This ARC-funded project (with Associate Professor Tim Fitzpatrick, Dr John Golder and Professor Tiffany Stern) investigates rehearsal processes in European theatre before the advent of the director in the nineteenth century, focussing on England, Italy, France and Germany. This contrastive analysis of historical rehearsal practice will constitute a significant rethinking of how and why European theatre practice developed as it did before the arrival of the figure of the independent director. What did rehearsal consist of, how did it develop in relation to performance, and how did collaborative processes evolve to create a space for the director?
Rex Cramphorn: Performance Histories
Rex Cramphorn was a highly original director of Shakespeare, French classical and contemporary Australian theatre. His untimely death at the age of 50 in 1991 cut short a significant artistic career. The Rex Cramphorn Committee has commissioned research for a book length study of Cramphorn’s work, both with the innovative companies he founded in the 1970s, and his later work, including his 5-year Resident Directorship of Melbourne’s Playbox Theatre. This will complement the collected edition of his writings, compiled and edited by Dr Ian Maxwell.
- Artistic Advisory Committee, Seymour Theatre Centre (2015+)
- Rex Cramphorn Memorial Committee (2002+)
- Sydney Arts Management Advisory Group (2002-2005)
- De Quincey Company (2000-2005, Chair 2003-2005)
- Sydney Art Theatre (1999)
- Theatre Kantanka (1998-2004)
Editorial Boards
- Member, Editorial Board, Australasian Drama Studies Journal (2007+)
- Member, Board of Advisors, Philament (2006+)
- Member, Editorial Board, About Performance (2005+)
| Project title | Research student |
|---|---|
| The Cultural Topography of Entertainment: The Sydney Theatre District 1880-1940 | Richard HUNTER |
| Radicalising Rape on Stage | Bridget MAC EOCHAGAIN |
Selected publications
(Currency Press, 2018)
(Power Publications, 2002)
Publications
Books
- Dalton, R., Ginters, L. (2018). The Ripples Before the New Wave: Drama at the University of Sydney 1957-63. Sydney, Australia: Currency Press.
Edited Books
- Ginters, L., Campbell, B. (2002). Flesh Winnow. Sydney Australia: Power Publications.
Book Chapters
- Ginters, L. (2023). Student Ethnographers in the Rehearsal Room: Witnessing "Prinz Bettliegend". In Lisa Peschel (Eds.), A Holocaust Cabaret: Re-making Theatre from a Jewish Ghetto, (pp. 17-31). Bristol: Intellect. [More Information]
- Ginters, L. (2022). Rural Radical Theatre: the Newcastle NTL 1937-40. In Lisa Milner (Eds.), The New Theatre: The people, plays and politics behind Australia's radical theatre, (pp. 154-177). Coffs Harbour, NSW: Interventions. [More Information]
- Ginters, L. (2021). "Let Me Come to Athens [ / Lamplough], Shelter Me, Accept Me in Your Home": Medea Transported to the Goldfields and Beyond in Nineteenth-Century Australia 1. In Gilli Bush-Bailey and Kate Flaherty (Eds.), Touring Performance and Global Exchange 1850-1960: Making Tracks, (pp. 149-168). Oxon and New York: Routledge. [More Information]
Journals
- Ginters, L., Fitzpatrick, T. (2019). Rehearsal Before the Director: Playwrights and Actors Taking Responsibility. European Drama and Performance Studies, 2(13), 47-68. [More Information]
- Ginters, L. (2017). Before The Ham Funeral: 'The Young Man Appears' - John Tasker Returns Home. Australasian Drama Studies, 71, 13-41. [More Information]
- Ginters, L. (2016). "Good Woman should have been done in one of our big theaters long before this": Brecht, the Students, and the Making of the New Wave of Australian Theater. Brecht Yearbook, 40(2015), 171-189.
Conferences
- Ginters, L. (2008). Wagner and the little ballet master that could. 2006 Conference of the Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Sydney: University of Sydney.
- Ginters, L. (2005). Radio Drama as Music Theatre? Re-defining a Genre in Plays by Noëlle Janaczewska. Radio Conference 2005, Melbourne (Aust): RMIT Publishing.
Other Works
- Ginters, L. (2010). CUB Malthouse. The Threepenny Opera, (pp. 1 - 129). Melbourne, Australia: Laura Ginters.
Magazine / Newspaper Articles
- Ginters, L. (2024). Sydney's beloved Footbridge Theatre launched some of our biggest stars. After nearly 20 years, it's making a grand return. The Conversation. [More Information]
- Ginters, L. (2019). Brilliant creature: Clive James spent his salad days in good company. The Conversation. [More Information]
- Ginters, L. (2003). Review: "A Virago Took my Baby!", another night: medea (The opera Project). RealTime, 55.
Report
- Ginters, L. (2011). Darung Muru 'dance pathways': Inaugural NSW Aboriginal Dance Forum. Report and Recommendations. Report commissioned by Ausdance NSW and the NSW Ministry for the Arts.
- Ginters, L. (2004). Dramaturgy and Script Development in Theatre in NSW: the Australian National Playwrights' Centre and Playworks.
Other
- Ginters, L., Borgert, U. (2001), Translation of: Margret Kreidl, Grateful Women (Dankbare Frauen). Pp. 237-64 in Women's Words. Women's Works. An Anthology of Contemporary Austrian Plays by Women.
- Ginters, L., Borgert, U. (2001), Translation of: Marlene Streeruwitz, New York, New York. Pp. 143-96 in Women's Words. Women's Works. An Anthology of Contemporary Austrian Plays by Women.
Research Reports
- Ginters, L. (2011). Darung Muru dance pathways: Inaugural NSW Aboriginal Dance Forum Report and Recommendations, (pp. 1 - 16). Sydney, Australia: AusDance.
2024
- Ginters, L. (2024). Sydney's beloved Footbridge Theatre launched some of our biggest stars. After nearly 20 years, it's making a grand return. The Conversation. [More Information]
2023
- Ginters, L. (2023). Student Ethnographers in the Rehearsal Room: Witnessing "Prinz Bettliegend". In Lisa Peschel (Eds.), A Holocaust Cabaret: Re-making Theatre from a Jewish Ghetto, (pp. 17-31). Bristol: Intellect. [More Information]
2022
- Ginters, L. (2022). Rural Radical Theatre: the Newcastle NTL 1937-40. In Lisa Milner (Eds.), The New Theatre: The people, plays and politics behind Australia's radical theatre, (pp. 154-177). Coffs Harbour, NSW: Interventions. [More Information]
2021
- Ginters, L. (2021). "Let Me Come to Athens [ / Lamplough], Shelter Me, Accept Me in Your Home": Medea Transported to the Goldfields and Beyond in Nineteenth-Century Australia 1. In Gilli Bush-Bailey and Kate Flaherty (Eds.), Touring Performance and Global Exchange 1850-1960: Making Tracks, (pp. 149-168). Oxon and New York: Routledge. [More Information]
2019
- Ginters, L. (2019). 'Agamemnon' comes to the Antipodes: The Origins of Student Drama at the University of Sydney. In Marguerite Johnson (Eds.), Antipodean Antiquities: Classical Reception Down Under, (pp. 43-60). London: Bloomsbury Academic. [More Information]
- Ginters, L. (2019). Brilliant creature: Clive James spent his salad days in good company. The Conversation. [More Information]
- Ginters, L., Fitzpatrick, T. (2019). Rehearsal Before the Director: Playwrights and Actors Taking Responsibility. European Drama and Performance Studies, 2(13), 47-68. [More Information]
2018
- Ginters, L. (2018). Charting Life: Noelle Janaczewska's 'Good with Maps' and 'Teacup in a Storm'. Good with Maps, (pp. vii-xvi). Sydney: Currency Press. [More Information]
- Dalton, R., Ginters, L. (2018). The Ripples Before the New Wave: Drama at the University of Sydney 1957-63. Sydney, Australia: Currency Press.
2017
- Ginters, L. (2017). Before The Ham Funeral: 'The Young Man Appears' - John Tasker Returns Home. Australasian Drama Studies, 71, 13-41. [More Information]
- Ginters, L. (2017). Es lebe die Revolution? Danton's Tod on Stage in the Twenty-First Century. In Robert Gillett, Ernest Schonfield and Daniel Steuer (Eds.), Georg Buchner: Contemporary Perspectives, (pp. 223-243). Leiden: Koninklijke Brill. [More Information]
2016
- Ginters, L. (2016). "Good Woman should have been done in one of our big theaters long before this": Brecht, the Students, and the Making of the New Wave of Australian Theater. Brecht Yearbook, 40(2015), 171-189.
2013
- Ginters, L. (2013). [Book Review] Not Magic But Work: An Ethnographic Account of a Rehearsal Process by Gay McAuley. Australasian Drama Studies, 63(October 2013), 130-133.
- Ginters, L. (2013). Australia. In Anne Fliotsos, Wendy Viero (Eds.), International Women Stage Directors, (pp. 18-29). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
- Ginters, L. (2013). Glimpsing the Hidden World: Australian Directors on Rehearsal. In Richard Fotheringham, James Smith (Eds.), Catching Australian Theatre in the 2000s, (pp. 45-78). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi.
2012
- Ginters, L. (2012). Georg Buchner - a Selective Stage History. In Matthew Wilson Smith (Eds.), Georg Buchner: The Major Works, (pp. 235-256). London, United Kingdom: W.W Norton & Company.
2011
- Ginters, L. (2011). Darung Muru 'dance pathways': Inaugural NSW Aboriginal Dance Forum. Report and Recommendations. Report commissioned by Ausdance NSW and the NSW Ministry for the Arts.
- Ginters, L. (2011). Darung Muru dance pathways: Inaugural NSW Aboriginal Dance Forum Report and Recommendations, (pp. 1 - 16). Sydney, Australia: AusDance.
2010
- Ginters, L. (2010). [Book Review] 'To Watch Theatre: Essays on Genre and Corporeality' by Rachel Fensham. Performance Paradigm, 6, 93-95.
- Ginters, L. (2010). CUB Malthouse. The Threepenny Opera, (pp. 1 - 129). Melbourne, Australia: Laura Ginters.
- Ginters, L. (2010). On Audiencing: The Work of the Spectator in Live Performance. About Performance, 10, 7-14.
2009
- Ginters, L. (2009). "A continuous return": Tristan and Isolde, Wagner, Hollywood and Bill Viola. Screening The Past, (26), 1-23.
2008
- Ginters, L. (2008). Lindy Davies: Finding a Path to a Process Part, 2 - Interview by Laura Ginters. Australasian Drama Studies, 52(April), 85-96.
- Cohen, M., Dwyer, P., Ginters, L. (2008). Performing "sorry business": reconciliation and redressive action. In Graham St John (Eds.), Victor Turner and contemporary cultural performance, (pp. 76-93). Oxford, New York: Berghahn Books.
- Ginters, L. (2008). Wagner and the little ballet master that could. 2006 Conference of the Australasian Association for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Sydney: University of Sydney.
2007
- Ginters, L. (2007). Lindy Davies: A Path to a Process: Interview by Laura Ginters. Australasian Drama Studies, 50, 78-90.
2006
- Ginters, L. (2006). 'And there may we rehearse most obscenely and courageously': pushing limits in rehearsal. About Performance, 6, 55-73.
2005
- Ginters, L. (2005). Radio Drama as Music Theatre? Re-defining a Genre in Plays by Noëlle Janaczewska. Radio Conference 2005, Melbourne (Aust): RMIT Publishing.
- Ginters, L. (2005). Violating the Past: Beatrix Christian. In Rachel Fensham and Denise Varney (Eds.), The Doll's Revolution: Australian Theatre and Cultural Imagination, (pp. 238-284). Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing.
2004
- Ginters, L., McAuley, N. (2004). "Hello Wien!" The Eighth Annual Rex Cramphorn Lecture, by Barrie Kosky. Australasian Drama Studies, 44, 17-35.
- Gallasch, K., Ginters, L. (2004). Australian music theatre: continuity and hybridity. Australasian Drama Studies, 45, 3-9.
- Ginters, L. (2004). Dramaturgy and Script Development in Theatre in NSW: the Australian National Playwrights' Centre and Playworks.
2003
- Ginters, L. (2003). Review: "A Virago Took my Baby!", another night: medea (The opera Project). RealTime, 55.
- Ginters, L. (2003). Review: The Fondue Set. RealTime, 53.
- Ginters, L. (2003). Theatre in Vienna and Berlin: Vision and Scale. RealTime: +onscreen, 53(February-March).
2002
- Ginters, L. (2002). Aus dem Busch zu Bondi-Beach (From the Beach to the Bush). Zeitschrift fur Kulturaustausch, , 55-59.
- Ginters, L., Campbell, B. (2002). Flesh Winnow. Sydney Australia: Power Publications.
- Ginters, L. (2002). Review: "That Business with the Cat", Entertaining Paradise (The opera Project). RealTime, 49.
2001
- Ginters, L., Schaffer, K. (2001). 'The more things change the more they stay the same..'? feminisms and Performance Studies. Australasian Drama Studies, 39, 104-124.
- Ginters, L. (2001). 'We Want Hope.' The Power of Indigenous Arts in Australia Today. Australasian Drama Studies, 38.
- Ginters, L. (2001). Review: Burning by Verity Laughton (Griffin Theatre Company) and Imago by Emma Vuletic (B Sharp, Belvoir Street). Postwest, 19.
Selected Grants
2021
- AusStage 7: The international breakthrough, Holledge J, Casey M, Cochrane M, Fensham R, Dennis R, Holman Jones S, Hadley B, Arrighi G, Bollen J, Ginters L, Marshall J, Tait P, Woollard J, Meyrick J, Hamilton M, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF)
2010
- Rehearsal without a Director: Rethinking Theatre History, Fitzpatrick T, Ginters L, Golder J, Stern T, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP)
In the media
Speaker, Launch of The New Theatre. The People, Plays and Politics Behind Australia’s Radical Theatre
Quoted in Sydney Arts Guide: The New Theatre Proudly Ninety Years Strong (27 October 2022)
Collaboration between Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, and Moogahlin Performing Arts
Quoted in "First Peoples arts company shares unique insights with students", University of Sydney News (21 September 2021) https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2021/09/21/first-peoples-arts-company-shares-unique-insights-with-students.html
Media Appearances for The Ripples Before the New Wave (selected)
“Sydney Uni's indelible impression on Australian theatre” The Stage Show with Michael Cathcart, ABC Radio National, interviewing Laura Ginters, Robyn alton, Leo Schofield (23 April 2019) https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-stage-show/sydney-unis-indelible-impression-on-australian-theatre/11028046
Eastside Radio FM, Di Simmonds & Gary Simpson interviewing Laura Ginters and Anne Schofield (27 February 2019)
National Community Radio Network, Arts Alive, Vincent O’Donnell interviewing Laura Ginters (19 February 2019)
“Golden Age of University Theatrics”, University News (15 February 2019) https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/news-and-events/news/2019/02/15/golden-age-of-university-theatrics.html
Expert commentary on ABC and Radio Drama
Quoted in Juliana Yu, “ABC Radio National revives the radio drama with Dear Dr Chekhov”, Sydney Morning Herald (17 August 2015) https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/abc-radio-national-revives-the-radio-drama-with-dear-dr-chekhov-20150823-gj0dhl.html
