Home: Creative Arts Subject Guide: Theatre and Drama

Resources for Theatre and Drama

Featured eBooks

Search for books/eBooks using Library Search. Your Course Readings list will also have mandatory and recommended texts that will help you with your research.

See here for details on borrowing, requesting digitized chapters scans, renewing or finding out how to join other university libraries near to you.

Voice and the Actor by Cicely Berry; Peter Brook
Call Number: 808.5 Ber

ISBN: 9780020415558

Publication Date: 1991

"Speaking is part of a whole: an expression of inner life." Cicely Berry has based her work on the conviction that while all is present in nature our natural instincts have been crippled from birth by many processes--by the conditioning, in fact, of a warped society. So an actor needs precise exercise and clear understanding to liberate his hidden possibilities and to learn the hard task of being true to the 'instinct of the moment'. As her book points out with remarkable persuasiveness 'technique' as such is a myth, for there is no such thing as a correct voice.
Performance Studies by Richard Schechner
Call Number: 792.01 Sch

ISBN: 0415372453

Publication Date: 2006

In this second edition, the author opens with a discussion of important developments in the discipline. His closing chapter, 'Global and Intercultural Performance', is completely rewritten in light of the post-9/11 world. Among the topics discussed are the performing arts and popular entertainments, rituals, play and games as well as the performances of everyday life. Supporting examples and ideas are drawn from the social sciences, performing arts, post-structuralism, ritual theory, ethology, philosophy and aesthetics.
The Actor in You by Robert Benedetti
Call Number: 792.028 Ben

ISBN: 9780205914906

Publication Date: 2014

Explore the fundamentals of acting The Actor in You presents a thorough and systematic exposure to the fundamentals of the acting process in simple, direct language and a streamlined structure. This title draws on exercises and examples from students' everyday lives, well-known plays, and popular television programs to lead the beginning student through the process of creating a role.
Structuring Drama Work by Jonothan Neelands; Tony Goode
Call Number: 792.0712 Str

ISBN: 9781107530164

Publication Date: 2015

Structuring Drama Work is the only drama resource that explores 100 dramatic conventions and techniques and provides ideas for how to practise them. This book explains dramatic conventions and what they do, explores how dramatic techniques can be used, provides cultural connections and global contexts and includes examples of the techniques in the context of plays and texts.

Featured Journals

Identify key journals in your area of research by selecting Journal Title Search from the Library Advanced Search page.

Find research articles from the most prominent journals in your field by narrowing down your results by selecting the Peer Reviewed filter option on the left side of your results.

Some peer reviewed journals are listed below.

Contemporary Theatre Review is a peer-reviewed journal of theatre and performance studies. The journal is home to the most rigorous, experimental, and influential scholarly interventions into the study of international theatre and related practices. Publishing the best research on a broad spectrum of performance practices – including mainstream theatre, drama, performance histories; live art and performance art; dance theatre; digital performance; sound; and performative social and applied practice.

Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (TDPT) is a rigorously peer-reviewed journal that provides a forum for practitioners, academics, creative artists and pedagogues to articulate research into performance training in all its diversity.

Studies in Theatre and Performance (STP) is an international, peer-reviewed journal, publishes work that explores theatre and performance practice across histories, cultures, and fields of interdisciplinary enquiry.

RiDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance is a refereed journal aimed at those with an interest in applying performance practices to cultural engagement, education and social change. The Journal provides an international forum for innovative research into drama and theatre conducted in community, education, developmental and therapeutic contexts.

Featured databases

See here for a list of highly relevant databases that have a subject focus within the area of Theatre and Drama.

Some useful databases covering theatre and performance include:

AustLit contains a wide range of Australian literature and storytelling, with biographical and bibliographical information. It includes writing for the theatre, biographical and travel writing, writing for film and television, criticism and reviews.

Taylor & Francis provides full-text access to journal articles covering Arts, Business, Education, Health Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, Spatial Sciences.

Project Muse is a collection of full-text humanities and social sciences journals and eBooks from over 120 publishers.

EBSCOhost Megafile Ultimate contains a suite of databases contains information in most subject areas taught at UniSQ. As well as providing journal article citation details and abstracts descriptions, many articles have full-text links.

Kanopy is a leading supplier of DVD and online video on all subjects, with special emphasis on Australian content. View and preview videos, see transcripts, create playlists and embed into courses.

Below are a list of State and National creative arts bodies, initiatives and workshops that may assist with your research or creative works.

Level	Organisation / Program	What they offer
National	Australia Council for the Arts PAC Australia (formerly Performing Arts Centres Association) Creative Australia	National arts funding body with artist profiles, grants, and project directories. PAC Australia is the national peak body for performing arts centres, presenters and producers across Australia. We connect presenters, producers and artists through our membership program and at our flagship event, the Australian Performing Arts Exchange (APAX). Creative Australia champions and invests in arts and creativity to benefit all Australians. It is Creative Australia’s responsibility to invest in people, artists and organisations that represent a range of voices, perspectives, and stories, which may challenge people’s views and beliefs.
State	Arts Queensland Queensland Arts Showcase Program (QASP)	Funding, grants, scholarships, innovation support. Funding and grants for projects.
Regional	Flying Arts Alliance	Arts education, networking, Regional Arts Fund.
Local (Brisbane)	Creative Sparks (Brisbane City Council program), Brisbane Powerhouse	Grants, venue access, project support. Brisbane performance space supporting emerging and established artists.
Cultural training	Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA)	Indigenous-focused performing arts training.
Performing arts collectives	TNA (Theatre Network Australia)	TNA is the leading industry development and advocacy organisation for small to medium and independent performing arts, working nationally, with a dedicated Victorian program. TNA services a wide range of performing arts including dance, circus and live art.

Researching creative works and artists

Find local performing artists or plays
Find international performing artists or plays

Theatre and performing arts in Australia play a vital role in preserving and sharing diverse cultural stories, from First Nations traditions to contemporary voices, fostering understanding and unity. There are a few ways to tap into the performing artist sphere to find local artists, plays or to find avenues and opportunities to collaborate with fellow artists.

QLD organisations and events

Visit Queensland Entertainment and Creative Australia - Live Music Directory to browse artists and awards lists.
Explore arts support via Arts Queensland and performance and project opportunities through QPAC.
Find local events like BIGSOUND, Valley Fiesta, and the Multicultural Australia MOSAIC Festival to find local artists and talent.
Tune in to community radio, such as 4ZZZ to hear about local artists.

Jürgen Fritz, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

If you are conducting research on international artists it is advisable to utilise a combination of specialised art databases, museum and gallery websites, and academic resources to ensure access to both authoritative and current information.

Databases and directories

International performing arts directories – Many global networks keep searchable directories of artists, troupes, and companies.
- International Theatre for Young Audiences Research Network (ITARYN) aims to further research in theatre and performance for children and youth, through international exchanges of scholarly materials and discourse at conferences, symposia, and festivals. We believe that scholarly intercultural and interdisciplinary exchange, as well as a continued dialogue between researchers and practitioners, will contribute to a better understanding of the impact of theory on practice and practice on theory from multiple perspectives.
- International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) The mission of ISPA is to strengthen the performing arts globally through the advancement of leadership, the exchange of ideas, and by fostering a diverse and engaged membership with a membership network of more than 500 leaders in the performing arts across 60 countries.
- IETM (International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts) is one of the oldest and largest international cultural networks, representing the voice of over 500 performing arts organisations and individual professionals working in the contemporary performing arts worldwide.
ITI (International Theatre Institute) is UNESCO-affiliated, it connects performing artists and theatre companies worldwide.
On the Move is a European cultural mobility network with artist databases and funding opportunities. International mobility is an essential part of the cultural field. We support artists and professionals to operate internationally while working to reimagine mobility as fairer, more diverse, and more sustainable.

Global Arts festivals

Festivals often serve as marketplaces for international talent and usually publish artist directories or catalogs of participants:

WOMADelaide (Aus) With the music, art and dance that enriches our cultural landscape comes a deeper understanding and inclusive sense of community between cultures.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe (UK) The vision “to give anyone a stage and everyone a seat” and be the best place in the world for emerging artists to perform and the best platform for talent to emerge.
APAP (Association of Performing Arts Professionals, New York) Serving thousands of member organizations and individuals since 1957, APAP works to strengthen the field and advance careers through professional development, grant support, advocacy, networking and the annual APAP|NYC conference.
PAMS (Performing Arts Market in Seoul, Korea) is one of Asia's leading international performing arts platforms.

Licensing and copyright

For English-language plays and performance rights:

Concord Theatricals handles all international licensing for the play rights that we control directly. The exception to this are countries listed on the website which are looked after by sub-agents such as Australia. Australia is looked after by Origin Theatrical that holds the Samuel French catalogue of classic contemporary and popular playwrights and authors.
Broadway Licensing Global comprising the imprints Broadway Licensing, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts and Stage Rights, is a global leader in theatrical licensing and distribution.
New Play Exchange (NPX) is a National New Play Network project, is the world’s largest digital library of scripts by living writers. Designed and built with the needs of the entire new play sector in mind, the New Play Exchange® serves writers, producers, directors, artistic directors, literary managers, dramaturgs, publishers, agents, actors, professors, students, and even fans of the theater. The mission of the New Play Exchange® is to provide an open, egalitarian platform on which writers all over the world can share their work and others can discover that work.

Planning and managing creative research projects

Performance research
Literature reviews

A Creative Works research project at the level of 4th year, Masters level and above usually involves a creative component (e.g. composition, performance, sound installation), as well as an exegesis or critical written component, which situates the creative work within scholarly contexts. Your work should demonstrate originality, critical engagement, and contribution to knowledge in musicology or related fields (e.g. performance studies, aesthetic studies or cultural studies).

Common research methods in theatrical or dramatic creative practice can include:

Practice-led creative theories (devising, performance, embodiment): artistic practice itself as a form of research, where the process of making performance generates new knowledge and understanding.
Aesthetic theories (form, style, technique): artistic form, style, and sensory experience create meaning, beauty, and emotional impact in performance.
Cultural/critical theories (identity, politics, ideology): how performance reflects, challenges, and reshapes social power, identity, and ideology.

For higher level research projects, ensure you visit the library guides for Research Support for comprehensive help in publication planning, data management and complex literature reviews.

Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research: Perspectives, Methodologies, Examples, and Issues by Knowles, J G. & Cole, A. L.
ISBN: 9781452226545

Publication Date: 2008

Represents an unfolding and expanding orientation to qualitative social science research that draws inspiration, concepts, processes, and representational forms from the arts. See Part II Methodologies and Part III Genres (performances) Chapter 15 - 18 on the subjects of dance, choreography, performative inquiry, ethnodrama and readers theatre.
Performance Ethnography by Norman K. Denzin
ISBN: 9780761910398

Publication Date: 2003

Norman K. Denzin feels that now is the time to take stock of reflexive performance, ethnography, and autoethnography; to evaluate where each has been and where they are going, especially as they pertain to the study of democracy and racism in postmodern America. In Performance Ethnography, one of the world's most distinguished authorities on qualitative research, established the initial published connection of performance narratives with performance ethnography and autoethnography; the linkage of these formations to critical pedagogy and critical race theory; and the histories of these formations, and shown how they may be connected.
Emergent Methods in Social Research by Sharlene Hesse Biber (Editor); Patricia L. Leavy (Editor)
ISBN: 9781412909181

Publication Date: 2006

Emergent Methods in Social Research introduces state-of-the-art social research methods that address the growing methods-theory gap within and across the disciplines. In this text, editors Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Patricia Leavy combine original, in-depth introductions, previously published articles, and original works to provide readers with a comprehensive view of new and cutting-edge research methods and methodologies.
The SAGE Handbook of Digital Dissertations and Theses by Stephen N. Davis (Editor); Myrrh Domingo (Editor); Jude England (Editor); Richard N. L. Andrews (Editor); Erik Borg (Editor)
ISBN: 9780857027399

Publication Date: 2012

This handbook sets out the processes and products of digital research. It is a theoretical and practical guide on how to undertake and navigate advanced research in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Topics covered include: - how to make research more accessible - the use of search engines and other sources to determine the scope of work - research training for students - what will theses, dissertations and research reports look like in ten years time? - the storing and archiving of such research - ethics and methodologies in the field - intercultural issues. See Section 2 - Chapter 6: Reframing the Performing Arts.

Systematic-type reviews include systematic reviews, systematic literature reviews, scoping reviews, rapid reviews, systematic quantitative literature reviews, and many more (Sutton et al., 2019). The common theme is that they follow a systematic, structured process.

To see examples of literature reviews in the field of theatre or drama:

Select Library Search
Enter "literature review" AND (theat* OR drama OR "performing arts")

Examples:

Jablonski, M., & Karcz-Ryndak, J. (2024). Key Aspects of Theatre Management: Literature review. Organization and Management, 195(1), 69–99.
Zakopoulos, V., Makri, A., Ntanos, S., & Tampakis, S. (2023). Drama/Theatre Performance in Education through the Use of Digital Technologies for Enhancing Students’ Sustainability Awareness: A Literature Review. Sustainability, 15(18), 13387. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813387

For higher level research projects, ensure you visit the library guides for Research Support for comprehensive help in publication planning, data management and complex literature reviews.

The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success by Machi, L. A. & McEvoy, B. T.
ISBN: 9781071939031

Publication Date: 2016

From daunting to doable in six steps Graduate students who turn in exceptional literature reviews are recognized as excellent critical thinkers, as well as masters of academic argumentation, research writing and writing academic papers. But literature searches and composing the review itself can be intimidating and frustrating. The six-step process pioneered by this book has made the task flowing and seamless for masters and doctoral candidates in Education and related fields.
Project Planner: Reviewing the Literature
ISBN: 9781526408518

Publication Date: 2017

This stage will:
- Explain what a literature review is and why you need to do one
- Define the steps in a literature search and a literature review
- Give you an overview of where to look for appropriate literature
The literature review is an important part of every research project. This section takes you through the literature review process, explaining the reasons for reviewing the literature and differentiation between the types of literature available.

Referencing and citing difficult creative works

APA 7 Referencing

Theatre and drama is another field where APA 7 runs into “non-standard” sources, since so much material isn’t necessarily published in books or journals. See UniSQ APA 7 guide for assistance, and QUT APA cite for Creative works.

Live theatre performances

Often there is no author, no DOI, no page numbers, sometimes no recording.
If no author, use the title of the performance.
Live performances are not included in the reference list, as these materials cannot be traced by the reader but are cited in-text.
Use the names of the organisations as they appear on the program.

In text

(Surname, Year)

Example:

(Shakespeare, 2019)

Live performance

(Camerata, Bliss [Performance], 2018, August 10)

Reference

Performance program

Title [Description of performance]. (Year). Name of organisation.

Example:

Swan Lake [Theatrical performance]. (2013). The Australian Ballet and QPAC, Brisbane.

Play scripts (published in anthologies or online)

APA treats plays like books, but you may also need to cite acts /scenes /lines instead of pages e.g. 1.3.36-37 refers to Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 36 and 37
Include an editor if it is mentioned on the script.
For works that have been out of print then republished (which is common for older plays), and for works that have been translated into English, add (Original work published Year) at the end of the reference.
For works that have been out of print then republished, and for works that have been translated into English, add (Original work published Year) at the end of the reference.

In text

(Surname, Year, Act #, Scene #)

(Surname, Year, Act, Scene, Line)

Example:

(Wilson, 1985, Act 1, Scene 3)

(Shakespeare, 1623/2006, 1.2.177)

Reference

Online

a) Author, A. (Year). Title of play. Publisher.

With an editor

b) Author. (Year). Title of play (Editor, Ed.). Publisher.

Example:

a) Wilson, A. (1985). Fences. Plume.

b) Shakespeare, W. (2006). Romeo and Juliet (B. Gibbons, Ed.). Routledge. (Original work published 1623)

Theatre reviews (newspapers, blogs, online magazines)

This is secondary commentary, often online, sometimes without page numbers.
Reviews of books, films, TV shows, albums and other entertainment are published in journals, magazines, newspapers, websites and blogs, etc.
Use Reviewer details in lieu of author. Title should be the Title of the Review.

In text

(Reviewer surname, Year)

Example:

(Billington, 2018)

Reference

Reviewer Surname, A. (Year, Month Day). Title of review [Review of the play Title of play, by Playwright/author]. Publication Name. URL

Example:

Billington, M. (2018, October 3). An electrifying revival of Antigone [Review of the play Antigone, by Sophocles]. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/antigone-review