Speaking in and out of turn: narrators in contemporary Australian theatre

Abstract

This thesis examines narrating as a widespread mode of performance in Australian contemporary theatre. The examination focuses on the forms narrators in contemporary Australian theatre take, arguing that they split into two distinct figures: one that supports the representation of dramatic action and the hierarchies that such a model demands, and a very different, non-dramatic figure that disrupts cause and effect storytelling through description and presentation. This figure unsettles the pairings that sit at the heart of drama: showing and telling, acting and non-acting and character and voice, creating space where narratives emerge out of this disruption.