The Picture of Dorian Gray: Re-staging the Nineteenth Century at the University of Valencia * now published [2026]

This was my first conference immersed in theatre and performance studies — surrounded not by screen scholars and filmmakers, but by theatre researchers and practitioners thinking deeply about live performance. It was also my first conference in Spain. Both experiences were energising and unforgettable.

In my presentation, I discussed three recent productions staged in Melbourne: The Picture of Dorian Gray, performed by Eryn Jean Norvill; Cyrano, directed by Sarah Goodes; and Bernhardt/Hamlet, starring Kate Mulvany and staged by the Melbourne Theatre Company under the artistic direction of Anne-Louise Sarks.

Through these productions, I argued that Melbourne theatre is experiencing a striking resurgence of women playwrights, directors, and performers revisiting the late nineteenth-century European stage. Returning to a moment associated with first-wave feminism, these works foreground actresses performing in cross-dress roles while using comedy, theatricality, and camp to reframe theatre history for contemporary audiences. Together, they recover and reinterpret the women performers and entrepreneurs who reshaped global entertainment culture at the turn of the twentieth century.