Key research themes
1. How have theatrical techniques and technologies shaped the representation and perception of ghosts on stage?
This research theme explores the evolution of theatrical methods and apparatuses used to create ghostly illusions and spectral effects in theatre, from early stage makeup and costumes to complex mechanical devices like Pepper's Ghost. It investigates how these material techniques both reflect and shape audience perceptions of ghosts, connecting technological advances, cultural notions of reality, and theatrical aesthetics.
2. How do ghosts on stage embody and express cultural anxieties related to modernity, memory, and trauma?
This theme investigates ghosts as theatrical figures signifying broader social and psychological concerns, especially relating to modernity's ontological uncertainties, traumatic memory, political repression, and cultural identity. It addresses how ghosts function metaphorically and dramatically to expose the uncanny, reveal suppressed histories, or articulate postmodern suspicion toward grand narratives, especially within Anglo-American theatre.
3. What role do ghost performances play in embodying identity, memory, and agency within live theatre, and how do performers negotiate this?
Focusing on the actor's and audience's embodied experience, this theme explores how ghosts in live performance facilitate reflection on selfhood, intergenerational memory, and cultural subjectivity. It examines the rehearsal practices, psychophysical engagement, and performative strategies that link ghosts to the materiality of the body and collective memory, emphasizing phenomenological and affective dimensions in ghost-related theatre work.