Denise Varney

Biography

Denise Varney is Professor of Theatre Studies in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne where she has also served as Deputy and Acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts (201718). From 2013 to 2021, she served as co-director of the Australian Centre in the Faculty of Arts. She is a current member of the ARC College of Experts, a long-term member of ADSA, the Australasian Drama Studies Association and IFTR, the International Federation for Theatre Research, and a past co-coordinator of the Feminist Research Working Group. She has supervised over 20 Research Higher Degrees and acted as an examiner, referee and peer reviewer of monographs, articles and theses.

Her research is in the area of modern and contemporary Australian theatre and performance with published work in the areas of feminism, ecocriticism, theatre and politics, and performance affect. Recent books include Patrick White’s Theatre: Australian Modernism on Stage 19602018 (September 2021), Australian Theatre, Patrick White and Modernism: Governing Culture with Sandra D’Urso (2018), Feminist Ecologies: Changing Environments in the Anthropocene with Lara Stevens and Peta Tait (2018), and Performance Feminism and Affect in Neoliberal Times (2017), co-edited with Elin Diamond and Candice Amich.