Emeritus Professor Stuart Young has made an outstanding contribution to theatre studies at Otago, two of his enduring passions have been Chekhov and verbatim theatre.
Stuart Young has made an outstanding contribution to theatre studies at Otago, through research, teaching and collaboration across many theatre communities. He has been at the forefront of verbatim theatre and developed a compelling, signature style.
In recognition of his outstanding service, Stuart was made an Emeritus Professor when he retired in July after more than 18 years at Otago.
“I am delighted, I am really chuffed. What has been very cheering, as the news of my being emeritus has been shared with my colleagues, is that that they are pleased that our connections will remain, as am I.”
Stuart arrived here during an upswing for theatre at Otago. He was appointed as Head of the Theatre programme, and three other colleagues were recruited to the programme at the same time.
“So, the University had obviously made the decision to support the theatre programme quite substantially.”
Early on in his appointment, Stuart applied for research funding.
“I felt it was important that the research involved practice, or what is now known as performance-as-research.”
A research trip to the United Kingdom at this time exposed him to the emerging practice of verbatim theatre – creating plays from interviews on a particular topic and editing the material to structure it into a dramatic form, with actors then re-presenting the original testimony verbatim. He decided to explore verbatim theatre in practice in his research.
This decision marked a defining moment in Stuart’s career, which he considers “a gift from my time at Otago”.
“I contacted my colleague Hilary Halba and said, ‘are you in for this?’ She said ‘yes’, bless her.
“We started the work with a class, a great class. It was a highlight to create with students and explore the form.”
Stuart has produced and directed four verbatim plays with the University and Talking House, a Dunedin company whose ethos is community-based theatre. Three of the plays have been on national tours: ‘Hush’, about family violence; ‘Be | Longing’, about migrants; and ‘The Keys are in the Margarine’, about dementia.
Stuart and his collaborators have also developed a signature style of verbatim theatre performance.
“Drawing on what’s known as ‘headphone verbatim’, our actors repeat not only the words, but the way they are said, the hesitation, the ungrammatical syntax. The practice we alighted on especially – our signature – was also to record on video tape, so the actors are not only recreating the verbal testimony but also the body language that went with it, and not in a general sense but in a very specific sense, those individual mannerisms.”
In retirement Stuart plans to finish work on a book on verbatim and documentary theatre.
“Although the form has been around for a while – it grew during the 20th century in a rather amorphous way – in the last 30 years or so it’s become quite a phenomenon. I am looking at the development of the form, key exponents of it and their different methodologies – the different ways they create and perform the work.”
Originally from Wellington, Stuart studied Russian and French at Victoria University. He then completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge, England.
“Chekhov was my PhD subject, the focus in the early part of my career and has always been very important to me.”
Throughout his career Stuart has translated plays for performances. He has also belonged to the International Federation of Theatre Research for about 20 years, which holds a large annual international conference where there can be up to 1000 delegates, and which includes about 25 specialist working groups.
Stuart was co-convenor of the Federation’s Translation, Adaptation and Dramaturgy working group, which morphed from a specially convened Chekhov working group to mark the centenary of the Russian playwright’s death. One highlight from this was a trip to St Petersburg.
“We were sitting in this amazing theatre museum where I was surrounded by these icons of Russian theatrical modernism, which was such an important crucible of theatrical innovation in the early 20th Century, the Soviet period.”
In 2015, Stuart was appointed Head of what became the School of Performing Arts at Otago, after the Dance programme joined Music and Theatre.
In the five years he held the leadership role, a new home - ‘Te Korokoro o te Tūī’, was built for the School. This centre includes nine purpose-built studios, teaching and performance spaces.
“This was an affirmation from the University that we are here for the long haul.”
Stuart says the three programmes sit well together, and a specially designed Bachelor of Performing Arts allows students to study across the disciplines.
“The sense that we are a School with this tripod was important to me because we are unique in Aotearoa in housing these performance-based arts together.”
Other highlights in his time with Otago are hosting the 2019 UNESCO Cities of Literature Short Play Festival. Because it coincided with the sesquicentennial celebrations of the University it was embraced it as one of the events.
“It was an intersection between the University and the wider community, including internationally. Most of the theatre studies students were engaged in putting on workshop productions and we staged 25 or 30 short plays.”
Collaborations with Dunedin’s Fortune Theatre were also important in giving students real world experience.
Stuart appreciates the leadership opportunities made available to him during his time with Otago.
“When you’re in a small discipline you don’t think you’re eligible for anything other than your small corner, but I have been supported to go for those leadership roles.”
He is grateful to many people, including his longstanding collaborator and colleague Associate Professor Hilary Halba - she and Theatre Manager Martyn Roberts are Stuart’s “partners in crime”.
“I have relished the time I have been here, and I am not going anywhere terribly far away very quickly, so I want to retain these connections.”