Emeritus Professor Veronica Kelly
Emeritus Professor
School of Communication and Arts
Researcher biography
Professor Veronica Kelly's research interests include pantomime, burlesque and melodrama, contemporary Australian theatre, and colonial star actors and their repertoires.
Her current research includes star actors of the early Australian stage, early twentieth-century commercial managements, gender, nationalism and performance.
She is the author of:
- Articles on Australian colonial and contemporary drama and theatre history. Specific authors: Charles Harpur, Marcus Clarke, Garnet Walch, Louis Nowra, Janis Balodis, Michael Gow, Nick Enright. Specific topics: recent Australian drama, colonial theatrical culture and performance conditions, Orientalism in Australian performance, theatre reviews in the Sydney Bulletin, glamour postcards sent in Australia, Julius Knight and costume drama.
- The Theatre of Louis Nowra (1998).
- Read research articles on Julius Knight the Australian matinee idol (2004; theatre criticism in the Bulletin (2000), J.C. Williamson's production of Parsifal (1995), Orientalism in early Australian theatre (1993); the banning of Marcus Clarke's The Happy Land (1983).
Editor of:
- Garnet Walch's colonial pantomime Australia Felix.
- Collection of critiques of Louis Nowra.
- Our Australian Theatre in the 1990s (1998).
Co-editor of: Australasian Drama Studies (1982-present).
Publications
Book
Kelly, Veronica (2010). The empire actors: Stars of Australasian costume drama 1890s-1920s. Strawberry Hills, N.S.W., Australia: Currency House.
Book Chapters
Kelly, Veronica (2018). 'Brayton, Elizabeth [Lily} (married names: Asche, Watson)', in Mark Curthoys, ed., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 41st update (June 2018). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (pp. 1-6) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Kelly, Veronica (2017). 'Make do and mend': civilian and military audiences in Australian popular entertainment during the Pacific War of 1942-1945. War and theatrical innovation. (pp. 179-198) edited by Victor Emeljanow. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-60225-1_10
Kelly, Veronica (2015). "A Sweet Tribute to Her Memory": war-time Edith Cavell plays and films. British theatre and the Great War, 1914-1919: new perspectives. (pp. 140-160) edited by Andrew Maunder. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kelly, Veronica (2013). Introduction. Catching Australian Theatre in the 2000s. (pp. 15-19) edited by Richard Fotheringham and James Smith. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Editions Rodopi.
Kelly, Veronica (2012). Australia's first Belgian Day (1915): history on stage and street. A world of popular entertainments: an edited volume of critical essays. (pp. 137-149) edited by Gillian Arrighi and Victor Emeljanow. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Kelly, Veronica (2010). Max and Thelma Afford Collection. Found in Fryer : Stories from the Fryer Library Collection. (pp. 104-105) edited by Follett, Roslyn. St Lucia: University of Queensland Library.
Kelly, Veronica (2010). Theatre Royal Poster, For the Term of His Natural Life. Found in Fryer : Stories from the Fryer Library Collection. (pp. 70-71) edited by Follett, Roslyn. St Lucia: University of Queensland Library.
Kelly, Veronica (2008). Enright's Mongrels as intervention in the canon of contemporary Australian drama. Nick Enright: An Actor's Playwright. (pp. 95-113) edited by Pender, Anne and Lever, Susan. Amsterdam - New York, NY: Rodopi B.V..
Dixon, Robert and Kelly, Veronica (2008). Australian vernacular modernities: People, sites and practices. Impact of the Modern: Vernacular Modernities in Australia 1870s-1960s. (pp. xiii-xxiv) edited by Dixon, Robert and Kelly, Veronica. Sydney, Australia: Sydney University Press.
Kelly, Veronica (2006). The men and the boys: The national dimensions of adult and juvenile masculinity in post-federation Australia, as performed by Oscar Asche and Minnie Tittell Brune. What a Man's Gotta Do?: Masculinities in Performance. (pp. 37-55) edited by A. Kierkander, J. Bollen and B. Parr. Armidale, Australia: University of New England Press.
Kelly, V. E. (1999). Hybridity & Performance: The Currency Lass. (Post) Colonial Stages: Critical & Creative Views on Drama, Theatre & Performance. (pp. 40-54) edited by Helen Gilbert. Hebden Bridge, Sussex UK: Dangaroo.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1998). Who's the bigger dill? The madhouse in recent Australian drama. The body in the library. (pp. 167-184) edited by Leigh Dale and Simon Ryan. Amsterdam ; Atlanta, GA: Rodopi.
Kelly, Veronica (1998). Old patterns, new energies. Our Australian theatre in the 1990s. (pp. 1-19) edited by Veronica Kelly. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Rodopi.
Kelly, Veronica (1997). 'Lest we forget': Louis Nowra's Inside the island. War: Australia's creative response. (pp. 273-282) edited by Anna Rutherford and James Wieland. St Leonards, N.S.W., Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1996). And what books do you read?' : new studies in Australian literature : essays presented to Laurie Hergenhan celebrating his contribution to the study of Australian literature and marking the occasion of his retirement. (pp. 112-125) edited by Irmtraud Petersson and Martin Duwell. St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia: University of Queensland Press.
Kelly, Veronica (1996). Female and juvenile meanings in late nineteenth-century Australian popular theatre. The 1890s : Australian literature and literary culture. (pp. 109-127) edited by Ken Stewart. St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1994). Michael Gow. Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English. (pp. 606-607) edited by Benson, E. and Conolly, L. W.. London; New York: Routledge.
Newey, Katherine and Kelly, Veronica (1994). Introduction. East Lynne. From the Novel by Ellen Wood Dramatised by T. A. Palmer. (pp. not found-nout found) edited by Veronica Kelly and Katherine Newey. St Lucia, Brisbane: Australasian Drama Studies Association.
Kelly, Veronica (1993). Louis Nowra. Contemporary Dramatists. (pp. 496-498) edited by K. A. Berney. London ; Washington, D.C.: St. James.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1992). Louis Nowra. Post-colonial English Drama: Commonwealth Drama Since 1960. (pp. 50-66) edited by Bruce King. New York, USA: St. Martin's Press.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1992). The Golden Age by Louis Nowra. International Dictionary of Theatre. (pp. 295-296) edited by Mark Hawkins-Dady and Leanda Shrimpton. Chicago ; London, UK: St. James Press.
Kelly, Veronica (1988). 'Nowt more outcastin": Utopian myth in Louis Nowra's The Golden Age. A sense of exile : Essays in the literature of the Asia-Pacific region. (pp. 101-110) edited by Bruce Bennett and Susan Miller. Nedlands, W.A.: The Centre for Studies in Australian Literature, University of Western Australia.
Kelly, Veronica (1987). General Editoral Preface. Stalwart the bushranger with The tragedy of Donohoe by Charles Harpur. (pp. vi-x) edited by Elizabeth Perkins. Sydney: Currency Press.
Kelly, Veronica (1987). Explorers and bushrangers in nineteenth-century Australian Theatre. The writer's sense of the past : Essays on Southeast Asian and Australian literature. (pp. 119-132) edited by Kirpal Singh. Singapore: Singapore University Press.
Kelly, Veronica (1987). A mirror for Australia: Louis Nowra's emblematic theatre. Contemporary Australian Drama. (pp. 537-564) edited by Peter Holloway. Sydney, NSW Australia: Currency.
Kelly, Veronica (1986). Queensland Theatre Company. Theatre Companies of the World. (pp. 179-182) edited by Colby H. Kullman and William C. Young. New York, USA: Greenwood Press.
Journal Articles
Kelly, Veronica (2019). A West End celebrity proselytises the bonds of empire: Seymour Hicks and Bruce Bairns father's Old Bill in 1920s Australia. Australasian Drama Studies (74), 64-97.
Kelly, Veronica (2016). Australasia: mapping a theatrical 'region' in peace and war. Journal of Global Theatre History, 1 (1), 62-77. doi: 10.5282/gthj/2016-1p62-77
Kelly, Veronica (2015). David N. Martin and the Post-war 'Acts and Actors' of Australian Variety. Australasian Drama Studies, 67 (67), 131-154.
Kelly, Veronica (2014). Mimi Colligan, Circus and Stage: The Theatrical Adventures of Rose Edouin and G. B. W. Lewis. Australasian Drama Studies, 1 (62), 304-310.
Kelly, Veronica (2013). Come over here! The local hybridisation of international ‘Ragtime Revues’ in Australia. Popular Entertainment Studies, 4 (1), 24-49.
Kelly, Veronica (2013). Review of The Two Frank Thrings. Theatre Research International, 38 (1), 76-78. doi: 10.1017/S0307883312001113
Kelly, Veronica (2013). The Green Goddess: William Archer's Great War play. Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, 40 (2), 2-30. doi: 10.7227/NCTF.40.2.2
Kelly, Veronica (2012). The family way. Popular Entertainment Studies, 3 (1), 71-76.
Kelly, Veronica (2011). Australia's Svengali: Gaston Mervale in theatre and film. Australasian Drama Studies, 58, 107-125.
Kelly, Veronica (2011). Look out behind you. Popular Entertainment Studies, 2 (1), 112-116.
Kelly, Veronica (2009). Shakespeare in settler-built spaces: Oscar Asche's 'Recitals' of Julius Caesar in the Melbourne and Sydney Town Halls. Contemporary Theatre Review, 19 (3), 353-366. doi: 10.1080/10486800902986350
Kelly, Veronica (2009). Review: Stage Presence by Jane Goodall. Performance Paradigm, 5 (1), 1-5.
Kelly, V. E. (2007). Spatialising the ghosts of Anzac in the plays of Sydney Tomholt: The absent soldier and the war memorial. Australian Literary Studies, 23 (1), 18-35.
Kelly, Veronica (2007). Australian plays for the Colonial Stage 1834-1899. Australasian Drama Studies, 2007 (50), 202-208.
Kelly, V.E. (2007). Review: Richard Fotheringham, ed., Australian Plays for the colonial Stage 1834-1899. Australasian Drama Studies, 50, 202-208.
Kelly, Veronica (2006). Australia’s Lily Brayton: Performer and theatre artist. Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, 33 (1), 39-59.
Kelly, Veronica (2006). Oscar Asche's Modernisms: Flesh, Colour and Light. Australian Cultural History : The Journal of the History of Culture in Australia, Special Issue: Antipodean Modern, 25, 233-249.
Kelly, Veronica (2006). An Australian Idol of Modernist Consumerism: Minnie Tittell Brune and the Gallery Girls. Theatre Research International, 31 (1), 17-36. doi: 10.1017/S0307883305001859
Kelly, Veronica (2005). The Cosmopolitan and the Provincial: The Sydney Bulletin's Theatre Criticism 1880-1900 and Constructions of Australian Modernity. Australian Studies, 18 (1), 129-158.
Kelly, Veronica (2005). A Complementary Economy? National Markets and International Product in Early Australian Theatre Managements. New Theatre Quarterly, 21 (1), 77-95. doi: 10.1017/S0266464X04000351
Kelly, Veronica (2005). Early Australian high comedy to 1890: Performing the colonial bourgeois self. Southerly, 64 (3), 58-77.
Kelly, V. E. (2005). Review: Robert Jordan, The Convict Theatres of Early Australia 1788-1840. Australian Literary Studies, 22 (1), 113-114.
Kelly, Veronica (2005). A portrait of the artist as an Australian: Bizarre work of Barry Humphries. University of Toronto Quarterly, 75 (1), 400-402.
Kelly, V. E. (2005). Book Review - Writing and rewriting: National theatre histories. Australasian Drama Studies, 47, 169-173.
Kelly, Veronica (2004). Beauty and the market: Actress postcards and their senders in early twentieth century Australia. New Theatre Quarterly, 20 (2), 99-116. doi: 10.1017/S0266464X4000016
Kelly, V. E. (2004). Stare wzory, nowe energie. Dialogue, 49 (10), 142-148.
Kelly, V. E. (2004). Review: Transgressive itineraries: Postcolonial hybridizations of dramatic realism by Marc Maufort. Australian Literary Studies, 21 (3), 399-401.
Kelly, Veronica (2003). Julius Knight, Australian Matinee Idol: Costume Drama as Historical Re-presentation. Australasian Victorian Studies Journal, 9, 128-144.
Kelly, Veronica (2001). The Globalized and the Local: Theatre in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand Enters the New Millennium. Theatre Research International, 26 (1), 1-14. doi: 10.1017/S0307883301000013
Kelly, V. (2001). Mandy Sayer & Louis Nowra (eds), In the Gutter Looking at the Stars: A Literary Adventure Through King's Cross. JAS Review of Books (4).
Kelly, Veronica (2000). 'Un Sans Culotte': The Bulletin's Early Theatre Criticism and the Masculine Bohemian Masquerade. Australian Literary Studies, 19 (3), 254-268.
Kelly, V. E. (2000). Women and Playwriting in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Australasian Victorian Studies Journal, 6, 165-168.
Kelly, Veronica (2000). Bertolt Brecht and critical theory: Marxism, modernity and the 'Threepenny' lawsuit. Aumla-journal of The Australasian Universities Language And Literature Association, 93 (93), 116-120.
Kelly, V (2000). Alfred Dampier as Performer of Late Colonial Australian Masculinities. Modern Drama, 43 (3), 469-495.
Kelly, V. E. (2000). Theatre Worlds in Motion. Structures, Politics and Developments in the Countries of Western Europe, ed H Van Maahen & S Wilmer. Australasian Drama Studies (36), 172-176.
Kelly, V. E. (2000). English Stage Comedy 1490-1990 by A Leggatt. Australasian Drama Studies (37), 101-104.
Kelly, V. E. (1999). Popular culture and performance in the Victorian city. Australasian Victorian Studies, 5, 170-173.
Kelly, V. E. (1999). Honour and Redemption by Joanna Murray-Smith. Australasian Drama Studies (34), 147-152.
Kelly, Veronica (1998). Review. Misto, J., The Shoe-Horn Sonata; Forde, M., Snapshots from Home and Dean, P., Long Gone Lonesome Cowgirls. Australasian Drama Studies, 32, 151-155.
Kelly, Veronica (1998). Stephen Knight, Continent of Mystery: A Thematic History of Australian Crime Fiction, Melbourne University Press, 1997 pp 236, $24.95 pb.. Journal of Australian Studies, 22 (56), 193-194. doi: 10.1080/14443059809387372
Kelly, V (1997). Colonial Australian theater writers: Cultural authorship and the case of Marcus Clarke's first play. Australian Literary Studies, 18 (1), 31-44.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1997). Booth, M.R. & Kaplan, J.H., ed., The Edwardian Theatre: Essays on Performance and the Stage. Victorian Review, 23 (1), 130-132.
Kelly, Veronica (1996). (Reviews) `Sumner Locke Elliott: Writing Life. A Biography,' by Sharon Clarke, `Pioneer Players: The Lives of Louis and Hilda Esson,' by Peter Fitzpatrick and `Stephen Sewell: The Playwright as Revolutionary,' by Peter Fitzpatrick.. Australian Literary Studies, 17 (4), 411-415.
Kelly, Veronica (1996). Review. Shearer, Jill, The Family (Sydney:Currency Press, 1995) and Acworth, Elaine, Composing Venus (Sydney:Currency Press, 1995). Australasian Drama Studies (29), 223-227.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). J.C. Williamson Produces Parsifal, or the Redemption of Kundry: Wagnerism, Religion and Sexuality. Theatre History Studies, 15, 161-181.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Smashing temples: cultural symptoms of the 1980s in Australian mainstage comedy and farce. Modern Drama, 38 (1), 97-108.
Kelly, Veronica Elaine (1995). More character-driven: an interview with Louis Nowra. Coppertales: A Journal of Rural Arts, 2, 79-92.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1994). Enright's Mongrels as intervention in the canon of contemporary Australian drama. Southerly, 54 (2), 5-22.
Kelly, Veronica (1994). Review. Acts of Supremacy: British Empire and the Stage 1790-1930. Australasian Drama Studies, 24, 207-212.
Kelly, Veronica (1993). Melodrama, an Australian pantomime, and the theatrical constructions of colonial history. Journal of Australian Studies, 17 (38), 51-61. doi: 10.1080/14443059309387150
Kelly, Veronica (1993). Orientalism in Early Australian Theatre. New Literatures Review (26), 32-45.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1993). Williamson, D., Siren and Money and Friends. Australasian Drama Studies, 22, 133-138.
Kelly, Veronica (1993). Giovanni in Botany. Australasian Drama Studies, 23, 102-120.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1992). Falling between stools: the theatre of Janis Balodis. Ariel: A review of International English Literature, 23 (1), 115-132.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1991). Waterhouse, R. From Minstrel Show to Vaudeville: The Australian Popular Stage 1788-1914 and Gyger, A. Opera for the Antipodes: Opera in Australia 1881-1939. Australian Historical Studies, 24 (97), 466-467.
Kelly, Veronica (1990). Review. Shearer, J. Shimada (Sydney:Currency Press, 1989). Australasian Drama Studies (17), 224-227.
Kelly, Veronica (1990). James Smith: The Making of a Colonial Culture, by Lurline Stuart. James Edward Neild: Victorian Virtuoso, by Harold Love.. Australian Literary Studies, 14 (3), 408-412.
Kelly, Veronica and Bonnet, Lise (translator) (1990). Les nouveaux dramaturges australiens. Theatre Public, 91, 33-40.
Kelly, Veronica (1990). Projecting the inner world onto an existing landscape: An interview with Janis Balodis. Australasian Drama Studies (17), 5-39.
Kelly, Veronica (1990). The melodrama of defeat: Political patterns in some colonial and contemporary Australian plays. Southerly, 50 (2), 131-143.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1987). Apocalypse and after: historical visions in some recent Australian drama. Kunapipi, 9 (3), 68-78.
Kelly, Veronica (1987). George Essex Evans the playwright. Margin (19), 1-6.
Kelly, Veronica (1986). Review: Love, H., ed. The Australian Stage: a Documentary History. (Sydney: New South Wales University Press, 1985). Australian Literary Studies, 12 (4), 546-550.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1986). Garnet Walch in Sydney. Australasian Drama Studies, 9, 93-109.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1986). Irvin, E. Dictionary of the Australian Theatre 1788-1914. Australasian Drama Studies, 8, 134-138.
Kelly, Veronica (1985). Lest we forget: Louis Nowra's "Inside the Island". Island Magazine (23), 19-23.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1984). Nowra, L. Sunrise. Australasian Drama Studies, 2 (2), 124-126.
Kelly, Veronica (1983). The Banning of Marcus Clarke's 'The Happy Land': Stage, Press and Parliament. Australasian Drama Studies, 2 (1), 71-111.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1983). Irvin, E. Australian Melodrama: Eighty Years of Popular Theatre. Australian Literary Studies, 11 (1), 136-138.
Kelly, Veronica E. (1981). A mirror for Australia: Louis Nowra's emblematic theatre. Southerly, 41 (4), 431-458.
Kelly, Veronica (1981). Clarke's sketches. Margin, 7, 29.
Conference Paper
Kelly, Veronica and Dixon, Robert (2006). Australian Modernities: Vernacular Performers and Consumers. Australian Modernities: Vernacular Performers and Consumers International Conference, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 6-7 December, 2006.
Generic Document
Reference Entries
Kelly, Veronica (1999). Nowra, Louis.
Kelly, Veronica (1999). Gow, Michael.
Kelly, Veronica (1999). Bell, Hilary.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Garnet Walch.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Too Young For Ghosts.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). F. M. Soutten.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Pantomime.
Fotheringham, Richard and Kelly, Veronica (1995). Ostracised.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Louis Nowra.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Archibald Murray.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). The Happy Land.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Michael Gow.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). The Golden Age.
Colligan, Mimi and Kelly, Veronica (1995). George Fawcett.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Extravaganza.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Nick Enright.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Rosa Cooper.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Marcus Clarke.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Burlesque.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Janis Balodis.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). Australia Felix.
Kelly, Veronica (1995). W. M. Akhurst.
Kelly, Veronica (1993). Gow, Michael.