Dr Richard Jordan

Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Performance - Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education; School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Richard Jordan

Phone: +61 2 6773 2753

Email: rjordan7@une.edu.au

Twitter: @NVGillespie

Biography

Richard joined UNE in 2018 after spending 10 years working as a professional playwright and theatre producer. His plays have garnered several awards and honours, including the Australian Theatre Festival NYC Best New Play Award (The Tiniest Thing, 2020), the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award (25 Down, 2009), the Lord Mayor’s Award for Best New Australian Work (Machina, 2015), three Matilda awards (2009; 2015), a writer’s residency at Marrickville Council, Sydney (2011), a Creative Fellowship at the MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire (2013), and a public reading at the Royal Court Theatre, London (2008). Both 25 Down and Machina are published by Playlab Press. In 2016 he established the "Incubator" New Writing Program in conjunction with Playlab in Brisbane, where he mentored 12 emerging playwrights.

Richard is currently working on a monograph entitled Posthuman Drama (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), which examines the agency of organic and technological nonhumans in contemporary playwriting, including texts by Caryl Churchill, Sarah Ruhl, Oriza Hirata, Jordan Harrison, and Manjula Padmanabhan.

His most recent play The Tiniest Thing explores the politics of perception and inter-generational violence at the heart of the unfolding climate crisis.

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Queensland
Master of Arts (Playwriting), QUT
Bachelor of Creative Industries, QUT
Advanced Diploma (Screenwriting), AFTRS

Awards

Teaching Areas

Theatrical Modernism

Australian Theatre

Dramaturgy

Playwriting

Screenwriting

Public Speaking

Primary Research Area/s

Scriptwriting; Theatre and Performance Studies

Research Interests

Playwriting, Dramaturgy, Posthumanism, Contemporary Drama

Research Supervision Experience

Publications

Creative Works:

Play Texts

Jordan, Richard. Machina. Playlab, 2014.

Jordan, Richard. 25 Down. Playlab, 2009.

Productions

2021: The Tiniest Thing. By Richard Jordan. Staged Reading. Directed by Mark Barford. Australian Theatre Festival, Alchemical Studios, New York City, 12 December 2021.

2018: Wheel of Fortune. By Troy Armstrong, Richard Jordan, Jacki Mison, and Krystal Sweedman. TAM Presents, The Lumen Room, Metro Arts, Brisbane, 30 May – 9 June 2018.

2015: like, dead.By Richard Jordan. Directed by Jon Lenthall. PLoT Theatre Society, Peacock Studio, Hobart, 7th – 15th August 2015.

2014: Machina. By Richard Jordan. Directed by Catarina Hebbard. La Boite Indie, ‘The Loft’, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, 8th – 24th May 2014.

2011: dis/connect. By Richard Jordan. Marrickville Council, St Peters Town Hall, Sydney, 29th September 2011. Public Reading.

2009: My Night With Harold. By Marcel Dorney, Elise Hearst, Richard Jordan, and Maxine Mellor. Directed by Andrea Moor. Brisbane Festival, Metro Arts, Brisbane, 18th – 20th September 2009.

2009: 25 Down. By Richard Jordan. Directed by Jon Halpin.Queensland Theatre Company, Bille Brown Studio, South Brisbane, 8th June - 4th July

2008: Shoot. By Richard Jordan. 33% London Festival, Oval Theatre, London.  23rd – 25th January 2008.

2007: 25 Down. By Richard Jordan. ‘The Site’, Royal Court Theatre, London, 5th December 2007. Public Reading.

2006: The Sushi Express. By Richard Jordan. Directed by Errol Bray. Switchboard Arts, The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane, 26th – 28th June 2006.

Academic Works

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Jordan, Richard. "Reframing Humanist Tragedy in The Tiniest Thing." CounterText, vol. 8, no. 3, 2022, pp. 413-434.

Jordan, Richard. “Distributed Agencies in Dramatic Form: A Posthuman Perspective on Lucy Prebble's The Sugar Syndrome and Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone." Modern Drama, vol. 64, no. 1, 2021, pp. 1-23.

Jordan, Richard. “Digital Alchemy: The Posthuman Drama of Adam J. A. Cass’s I Love You, Bro.” Australasian Drama Studies, vol. 65, 2014, pp. 37-52.

Book Chapters

Jordan, Richard. “Introduction.” I Love You, Bro. By Adam J. A. Cass. Playlab, 2014, pp. 5-6.

Conference Papers and Guest Lectures

“‘The Playwright as Eco-Interventionist: Re-shaping Realism in The Tiniest Thing.”  2 November 2019. Artstate NSW, Tamworth. Conference Paper.

“‘Man is such a simple and uncomplicated machine’: Posthuman Chekhov at the 2018 CreateX Festival.”  26 June 2019. ADSA Conference, University of Tasmania, Launceston. Conference Paper.

“Posthuman Theatre.” DRAM2040: Contemporary Theatre and Performance. 21 Mar. 2017 and 29 Apr. 2015. University of Queensland, Brisbane.

“‘Can We Go Home? Do I Have My Kidneys?’: Posthuman Identity and Agency in Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone.” 27 Nov. 2013. Perspectives on Progress Conference, University of Queensland, Brisbane.

“Data Made Flesh: The Posthuman Drama of Adam J. A. Cass’s I Love You, Bro.” 12 July 2013. AULLA Conference, University of Queensland, Brisbane.

“Finding a Path to the Inner World.” MSTU1010: Creativity. 29 Apr. 2013. University of Queensland, Brisbane.

“The Queensland Context: Queensland Playwrights and the Creation of New Works.” KTB207: Staging Australia. 15 Sep. 2009. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.

PhD Thesis

Jordan, Richard. “Posthuman Drama: Identity and the Machine in Twenty-First Century Playwriting.” University of Queensland, 2015. doi:10.14264/uql.2015.1010

Clinical Skills and Experience

Memberships

Australian Writers’ Guild

Consultancy Interests

Community and Advocacy Organisation Collaborations

Further Information