My research primarily explores Gothic modes of performance, with a concentration in late-twentieth and twenty-first century theatre. My doctoral thesis examines how Gothic drama has functioned as political theatre since the turn of the millennium. The project considers various works by emerging writers and theatre companies alongside known political playwrights. These include Caryl Churchill, Mike Bartlett, debbie tucker green, Stef Smith, Jasmine Lee-Jones, Martin McDonagh, Conor McPherson, DC Moore, Philip Meeks, Mel Pennant and Jack Thorne, as well as theatre companies such as Imitating the Dog and Proper Job Theatre Co.

My thesis builds on the relatively few works focusing on Gothic theatre that have been published since Gothic studies emerged as a major field of study in the late twentieth century. But in recent years, critical attention to the Gothic stage has finally begun to accelerate, as scholars like Kelly Jones, Emma McEvoy and Madelon Hoedt have sought to illustrate its continued, vital relevance to contemporary society and culture in Britain and beyond.

In contribution to this broader undertaking, my project identifies political dramaturgy as a critical lens that can shed greater light on the inner mechanics and outer functions of Gothic drama in the twenty-first century, expanding present understandings of what constitutes a ‘Gothic’ experience in the theatre. I use Sarah Grochala’s framework for reading the ‘liquid dramaturgies’ (2017) of contemporary political playwriting, arguing that Gothic dramaturgies are more closely aligned with the ideologies, forms, aesthetics and affects of political theatre than is currently recognised. At the same time, where Gothic dramaturgies seem to fundamentally oppose the ‘hopeful’ imperatives of politically-engaged theatre (Angelaki, 2017), I argue that they do so not as surrender to the status quo, but to express a productive caution against a reactionary tendency to weaponise optimism–to insist that, having been identified, the social ills in question are now ‘in hand’ and require no further scrutiny. The project therefore explores how a selection of recent plays adopt Gothic dramaturgical strategies, emphasising ambivalence, disjunction and extremity, in order to make urgent that which is dismissed or depoliticised.