Dr Kate Flaherty

What in the world do plays do? With Shakespeare as an expansive test case, Kate investigates how plays make meaning on the stage of public culture.

Her book, Ours as we play it: Australia plays Shakespeare (UWAP 2011), examines contemporary Australian performance. She has also published articles and chapters on education, theatre riots, the touring actress, and military commemoration – all with respect to their involvement with Shakespeare. She is currently working on a sole-authored book that illuminates the influence of 19th-century touring actresses on global movements for political change such abolition of slavery, and women’s rights to property and suffrage.

Kate has been a frequent guest on ABC radio programs including ABC 666 Canberra and ‘Drive’ with Richard Glover. She has also been an invited guest on public panels, such as one with Bell Shakespeare at SLNSW.

As winner of ANU Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Award (2019), Kate was interviewed for a feature article in the Canberra Times. An essay by Kate on ‘Bibliomemoir’ and teaching literature was included in the top 50 essays in ‘The Conversation Yearbook 2020’.