AustLit

'This article examines the implications that the new cultural competencies and literacies associated with participatory and popular cultures might hold for dramaturgy in terms of characterisation, creating a sense of space-time, and the artist's role in society. Our analysis focuses on Alex Vickery-Howe's new Australian play Out of the Ordinary (2016), situating it in the context of his earlier explorations of alternative dramaturgies, Once Upon a Midnight (2008) and Molly's Shoes (2011). Drawing structurally on the ways crossover and fusion have developed new cultural expression and reached new audiences in music and film, we investigate the creative potential that comics, manga, anime and related fan cultures might hold for dramaturgy. Our goal is to explore the thinking that underlies crossover and fusion as artistic practices requiring a kind of creative bilingualism - in our case, a mastery of the cultural competencies and literacies associated with cross- and multi-modal creative expression. We suggest that such creative bilingualism has been a continuing element in culture since the rise of melodrama, reminding us that expressive turns towards mystery, magic, intense spiritual experiences, etc, could, in fact, underscore social engagement. (Publication abstract)