David Williamson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Williamson in 1972 | |
| Born | David Keith Williamson 1942 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation | Playwright,screenwriter |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Theatre,film,television |
| Website | |
| www | |
David Keith WilliamsonAO (born 1942) is an Australianplaywright, who has also writtenscreenplays andteleplays. He became known in the early 1970s with his political comic dramaDon's Party, and other well-known plays includeThe Club,Travelling North, andEmerald City.
David Williamson was born inMelbourne, Victoria, in 1942, and was brought up inBairnsdale. He initially studiedmechanical engineering at theUniversity of Melbourne from 1960, but left and graduated fromMonash University with aBachelor of Engineering degree in 1965.[1] His early forays into the theatre were as an actor and writer of skits for the Engineers' Revue at Melbourne University's Union Theatre at lunchtime during the early 1960s, and as a satirical sketch writer for Monash University student reviews and theEmerald Hill Theatre Company.
After a brief stint asdesign engineer forGM Holden, Williamson became a lecturer in mechanical engineering andthermodynamics atSwinburne University of Technology (then Swinburne Technical College) in 1966 while studyingsocial psychology as a postgraduate part-time at theUniversity of Melbourne. He completed aMaster of Arts in Psychology in 1970, and then completed further postgraduate research in social psychology. Williamson later lectured in social psychology at Swinburne, where he remained until 1972.[1]
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Williamson first turned to writing and performing in plays in 1967 withLa Mama Theatre Company and thePram Factory, and rose to prominence in the early 1970s, with works such asDon's Party (later turned into a 1976 film), a comic drama set during the1969 federal election; andThe Removalists (1971). He also collaborated on the screenplays forGallipoli (1981) andThe Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Williamson's work as a playwright focuses on themes of politics, loyalty and family in contemporary urban Australia, particularly in two of its major cities, Melbourne and Sydney.[1]
Major stage works includeThe Club,The Department,Travelling North,The Perfectionist,Emerald City,Money and Friends andBrilliant Lies.[1]
Recent work has includedDead White Males, a satirical approach to postmodernism and university ethics;Up for Grabs, which starredMadonna in its London premiere; and theJack Manning Trilogy (Face To Face,Conversation,Charitable Intent) which take as their format community conferencing, a new form of restorative justice, in which Williamson became interested in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In recent years he has alternated work between larger stages (includingSoul Mates,Amigos andInfluence – all premiered with theSydney Theatre Company) and smaller ones (including the Manning trilogy,Flatfoot andOperator, which premiered at theEnsemble Theatre).
In 2005, he announced his retirement from main-stage productions, although he has continued to write new plays for the mainstage, many produced with theEnsemble Theatre. He had a serious health problem,cardiac arrhythmia, which had required frequent hospitalisation. An operation resolved this issue, but then in 2009 he had a mildstroke, from which he recovered fully.[2]
In 2007,Lotte's Gift, a one-woman show starringKarin Schaupp, which traced a journey through Schaupp's own life as well as those of her mother and grandmother (the Lotte of the title), was produced.
In 2021, his memoir,Home Truths, was published by HarperCollins. Reviewing the book forThe Sydney Morning Herald,Peter Craven wrote "He comes across as a likeable, flawed fellow with no more blindness than people of lesser talent".[3]
Williamson was instrumental in the founding of the Noosa Long Weekend Festival, a cultural festival inNoosa, Queensland, where he lives.[citation needed]
In August 2006Cate Molloy, formerAustralian Labor Party member of theQueensland Parliament forNoosa, announced that Williamson would be her campaign manager as she sought to recontest her seat as an Independent.[citation needed]
Williamson is married toKristin Williamson (sister ofindependent filmmakerChris Löfvén) who have homes inSydney and on Queensland'sSunshine Coast. They have five adult children.[2]
His son, Rory Williamson, and his stepson,Felix Williamson, are both actors. Rory starred as Stork in the 2001 revival ofThe Coming of Stork at theStables Theatre in Sydney, produced by Felix's company, the Bare Naked Theatre Company.[citation needed]
TheHelpmann Awards is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry groupLive Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001.[6] In 2005, Williamson received theJC Williamson Award, the LPA's highest honour, for their life's work in live performance.[7]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Himself | JC Williamson Award | awarded |
