David Williamson | |
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 Williamson in 1972 | |
| Born | David Keith Williamson 1942 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation | Playwright, screenwriter |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Theatre, film, television |
| Website | |
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David Keith Williamson AO (born 1942) is an Australian playwright, who has also written screenplays and teleplays. He became known in the early 1970s with his political comic drama Don's Party , and other well-known plays include The Club , Travelling North , and Emerald City .
David Williamson was born in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1942, and was brought up in Bairnsdale. He initially studied mechanical engineering at the University of Melbourne from 1960, but left and graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor 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 the Emerald Hill Theatre Company.
After a brief stint as design engineer for GM Holden, Williamson became a lecturer in mechanical engineering and thermodynamics at Swinburne University of Technology (then Swinburne Technical College) in 1966 while studying social psychology as a postgraduate part-time at the University of Melbourne. He completed a Master 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]
 | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(August 2023) |
Williamson first turned to writing and performing in plays in 1967 with La Mama Theatre Company and the Pram Factory, and rose to prominence in the early 1970s, with works such as Don's Party (later turned into a 1976 film), a comic drama set during the 1969 federal election; and The Removalists (1971). He also collaborated on the screenplays for Gallipoli (1981) and The 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 include The Club , The Department , Travelling North , The Perfectionist , Emerald City , Money and Friends and Brilliant Lies . [1]
Recent work has included Dead White Males , a satirical approach to postmodernism and university ethics; Up for Grabs , which starred Madonna in its London premiere; and the Jack 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 (including Soul Mates, Amigos and Influence – all premiered with the Sydney Theatre Company) and smaller ones (including the Manning trilogy, Flatfoot and Operator, which premiered at the Ensemble 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 the Ensemble 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 mild stroke, from which he recovered fully. [2]
In 2007, Lotte's Gift , a one-woman show starring Karin 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 for The 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 in Noosa, Queensland, where he lives.[ citation needed ]
In August 2006 Cate Molloy, former Australian Labor Party member of the Queensland Parliament for Noosa, announced that Williamson would be her campaign manager as she sought to recontest her seat as an Independent.[ citation needed ]
Williamson is married to Kristin Williamson (sister of independent filmmaker Chris Löfvén) who have homes in Sydney and on Queensland's Sunshine 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 of The Coming of Stork at the Stables Theatre in Sydney, produced by Felix's company, the Bare Naked Theatre Company.[ citation needed ]
The Helpmann Awards is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. [6] In 2005, Williamson received the JC 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 |
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director, opera director, screenwriter, and producer. He began his career during the Australian New Wave, and has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States. He is a two-time Academy Award nominee, and a four-time AACTA/AFI Awards winner out of 10 total nominations
Timothy Burstall AM was an English Australian film director, writer and producer, best known for hit Australian movie Alvin Purple (1973) and its sequel Alvin Rides Again (1974).
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Emerald City is a 1988 Australian comedy-drama film directed by Michael Jenkins, based on the 1987 play of the same name by David Williamson. Much of the play's dialogue is retained though discussion of off-stage characters is usually replaced with their appearance, and a more conventionally cinematic level and speed of dialogue is maintained. Also, the younger daughter Hannah is omitted.
Noel Hodda is an Australian actor, writer, dramaturge, director and teacher.
Nicholas Paul Enright AM was an Australian dramatist, playwright and theatre director.
David Berthold is an Australian theatre and festival director, who has also been artistic director of several major Australian arts organisations.
James David Sharman is an Australian director and writer for film and stage with more than 70 productions to his credit. He is renowned in Australia for his work as a theatre director since the 1960s, and is best known internationally as the director of the 1973 theatrical hit The Rocky Horror Show, its film adaptation The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and the film's follow-up, Shock Treatment (1981).
Kenneth Graham Ross is an Australian playwright, screenwriter, and lyricist best known for writing the 1978 stage play Breaker Morant, that was based on the life of Australian soldier Harry "Breaker" Morant.
Emerald City is a 1987 play by the Australian playwright David Williamson, a satire about two entertainment industries: film and publishing.
Robyn Anne Nevin is an Australian actress, director, and stage producer, recognised with the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards and the JC Williamson Award at the Helpmann Awards for her outstanding contributions to Australian theatre performance art. Former head of both the Queensland Theatre Company and the Sydney Theatre Company, she has directed more than 30 productions and acted in more than 80 plays, collaborating with internationally renowned artists, including Richard Wherrett, Simon Phillips, Geoffrey Rush, Julie Andrews, Aubrey Mellor, Jennifer Flowers, Cate Blanchett and Lee Lewis.
Paul Denny is an Australian stage, television, and film actor.
Maxwell John Phipps was an Australian actor, known for a number of roles in theatre, films and television during the 1960s until the end of the 1990s.
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Stork is a 1971 Australian comedy film directed by Tim Burstall. Stork is based on the play The Coming of Stork by David Williamson. Bruce Spence and Jacki Weaver make their feature film debuts in Stork, being honoured at the 1972 Australian Film Institute Awards, where they shared the acting prize. Stork won the prize for best narrative feature and Tim Burstall won for best direction. Stork was one of the first ocker comedies. Stork was the first commercial success of the Australian cinema revival called the Australian New Wave.
Flatfoot is a 2003 comedic play by David Williamson about the Roman playwright Plautus. It is one of Williamson's few plays not to be set in contemporary Australia and was written as a vehicle for actor Drew Forsythe. It is a play-within-a-play, featuring Plautus' play The Swaggering Soldier.
Wayne Blair is an Australian writer, actor, and director. He was on both sides of the camera in Redfern Now, and directed the feature film The Sapphires. He played a prominent role in the 2021–2024 drama series Total Control.
Brett Joseph Sheehy an Australian artistic director, producer and curator. He has been director of international arts festivals in Australia's state capital cities, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, and Melbourne Festival.
George Whaley was an Australian actor, director and writer, known for his work across theatre and film.
The Removalists is a 1975 Australian film based on the play of the same name.
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