Dennis Watkins (playwright)

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Dennis Watkins
Other namesLamont Cranston

Dennis Watkins is an Australian playwright, producer and performer.

Watkins used the stage name Lamont Cranston [1] who was also a character he played in some of his productions. [2] [3] He wrote or co-wrote Newton Newton, [1] Stalin - The Musical, [4] The Iceberg Cometh, [5] Dingo Girl, Beach Blanket Tempest , [6] Entertainment This Week Salutes The Worst of Lamont Cranston, Ho Ho Ho It's Lamont Cranston, [2] Pearls Before Swine , [3] [7] Burger Brain - The Fast Food Musical , [8] and The Eighth Wonder . [9] He was the lead singer of the band Men of Harlech [10] and brought Theatre Sports to Australia and appeared as judge when it was made into a television series. [11] [12]

Watkins worked for the ABC as their commissioning editor for comedy, [13] [14] was the artistic director of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, [15] was a board member of Company B and an associate director at the Sydney Theatre Company. [16]

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References

  1. 1 2 Brooks, Geraldine (24 April 1982), "Six who heard a different drummer", The Sydney Morning Herald
  2. 1 2 Pollak, Alex (7 December 1984), "Cranston is so bad, he's terrible!", The Sydney Morning Herald
  3. 1 2 Schembri, Jim (18 July 1986), "Days of Swine poseurs", The Age
  4. "Stalin The Musical", Tharunka, 3 March 1980
  5. Courcier, Bill (24 March 1981), "Ups and downs of the idiotic", The Sydney Morning Herald
  6. Healey, Ken (23 September 1984). "Shakespearean surf-rock musical unlike anything seen in Canberra". The Canberra Times . p. 10. Retrieved 25 November 2024 via National Library of Australia.
  7. Stapleton, John (16 May 1986), "Pearl from a heart of darkness", The Sydney Morning Herald
  8. Evans, Bob (29 September 1988), "Fast food frolics", The Sydney Morning Herald
  9. Morrison, Peter (20 October 1995), "Australia's coming of age?", The Australian Jewish News
  10. Moore, Sandra (17 June 1981), "Men of Harlech's right royal hit", The Australian Women's Weekly
  11. Evans, Bob (30 January 1986), "Theatre sports: gladiatorial contests without the blood", The Sydney Morning Herald
  12. Visontay, Michael (14 January 1987), "The TV cheque book whirligig", The Sydney Morning Herald
  13. Squires, Tony (30 September 1996), "A laughing matter", The Sydney Morning Herald
  14. Usher, Robin (28 January 1998), "Artsbeat", The Age
  15. Cochrane, Peter (13 December 1995), "We're out, proud and loud", The Sydney Morning Herald
  16. Cosic, Miriam (16 September 1995), "Watkins the wonder boy", The Sydney Morning Herald