David Williamson – November 22 2020

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women – November 25

David is widely recognised as Australia’s most successful playwright and over the last thirty years his plays have been performed throughout Australia and produced in Britain, the United States, Canada and many European and Asian countries. His play Travelling North had a successful production in Vietnam and The Club ran for a year in Beijing, where its depiction of back room committee politicking obviously struck a chord with the locals. A number of David’s stage works have been adapted for the screen, including The Removalists, Don’s Party, The Club, Travelling North, Emerald City, Sanctuary and Brilliant Lies. Six have been made into telemovies in Poland. Altogether he has written twelve screenplays and five miniseries, including The Four Minute Mile for the BBC and The Last Bastion about General McArthur’s arrival in Australia in WWII.

A Conversation, 2001 – in The Jack Manning Trilogy
Currency Press; ISBN 9780868196572
Full length play; 4 female, 6 male
A Conversation revolves around the confrontation between the family of a rapist/murderer and the family of his victim. Scott is imprisoned for the rape and murder of a young woman. His single mother Coral arranges a meeting with the victim’s upper-class parents and the prison psychologist who counselled her son. The second play in The Jack Manning Trilogy based around the concept of community conferencing, it is sandwiched between stories of workplace rage (Face to Face) and office bullying (Charitable Intent). A Conversation is “a tale of horrific pain and anguish … without doubt the most intense and explosive of the three plays.” – Erin Free, FilmInk

The Removalists
Currency Press, 1971; ISBN 9780868190389
Full length play; 2 female, 4 male
Remarkable for its blend of boisterous humour and horrifying violence, The Removalists has acquired a reputation as a classic statement on Australian authoritarianism and is a key work in the study of Australian drama. The play addresses issues of violence, specifically domestic violence and police brutality. The story is supposed to be a microcosm of 1970s Australian society, but 50 years on, with continued reports of abuse of power and a documented increase in domestic violence, we are prompted to ask the question: have we really changed?