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John Romeril John Romeril i(A9248 works by) (a.k.a. John Henry Romeril)
Born: Established: 1945 Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

John Romeril was born and educated in Melbourne, attending Bentleigh West State School, Brighton Tech., and Brighton High, and graduating from Monash University in 1970 with majors in English Literature and Politics. He lived in Moorabin until 1966, and after that in South Yarra and North Fitzroy, with prolonged stints in central Victoria.

Romeril produced four plays whilst still at university, and was drawn to La Mama theatre in 1968, which was established by Betty Burstall in that year. He became a member of a loose association of people gathered there, who by 1969 had organised themselves as the Australian Performing Group (APG), and by 1970 had established the Pram Factory. The APG performed many of Romeril's plays, which premiered at the Pram Factory, and Romeril also collaborated with other APG writers such as Jack Hibberd and Tim Robertson (qq.v.).

As well as almost sixty plays, including 'The Chesty Bond Cop-Out', 'He Can Swagger Sitting Down', 'The Magnetic Martian Potato', and 'The Dudders', Romeril has written teleplays and screenplays. He has been a writer in residence with Jigsaw theatre company in Canberra, and Troupe theatre in Adelaide, and he won the first Canada-Australia Literary Award in 1976. Romeril is also the author of the Six of the Best : an introduction to the television drama series (1984).

Romeril's improvisational, musical theatre is often created in a collaborative environment of frequent workshopping and performances, enabling many people to contribute to the development of each work. In his plays Romeril has explored the many influences on Australian society, including war, American cultural imperialism and national politics. Influenced by Brecht, his plays often demand audience participation, seen most spectacularly in the improvisational Kelly Dance where audience members are encouraged to participate in bush dances on stage. Romeril's most-admired play is The Floating World (1975) in which the character Les Harding is haunted by his experiences of World War II while on a cruise from Australia to Japan.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2017 recipient Order of Australia Member of the Order of Australia (AM) For significant service to the performing arts as a playwright and screenwriter, and to theatre companies and education.
2016 recipient AWGIE Awards Dorothy Crawford Award
2014 recipient Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships Production of Going Through presented by 2015 Castlemaine State Festival

Awards for Works

Jack Charles v The Crown 2010 single work drama Indigenous story

'Uncle Jack Charles is an Australian legend: veteran actor, musician, Koori elder and activist, but for a good portion of his nearly 70 years he has also been an addict, a thief and a regular in Victoria’s prisons.'

'From Stolen Generation to Koori theatre in the 70s, from film sets to Her Majesty’s prisons, JACK CHARLES V THE CROWN runs the gamut of a life lived to its utmost. Charles’ unswerving optimism transforms this tale of addiction, crime and doing time into a kind of vagabond’s progress – a map of the traps of dispossession and a guide to reaching the age of grey-haired wisdom.'

'This fleet-footed, light-fingered one-man show is a theatrical delight and a celebration of Black Australia’s dogged refusal to give up on getting on.' (Source: Ilbijerri Theatre Company website)

2014 winner Dublin Theatre Festival Best International Production Award
form y separately published work icon One Night the Moon ( dir. Rachel Perkins ) Australia : Music Arts Dance Films Australian Broadcasting Corporation , 2001 Z935161 2001 single work film/TV (taught in 1 units)

A young girl goes missing within the Australian landscape and her father refuses to let an Aboriginal man, Albert, be included in the search party and utilise his 'tracking' skills. It is a decision that proves fatal. Months later, the child's mother approaches Albert to begin the tracking process that eventually leads her to her lost child.

2001 winner AWGIE Awards Major Award
2001 winner AWGIE Awards Television Award Original

Known archival holdings

University of Queensland University of Queensland Library (QLD)
University of New South Wales Australian Defence Force Academy Australian Defence Force Academy Library (ACT)
Last amended 2 Jul 2018 11:12:32
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