AustLit logo

AustLit

image of person or book cover 8996094614842161893.jpg
This image has been sourced from Book Depository
y separately published work icon Holding the Man single work   drama   - Two acts.
Adaptation of Holding the Man Timothy Conigrave , 1995 single work autobiography
Issue Details: First known date: 2006... 2006 Holding the Man
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources

This work has teaching resources.

Teachers' notes via publisher's website.

Notes

  • Adapted by Tommy Murphy from Tim Conigrave's Holding the Man. Commissioned by Griffin Theatre Company and developed as part of the Playwrights' Residency project.
  • Dedication: For Tim.

Production Details

  • First produced by Griffin Theatre Company at SBW Stables Theatre, Sydney, 9 November - 16 December 2006.

    Director: David Berthold.

    Designer: Brian Thomson.

    Lighting Designer: Stephen Hawker.

    Sound Designer: Basil Hogios.

    Costume Designer: Michael Agosta.

    Cast: Jeanette Cronin, Nicholas Eadie, Guy Edmonds, Robin McLeavy, Brett Stiller, and Matt Zeremes.

    Return season at Griffin Theatre Company from 8 February to 3 March 2007.

    Cast and crew as above.

    Produced at Trafalgar Studios, London, 4 May - 3 July 2010.

    Director: David Berthold.

    Produced at La Boite, in partnership with Philip Bacon Galleries and Wrightson Stewart, 16 February to 16 March 2013.

    Director: David Berthold.

    Designer: Brian Thomson.

    Costumes and Puppets: Micka Agosta.

    Lighting Designer: David Walters.

    Composer and Sound Designer: Basil Hogios.

    Cast: Eugene Gilfedder, Jai Higgs, Helen Howard, Lauren Jackson, Jerome Meyer, and Alec Snow.

    Performed at Belvior Street's Upstairs Theatre : 9 March - 14 April 2024

    Director: Eamon Flack.

    Cast: Danny Ball, Tom Conroy, Guy Simon, Russell Dysktra, Rebecca Massey, and Shannen Alyce Quan.

    Costume Designer: Mel Page.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 2006
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Strangers in Between [and] Holding the Man : Two Plays Tommy Murphy , Sydney : Currency Press , 2006 Z1331184 2006 selected work drama Sydney : Currency Press , 2006 pg. 65-161
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Nick Hern Books ,       2010 .
      image of person or book cover 8996094614842161893.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Book Depository
      Extent: 96p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 22 April 2010
      ISBN: 9781848421080
    • Strawberry Hills, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 3283772479435433231.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 8th may 2021
      ISBN: 9781921429415
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

y separately published work icon Holding the Man Timothy Conigrave , Melbourne : McPhee Gribble , 1995 Z551412 1995 single work autobiography

'The mid-seventies - and satin baggies and chunky platforms reigned supreme. Jethro Tull did battle with glam-rock for the airwaves. At an all-boys Catholic school in Melbourne Timothy Conigrave fell wildly and sweetly in love with the captain of the football team. So began a relationship that was to last for fifteen years, a love affair that weathered disapproval, separation and, ultimately, death. Holding the Man recreates that relationship. With honesty and insight it explore the highs and lows of any partnership: the intimacy, constraints, temptations. And the strength of heart both men had to find when they tested positive to HIV.' (Publisher's blurb)
form y separately published work icon Remembering the Man Eleanor Sharpe , Nick Bird , ( dir. Nick Bird et. al. )agent 2015 9234059 2015 single work film/TV

'At an exclusive Catholic boys school in Melbourne 1976, Tim Conigrave and John Caleo fell madly in love. Their passionate, tempestuous, operatic romance lasted for 16 years, facing disapproval, temptation, separation, and the looming shadow of the Grim Reaper. Their relationship has been immortalised in Conigrave's posthumous autobiography Holding the Man (now a major Australian film directed by Neil Armfield). This is the true story of how Romeo met Romeo and how first love can not only last but endure.' (Source: Screen Australia website)
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (2)

Works about this Work

Love, Loss and Tears – but Also Laughter : Belvoir’s Compelling and Skilful Staging of Holding the Man Huw Griffiths , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 15 March 2024;
— Review of Holding the Man Tommy Murphy , 2006 single work drama

'Walking through Chippendale on my way to Sydney’s Belvoir Street Theatre, where this production of Holding the Man is playing, I pass by the York Theatre. This was the theatre where, in 1985, Timothy Conigrave, author of the original memoir upon which the play is based, was rehearsing a touring show of Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs. He had to excuse himself from one rehearsal for an appointment where he learned his HIV-positive diagnosis.'  (Introduction)
‘We Are Lucky to Be Alive When We Are’: a Devastating Gay Love Story Returns to the Stage Hannah Story , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 25 February 2024;
— Review of Holding the Man Tommy Murphy , 2006 single work drama

'Thirty years after Holding the Man author Timothy Conigrave died, Belvoir St theatre’s artistic director is bringing back the play adapted from the book – with his partner in the lead role'
Corr Values Steve Dow , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 23 January 2016;
Berthold Returns to His Baby, A Tale of Love Nathanael Cooper , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 20 February 2013; (p. 30)
— Review of Holding the Man Tommy Murphy , 2006 single work drama
Getting to Grips Nathanael Cooper , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 9-10 February 2013; (p. 9)
— Review of Holding the Man Tommy Murphy , 2006 single work drama
Love, Blood and Death: Just as It Was Stephen Dunne , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 11-12 November 2006; (p. 23)
— Review of Holding the Man Tommy Murphy , 2006 single work drama
A Must-See Jason Blake , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 20 May 2007; (p. 22)
— Review of Holding the Man Tommy Murphy , 2006 single work drama
Catholic Schoolboys' Story of Love and AIDS Death Michael Mullins , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 28 November vol. 16 no. 18 2006; (p. 28-29)
— Review of Holding the Man Tommy Murphy , 2006 single work drama
A Tale of Two Romeos Suzanna Clarke , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 1 - 2 March 2008; (p. 5)
— Review of Holding the Man Tommy Murphy , 2006 single work drama
Powerful Love Story Sue Gough , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 8 - 9 March 2008; (p. 48)
— Review of Holding the Man Tommy Murphy , 2006 single work drama
Watch this Face : Tommy Murphy Mark Chipperfield , 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The (Sydney) Magazine , November no. 43 2006; (p. 32)
Pieces of a Life, in Their Hands Bryce Hallett , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 30 October 2006; (p. 14)
A Theatre of Optimism David Berthold , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Strangers in Between [and] Holding the Man : Two Plays 2006; (p. vii-ixii)
Theatre Stephen Dunne , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 2 February 2007; (p. 5)
Striking the Right Chord Kelsey Munro , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 5-6 May 2007; (p. 18-19)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (28)

Awards

VIEW ALL AWARDS (6)
Last amended 23 Oct 2023 15:22:00
Subjects:
  • Melbourne, Victoria,
  • Sydney, New South Wales,
  • 1970s
  • 1980s
Settings:
  • Melbourne, Victoria,
  • Sydney, New South Wales,
  • ca. 1970s
  • ca. 1980s
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X