AustLit

Writer, lyricist. Largely associated with the Phillip Street Theatre (Sydney) revues of the mid-1950s, in association with writer/lyricist John McKellar, composer Lance Mulcahy, and director/producer William Orr. As with McKellar and Mulcahy, Donovan's early theatre experience involved university revues while a student at Sydney University. The trio's productions between 1953 and 1955 include Merry Go Round and Maid in Egypt (both 1953), Top of the Bill (1954, the first Phillip Street Theatre revue), Hit and Run (1954), and Hat Trick (1955). Shortly after working on Hat Trick, the three collaborators travelled to England, where they sold material for small cabarets and intimate revues. When McKellar returned to Australia eighteen months later, both Donovan and Mulcahy remained in England for an unknown period of time.

Although Donovan's whereabouts from 1957 are not clear, he did collaborate with John McKellar and Dot Mendoza on the song 'What the People Want', from the 1961 Phillip Street revue Stop Press.