Nick Enright

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Lore & Background

Enright was born on 22 December 1950 to a prosperous professional Catholic family in East Maitland, New South Wales. He was drama captain of St Ignatius' College, Riverview in Sydney in 1964, where he was taught by Melvyn Morrow. He won the 1sts Debating Premiership in both 1966 and 1967. He earned a BA from Sydney University in 1972. During 1971 and 1972 he was a member of Sydney's Genesian Theatre, performing in *A Doll's House* and *Uncle Vanya*, and directing *London Assurance*. He worked as a gofer for Sydney's Nimrod Theatre before being appointed a trainee director at the Melbourne Theatre Company. He won an Australia Council Fellowship to study directing at New York University, graduating in 1977. On his return to Australia, he joined the State Theatre Company of South Australia as actor and director, later becoming associate director. He was Head of Acting at the NIDA in 1983 and 1984. Enright was encouraged to write plays while at NYU by one of his teachers, the playwright Israel Horovitz. His many plays include *Good Works*, *Blackrock*, *Daylight Saving*, *Mongrels* (about the relation between Australian playwrights Jim McNeil and Peter Kenna, the latter a friend), *The Female Factory*, *A Man with Five Children*, *On the Wallaby*, and *A Poor Student*, many of them published by Currency Press. His one-act theatre-in-education play *A Property of the Clan* was developed into the full-length play, and later film, *Blackrock* (1997). He wrote the book and lyrics to a number of musical works: three musicals with Terence Clarke – *The Venetian Twins*; *Variations* (Winner, NSW Premier's Literary Play Award, 1983); and *Summer Rain* – and others with Alan John (*Orlando Rourke*), David King (*The Betrothed*, *The Voyage of Mary Bryant*, *The Good Fight*), and Max Lambert (*Miracle City*); and an opera with Graham Dudley (*The Snow Queen*). He wrote the book of the stage musical version of *The Boy from Oz*, based on the biography of the same name written by Stephen MacLean. His adaptation, with Justin Monjo, of Tim Winton's *Cloudstreet* enjoyed huge critical and box-office success at the Sydney and Perth Festivals, on tour of Australia, at the Festival of Dublin, and in London. He wrote for ABC Radio, including *Watching over Israel* (1990 AWGIE winner, Best Radio Play). His non-dramatic work includes a book for children, *The Maitland and Morpeth String Quartet* (illustrated by Victoria Roberts), a set of verses for *The Carnival of the Animals*, and occasional verse. He edited *Holding the Man*, a memoir by his former NIDA student, Timothy Conigrave, and, following Conigrave's death, saw it to publication by Penguin Books.

Reader's Guide

Nick Enright was a central figure in Australian theatre, known for his versatility as a playwright, screenwriter, librettist, and teacher. His plays were performed by all major Australian theatre companies, including Sydney Theatre Company, Company B, the Australian Opera, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, State Theatre Company of South Australia, the Ensemble Theatre, Playbox, La Boite Theatre, and the Australian Theatre for Young People. His screenplay for *Lorenzo's Oil* earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, co-written with its director George Miller. He received the Major AWGIE Award from the Australian Writers Guild four times: for the play *Daylight Saving* (1990); the play *A Property of the Clan* (1993); the screenplay *Blackrock* (1997); and the stage adaptation of *Cloudstreet* (1999, with Justin Monjo). He received the inaugural Play Award at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards in 1983 with composer Terence Clarke for the musical *Variations*; this award is now named the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting. He won a Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work in 2001 for the musical *The Boy from Oz*, and was nominated in the same category the following year for *A Man with Five Children*. He also won awards from the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards (1998 Individual Winner) and the Green Room Awards. After his death, his appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia was posthumously announced in June 2004, effective from 14 November 2002, for service to the performing arts, particularly as a playwright, teacher, actor, director, and as a mentor of emerging talent. He had been appointed an adjunct professor in the School of Drama at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts; after his death, one of his former WAAPA students, Eddie Perfect, wrote an elegiac song about him ('Someone Like That').

Did You Know?

• Enright was drama captain of St Ignatius' College, Riverview in 1964, where he was taught by Melvyn Morrow, who also taught playwrights Gerard Windsor and Justin Fleming.
• He won the 1sts Debating Premiership in both 1966 and 1967.
• During 1971 and 1972 he was a member of Sydney's Genesian Theatre, performing in *A Doll's House* and *Uncle Vanya*, and directing *London Assurance*.
• He edited *Holding the Man*, a memoir by his former NIDA student Timothy Conigrave, and saw it to publication by Penguin Books after Conigrave's death.
• Three years after his death, the film *Happy Feet* was dedicated to his memory.

Theatre Career & Creative Range

Nick Enright's path into the Australian performing arts began in the classrooms and stages of his youth. As drama captain at St Ignatius' College, Riverview in 1964, he was shaped by the teaching of Melvyn Morrow, the same mentor who guided fellow future playwrights Gerard Windsor and Justin Fleming. His command of language was further honed when he claimed the 1sts Debating Premiership in both 1966 and 1967. After earning a BA from Sydney University in 1972, Enright moved through the ranks of the industry, starting as a gofer at the Nimrod Theatre before securing a trainee directorship at the Melbourne Theatre Company. An Australia Council Fellowship took him to New York University, where he graduated in 1977 and, crucially, was encouraged by playwright Israel Horovitz to begin writing his own plays. Back in Australia, he joined the State Theatre Company of South Australia as both actor and director, eventually rising to associate director, and later served as Head of Acting at NIDA in 1983 and 1984. This blend of acting, directing, and teaching gave his subsequent body of work a distinctive practical depth.

A Prolific Body of Work Across Media

Enright's creative output spanned an extraordinary range of forms. His stage plays—*Good Works*, *Blackrock*, *Daylight Saving*, *Mongrels* (about the relation between Australian playwrights Jim McNeil and Peter Kenna, the latter a friend), *The Female Factory*, *A Man with Five Children*, *On the Wallaby*, and *A Poor Student*—were published by Currency Press and translated into French and Italian. They were staged by every major Australian theatre company, from the Sydney Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company to La Boite Theatre, Playbox, the Ensemble Theatre, and the Australian Theatre for Young People. Beyond the stage, he co-wrote the screenplay for *Lorenzo's Oil* (1992) with director George Miller, earning an Academy Award nomination. His musical collaborations were equally varied: three works with Terence Clarke—*The Venetian Twins*; *Variations* (Winner, NSW Premier's Literary Play Award, 1983); and *Summer Rain*—and pieces with Alan John (*Orlando Rourke*), David King (*The Betrothed*, *The Voyage of Mary Bryant*, *The Good Fight*), and Max Lambert (*Miracle City*); and an opera with Graham Dudley (*The Snow Queen*). He adapted Tim Winton's *Cloudstreet* into a stage musical with Justin Monjo, wrote the book for *The Boy from Oz* based on the biography by Stephen MacLean, contributed a radio play *Watching over Israel* (1990 AWGIE winner, Best Radio Play) to ABC, penned a children's book *The Maitland and Morpeth String Quartet*, and even composed verses for *The Carnival of the Animals*. His one-act *A Property of the Clan* grew into the full-length play and then the 1997 film *Blackrock*, illustrating how his ideas migrated fluidly across media.

Recognition & Enduring Legacy

Enright's contributions were recognised repeatedly by Australia's most prestigious arts bodies. He collected four Major AWGIE Awards from the Australian Writers Guild—for *Daylight Saving* (1990), *A Property of the Clan* (1993), the *Blackrock* screenplay (1997), and the *Cloudstreet* stage adaptation (1999, with Justin Monjo). In 1983, he and composer Terence Clarke received the inaugural Play Award at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards for *Variations*; that prize has since been renamed the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting in his honour. His 2001 Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work for *The Boy from Oz*, a Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award in 1998 (Individual Winner), and multiple Green Room Awards further underscored his standing. Posthumously, his appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia was announced in June 2004, effective from 14 November 2002, with a citation praising his service to the performing arts as playwright, teacher, actor, director, and mentor of emerging talent. He had been appointed adjunct professor at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and one of his former WAAPA students, Eddie Perfect, composed the elegiac song 'Someone Like That' in his memory. Three years after his death, the film *Happy Feet* was dedicated to him.

Personal Life & Final Years

Nick Enright was born on 22 December 1950 into a prosperous professional Catholic family in East Maitland, New South Wales. His formative years at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, where he captained the drama society in 1964 and twice won the 1sts Debating Premiership (1966 and 1967), set the trajectory for a life devoted to performance and language. He was openly gay throughout his life, yet he never found the committed partnership he longed for. His bonds with fellow artists were nonetheless meaningful: his friend Peter Kenna, an Australian playwright, was the subject of his play *Mongrels*, and his former NIDA student Timothy Conigrave became a close creative partner whose memoir, *Holding the Man*, Enright edited and guided to publication with Penguin Books after Conigrave's death. In 2003, after fifteen years in remission, melanoma returned. Enright died of cancer on 30 March 2003, at the age of fifty-two, leaving behind a body of work that continued to be staged, adapted, and celebrated well beyond his passing.