Barry Dickins shares almost fifty years of his life as a playwright and author in conversation with Dr Cheryl Threadgold.
Barry Dickins
Barry Dickins is an award-winning Australian playwright, author, visual artist, actor, poet, educator, illustrator, cartoonist, writer-in-residence, fellowship winner, journalist, screenwriter and radio playwright, whose career so far has spanned almost fifty years. During this time, Barry Dickins has contributed nearly sixty plays to the Australian drama repertoire, particularly for the independent theatrical arts sector, and authored more than thirty fiction/non-fiction and children’s books. In 1995, the play Remember Ronald Ryan by Barry Dickins won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. In 2008, the Barry Dickins’ play Whiteley’s Incredible Blue received the R. E. Ross Trust Playwright Script Development Award, and in 2010, Barry Dickins received the same award for his play A Kind of Fabulous Hatred, both presented at fortyfivedownstairs.
Dr Cheryl Threadgold OAM
Cheryl loves researching theatre history, commencing in 2003 when researching/writing/directing Beaumaris Theatre’s 50th anniversary full-length stage production; then again in 2006 for a 90 minute 150th anniversary production for historic Black Rock House. The Jewel by the Sea, has now played five seasons. A 2019 Swinburne University PhD graduate, Cheryl’s thesis researched the history and culture of amateur theatre in Victoria. Her award-winning 2020 book In the Name of Theatre: the history, culture and voices of amateur theatre in Victoria is based on the award-winning thesis. Cheryl was guest speaker at a Theatre Heritage Australia 2018 event at Arts Centre Melbourne, and enjoys researching and writing theatre history stories for THA’s On Stage magazine. Cheryl feels privileged to have interviewed Australian playwright Barry Dickins for Theatre Heritage Australia’s new oral history program.