ALAN HOPGOOD was one of the first Australian playwrights promoted by the Union Theatre Repertory Company. He began professional acting in the company in 1956. He wrote and starred in And the Big Men Fly, in 1963. It was an immediate popular success and was later performed in other states. The Melbourne Theatre Company revived the play in 1988. The company also staged two more of Hopgood’s plays: The Golden Legion of Cleaning Women and Private Yuk Objects. In the 1970s Hopgood turned to film and television writing. He returned to the stage in the 1990s with libretti for musicals.