Description

Inspired by the lives of two of Australia's most influential playwrights of the 1970s, Jim McNeil and Peter Kenna, Mongrels addresses the difficulties and complexities of the creative artist in life and art.

It was universally praised following its first Sydney production.

'Mongrels, like Michael Gow's Furious, attempts to dissect and expose the tissues that connect art and life; the points of contact between self and creation, actuality and fiction.'— Bob Evans, Sydney Morning Herald

Biography

Nick Enright

NICK ENRIGHT (1950–2003) trained for the theatre at New York University School of Arts after early experience in Australia including with Nimrod and MTC. He was an actor, director and teacher as well as a writer. His plays include On the Wallaby, Daylight Saving, St James Infirmary, Mongrels, A Property of the Clan, The Quartet from Rigoletto, Blackrock, Good Works, Spurboard and A Man with Five Children. With Justin Monjo he adapted Tim Winton's Cloudstreet for the stage. He has also written for film and television, including co-writing with George Miller the screenplay for Lorenzo's Oil which was nominated for an Oscar. He has written a number of musicals including The Venetian Twins and Summer Rain with composer Terence Clarke. He wrote the book for the Australian production of The Boy From Oz. Among many awards were two Green Room Awards for Best Play, and four Gold AWGIE Awards, the 1998 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award and the NSW Premiers' Special Award. As well as being a prolific writer, Enright was a noted acting teacher, particularly at NIDA and WAAPA.