Barry Creyton
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Barry Creyton (born 1939 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) is an Australian actor and playwright.
Creyton began his professional career in radio and revue in Melbourne, Victoria, in Australia. He is probably best known as one of the stars and writers of the satirical comedy television series The Mavis Bramston Show.
Barry Creyton also spent time in the United Kingdom, where he appeared in British comedy television series including Doctor in the House.
Following his return to Australia, he appeared in television series such as The Sullivans and Carson's Law.
Stage work has included theatrical versions of Don's Party, The Naked Vicar Show.
Barry Creyton now works in the United States.
[edit] References
- "The Dictionary of Performing Arts in Australia — Theatre . Film . Radio . Television — Volume 1" — Ann Atkinson, Linsay Knight, Margaret McPhee — Allen & Unwin Pty. Ltd., 1996
- "The Australian Film and Television Companion" — compiled by Tony Harrison — Simon & Schuster Australia, 1994
[edit] External links
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BARRY CREYTON is one of Australia’s best known theatre and television personalities. His national identity was assured when he starred in the legendary satirical TV series The Mavis Bramston Show, for which he also wrote sketch material and composed music, including the show's theme Togetherness. Concurrently, he wrote two highly successful plays for Sydney's Music Hall Theatre, in which he also starred: Lady Audley's Secret played for a year in Sydney and was produced on two subsequent occasions in Melbourne; How The West Was Lost, a satire on the TV western genre, also ran for a year in Sydney. During this period, he wrote a weekly newspaper column, composed music for the popular Phillip Street Revue and The Downstairs Revue, and recorded two best-selling comedy LPs with Noeline Brown. He went on to star in his own TV series The Barry Creyton Show, and several dramatic plays for ABC Television. He then worked in England for eight years, playing in comedy, dramatic roles and revue in the West End including Don's Party directed by Michael Blakemore at the Royal Court, Roger's Lost Stand - Duke of York's, Ten Years Hard - Mayfair, a musical Liz, several revues and a national tour of Abelard and Eloise. He also appeared in episodes of popular TV series (Take Three Girls, Doctor In Charge, The Expert, Kindly Leave The Curb etc.). He played a leading role in the BBC's popular radio serial Waggoner's Walk, and was a frequent broadcaster for the BBC World Service. He also wrote a farce for the stage, Follow That Husband, which was produced by Ray Cooney. Back in Australia, he starred in the stage production of the revue The Naked Vicar Show. During the next ten years he alternated TV and movie appearances with theatre where he starred in such plays as Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce, Season's Greetings and Absurd Person Singular, Michael Frayn's Noises Off (directed by Michael Blakemore) and in Pack Of Lies, Side By Side By Sondheim, The Owl And The Pussycat, Suddenly At Home, and in 1986 played twins in the comedy-thriller Corpse. He was a lead writer on the award winning TV series Carson's Law and contributed regular episodes to its long run, concurrently writing comedy material for The Mike Walsh Show; he also appeared in some ninety guest spots on this popular variety show. In 1987, he directed the smash-hit musical Nunsense which broke box office records all over Australia, and employed two companies playing simultaneously. With the author's permission he revised the dialogue for Australian audiences, an exercise he repeated for Irish audiences in the Dublin production which he directed in June 1988. During the Perth run of Corpse, a motor-cycle accident resulted in a badly broken leg. The ensuing period of hospitalisation allowed him to write a comedy for the stage, Double Act. He and Noeline Brown starred in the original production which opened in September 1987 to universal critical acclaim and broke all box office records for the Ensemble Theatre. Since then, Double Act has been produced in more than twenty languages. The Paris production starred popular Spanish movie star Carmen Maura and celebrated French star Jean-Pierre Cassel. In Madrid, with Lola Herrera, it ran for over a year. In Canada, starring George Segal, it broke two box office records. The Berlin production, originating at the famous Komodie Theatre has been playing somewhere in Germany with major stars for the last fifteen years. A highly successful national tour of England followed London’s West End production. In 1996, Garry McDonald and Diane Craig starred in the Perth Theatre Company production which toured regional Australia. The 1998 U.S production featured movie star Keir Dullea and Tony Award winner, Bonnie Franklin. Most recently, Double Act was a success in the 2001 season in Rome and toured Italy in 2002. In 2002, a prestigious production won acclaim in Vienna. In 1988 Barry Creyton was honoured with the Norman Kessel Memorial Award for his contributions to Australian theatre as actor, playwright and director. For the last eighteen years he has worked frequently in the United States where he has written movies-of-the-week for TV. He wrote all the sketch material for the off Broadway revue Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know which ran for two and a half years in New York. In January 1996, after a seven year absence, Barry returned to Australia to star in the Queensland State Theatre Company's production of Coward’s Blithe Spirit. It's success encouraged him to return to Sydney to direct and star in his own play Valentine's Day at Marian Street Theatre where it played to capacity. Valentine’s Day is currently playing in Germany (Valentinstag), in Holland (Valentijnsdag). An Australian revival was produced in 2005 and a revival of Double Act (the fifth in Australia) began a national tour in 2006. Two years later, he wrote, directed and starred in the bitter-sweet comedy Later Than Spring, also for Marian Street and to critical acclaim. His novels, The Dogs of Pompeii and Nero Goes to Rome, co-authored with American writer Vaughan Edwards, are published by Random House.
www.dogsofpompeii.com
□ 2007
