Hannie Rayson

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Hannie Rayson (b. 31 March 1959) is an Australian playwright.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Rayson was born in Melbourne, Victoria and graduated from the University of Melbourne and the Victorian College of Arts. She has worked as a freelance journalist and editor in addition to her primary career as playwright and screenwriter. Rayson was the co-founder of the community theatre group, Theatreworks in Melbourne's eastern suburb of St. Kilda, working there for four years while writing. Rayson has been writer-in-residence at the Mill Theatre, Playbox Theatre, La Trobe University (which has awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Letters), and Monash University.

Recognised as one of Australia’s most significant playwrights of the last decade, Rason's first major success in theatre was Hotel Sorrento, which won several prizes including the Australian Writers Guild Award. She was the joint recipient of the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award in 1996 and has won both the Victorian and NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, amongst others.

Rayson’s work includes the acclaimed plays Life After George, Falling from Grace and Competitive Tenderness. Regular new Rayson plays have been a popular mainstay of Australian state theatre companies programming for the past decade.

Her 2005 play Two Brothers caused some controversy due to its highly negative and thinly veiled and portrayal of then-current Australian Treasurer Peter Costello and his brother Tim Costello.

TV writing credits including SeaChange.

[edit] Plays

  • Please Return To Sender (1980)
  • Mary (1981)
  • Leave It Till Monday (1984)
  • Room To Move (1985)
  • Hotel Sorrento (1990)
  • Falling From Grace (1994)
  • Scenes From A Separation (1995)
  • Competitive Tenderness (1996) n.b. co-written with Andrew Bovell
  • Life After George (2002)
  • Inheritance (2003)
  • Two Brothers (2005)

[edit] Awards

  • Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award (1996)
  • Victorian Premier’s Literary Award
  • NSW Premier’s Literary Award
  • Three Helpmann Awards
  • Two Australian Writers' Guild Awards.

[edit] References