Deidre Rubenstein (born 1948) is an Australian

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

and

theatre actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...

, as well as a

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

well known for her performance in Australian soap operas and main stage dramatic roles. She has won the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award as Best Actress. Rubenstein graduated from the

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, many of Australia's leading actors and directors trained at NIDA, including Cat ...

in 1967 and has worked extensively in live theatre, television, films and as a narrator of audio books. She has produced a significant body of work as a narrator of audio books and has won several awards in this field.

Television work

Rubenstein has worked in television comedies, drama, mini-series and TV movies. In 1970 she appeared in an episode of ''

Homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

''. She played a guest role in ''

Prisoner A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

'' (1979–80), as terrorist Janet Dominguez. In 2004 Rubenstein played the scheming

Svetlanka Ristic '' Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera. It was first broadcast on 18 March 1985. The following is a list of characters that appeared in the show in 2004, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by the shows e ...

in the soap opera ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons an ...

''.

Films

* ''

The Girl Who Came Late ''The Girl Who Came Late'' aka ''Daydream Believer'' is a 1991 Australian romantic comedy film starring Miranda Otto, Martin Kemp and Gia Carides; and directed by Kathy Mueller. Otto was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award The ...

'' (1991), directed by Kathy Mueller * '' The Inner Sanctuary'' (1996), directed by Chris Clarke * ''

Siam Sunset ''Siam Sunset'' is a 1999 Australian comedy film directed by John Polson and starring Linus Roache and Danielle Cormack. Plot Perry (Linus Roache) is an English chemist working for a paint company and is depressed after losing his wife in a freak ...

'' (1999), directed by

John Polson John Polson (born 6 September 1965) is an Australian actor, director and founder of Tropfest. As an actor, Polson's best known role is probably starring opposite Russell Crowe and Jack Thompson in '' The Sum of Us'' (1994). In February 2001, ...

* '' Josh Jarman'' (2004), directed by Pip Mushin

Theatre

Rubenstein's career in the theatre includes work with several major Australian companies, including the

Nimrod Theatre Company The Nimrod Theatre Company, commonly known as The Nimrod, was an Australian theatre company based in Sydney. It was founded by in 1970 by Australian actor John Bell, Richard Wherrett and Ken Horler, and gained a reputation for producing more "go ...

and

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre compa ...

. In 1993 she had a solo show called ''What's a Girl to Do?'', where she performed poems written by contemporary Australian women poets. It was later performed by Rubenstein at The Stables Theatre in Sydney (1994) and at the 1995

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

.Rubenstein (1998). p.iv This show inspired her to do another solo show using work commissioned for her, work that was written to be performed live. She was awarded a Victorian Government Women Artist's Grant and commission contemporary writers to produce the performance pieces that were later and produced in a book called ''Confidentially yours''. The first performance was in the Playbox Theatre Centre, C.U.B

Malthouse A malt house, malt barn, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whisky and in certain food ...

, Melbourne on 11 February 1998. The writers commissioned to produce the work that became ''Confidentially Yours'' were,

Janis Balodis Janis may refer to: As a first name *Janis Amatuzio (born 1950), American forensic pathologist *Janis Antonovics (born 1942), Latvian-British-American biologist *Janis Babson (1950–1961), Canadian child, organ donation *Janis Carter (1913–19 ...

Andrew Bovell Andrew Bovell (born 23 November 1962) is an Australian writer for theatre, film and television. Life Bovell was born on 23 November 1962 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and completed his secondary school education in Perth. He graduated from t ...

Nick Enright Nicholas Paul Enright AM (22 December 1950 – 30 March 2003) was an Australian dramatist, playwright and theatre director. Early life Enright was born on 22 December 1950 to a prosperous professional Catholic family in East Maitland, New Sou ...

Michael Gurr Michael Gurr (29 October 1961 – 2 May 2017) was an Australian actor, playwright, author, speech writer and screenwriter. Early life Gurr was born in East Malvern, in Melbourne where his father was a kidney doctor at the Alfred Hospital and his ...

, Daniel Keene,

Joanna Murray-Smith Joanna Murray-Smith (born 17 April 1962) is a Melbourne-based Australian playwright, screenwriter, novelist, librettist and newspaper columnist. Life and career Murray-Smith was born in Mount Eliza, Victoria; her father was the literary editor ...

and

Debra Oswald Debra Oswald (born 1959) is an Australian writer for film, television, stage, radio and children's fiction. In 2008 her ''Stories in the Dark'' won Best Play in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. She created and was head writer of the Channel 10 ...

. Andrew Bovell wrote a pair of stories for the show that he later used in the script for the film ''

Lantana ''Lantana'' () is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in ...

''. In 2005 Rubenstein performed in ''Menopause the Musical'', a comedy breaking down the taboos about

menopause Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time in women's lives when menstrual periods stop permanently, and they are no longer able to bear children. Menopause usually occurs between the age of 47 and 54. Medical professionals often d ...

. With

Caroline Gillmer Caroline Gillmer (born 1955) is an Australian actress, best known for her roles in various television series, such as ''Prisoner'' as Helen Smart and ''Neighbours'' as Cheryl Stark. During her time off sick from ''Neighbours'', Gillmer was t ...

, Susan-Ann Walker and

Jane Clifton Jane Clifton (born 10 April 1949) is a Gibraltar-born Australian actress, singer, writer and voice artist. She is best known for her role in TV serial ''Prisoner'' as tough prison bookie Margo Gaffney. As a singer, she had a stint with Jo Jo ...

, Rubenstein, as "The Dubbo Housewife", explored the stereotypes and madness of that time in a woman's life. In 2015 she played

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

in the musical ''Loving Repeating - a Musical of Gertrude Stein'' in Melbourne.

Awards and nominations

* 1996 – a recipient of the inaugural Women Artists Grants, a Victorian Government initiative to encourage emerging women artists living and working in Victoria. * 1998 –

TDK Australian Audio Book Awards The TDK Australian Audio Book Awards were established by the National Library of Australia in 1988 and sponsored by TDK is a Japanese multinational electronics corporation that manufactures electronic components and recording and data-storage ...

Narrator Award for Unabridged Fiction: ''Dreamtime Alice'' by Mandy Sayer * 2001 – Vision Australia Library Awards, joint winner of the Adult Narrator of the Year Award with James Wright reading of ''The Architect'' by Jillian Watkinson.

Bibliography

External links

*
doollee.com – Playwrights

Nimrod Theatre (Retrieved 8 August 2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubenstein, Deidre 1948 births Living people AACTA Award winners Australian dramatists and playwrights Australian film actresses Australian soap opera actresses Australian stage actresses 20th-century Australian actresses 21st-century Australian actresses