May Hollinworth (1 May 1895 – 19 November 1968) was an Australian theatre producer and director, former radio actress, and founder of the Metropolitan Theatre in Sydney. The daughter of a theatrical producer, she was introduced to the theatre at a young age. She graduated with a science degree, and worked in the chemistry department of the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
, before being appointed as director of the
Sydney University Dramatic Society, a post she held from 1929 until 1943
She founded her own company the Metropolitan Theatre, which she directed from 1944 to 1950 in which she presented a range of dramatic works, from
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
and other classics, to contemporary plays from Australia and around the world. She premiered several Australian plays. She retired from the Metropolitan Theatre in 1950 due to illness, but was later invited to direct plays at the
Independent Theatre
Independent Theatre, formerly known as The Independent Theatre Ltd., was an Australian dramatic society founded in 1930 by Dame Doris Fitton in Sydney, Australia. It is also the name given to the building it occupied from 1939 (then known as the ...
and the
Elizabethan Theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642.
This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. ...
in Sydney. She had a reputation as a superb producer, known for her highly effective use of lighting, and her abilities to arrange actors on stage to convey dramatic meaning visually, to overcome the challenges of large and small stages with minimal facilities, and to select and nurture a cast. Many actors who became notable in Australia and other countries played under her direction at the start of their careers.
Early life and education
Hollinworth was born in the
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
suburb of
Homebush
Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Municipali ...
to William Haley Harper Hollinworth, a wool clerk,
employee of the Australasian Mortgage and Agency Company, and theatre producer,
and his wife Alice Ida Louisa (née Dansie or Dansey).
Hollinworth made her first stage appearance at the age of two.
While training in dance, she broke a leg,
and the injury and subsequent weight gain terminated her aspirations in that field.
In 1921, she appeared in a production of Euripides' ''
The Trojan Women
''The Trojan Women'' ( grc, Τρῳάδες, translit=Trōiades), also translated as ''The Women of Troy'', and also known by its transliterated Greek title ''Troades'', is a tragedy by the Greek playwright Euripides. Produced in 415 BC during ...
'' staged by Grace Stafford, a prominent teacher of speech and drama. She was also associated with companies led by Australian actor and director
Gregan McMahon
Gregan McMahon, CBE (2 March 1874 – 30 August 1941)Allan Ashbolt,McMahon, Gregan (1874–1941), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 336–337. Retrieved 2 October 2009
was an Australian actor and theatrical director ...
, English actor-manager
Cyril Maude
Cyril Francis Maude (24 April 1862 — 20 February 1951) was an English actor-manager.
Biography
Maude was born in London and educated at Wixenford and Charterhouse School. In 1881, he was sent to Adelaide, South Australia, on the clipper ship ...
, Australian actor Julius Knight,
and English Shakespearean actor
Allan Wilkie
Allan Wilkie CBE (9 February 1878 – 7 January 1970) was an English Shakespearean actor of Scottish descent noted for his career in Australia.
Biography
Born in Toxteth Park, Lancashire, he was educated at Liverpool High School and went to ...
.
She attributed much of her acting ability and production knowledge to the two English actors,
and followed the traditions of the
Frank Benson school of acting.
Hollinworth was a science graduate,
and worked as a demonstrator in chemistry at the University of Sydney.
She was also an amateur photographer, and her interest in the theatre developed further through working on the properties of light and colour.
Career
In 1926 and 1927, while employed in the chemistry department at Sydney University, Hollinworth acted in and directed several plays for the Sydney University Dramatic Society (S.U.D.S.) amateur theatre group.
In 1927, with Hollinworth directing, S.U.D.S. entered the Sydney Repertory Society One Act Play Competition with ''The Maker of Dreams '' by Oliphant Down, and won first prize of £20.
Hollinworth also directed the S.U.D.S. in a controversial performance of ''
As You Like It
''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...
'', staged with modern dress and accessories,
including a radio (or "wireless") and cigarettes.
One review of the production commented that "now and again, 'As You Like It' becomes recognisable through this veil of modern customs and modern manners", but did concede that it had "been handled delicately".
The ''
Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' sought to "defend the modernists against the charge of artistic heresy", pointing out that "On the stage there is no such thing as realism. All is based on illusion."
Their reviewer also observed that "the audience, after the initial feeling of strangeness ... were not conscious of any incongruity."
Director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society, 1929–1943
In 1929, Hollinworth was appointed director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society,
a post she held for fourteen years. Her first production following her appointment was Aristophanes' ''
The Frogs
''The Frogs'' ( grc-gre, Βάτραχοι, Bátrakhoi, Frogs; la, Ranae, often abbreviated ''Ran.'' or ''Ra.'') is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus in ...
''.
She selected both classics and contemporary plays from Australia and other countries.
Under her direction, the S.U.D.S. received many favourable reviews of their "splendidly mounted productions".
They were an amateur drama group, comprising a changing cast of students and some former students, and in some plays their inexperience was noted as lacking animation or not making the lines meaningful.
However, Hollinworth was noted as "a wizard with lighting effects",
and for her "ability to translate drama .. into haunting stage action and pictures."
She creatively overcame the challenges of the stages available to the group: in tiny theatres, she was able to create an impression of space,
while on the large stage of the Sydney University Great Hall, lacking a proscenium or curtains, she used spotlights to concentrate the focus, and gave the role of scene arranger to characters within the play (such as Feste in ''Twelfth Night''),
or dressed the stage hands as servants in period costume (as in a 1940 production of ''School for Scandal'').
One reviewer considered that "the society is doing some of the best work by amateurs to be seen in Sydney at present."
Another commented, "This clever producer likes something that requires imagination and originality in setting and lighting",
while another wondered, "It would be interesting to see what Miss Hollinworth could do with a professional cast – something outstanding is indicated."
In 1943, Hollinworth resigned from the S.U.D.S.
Her final production as director of the group was the stage debut of ''
Ned Kelly
Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...
'' by Australian poet
Douglas Stewart Douglas Stewart may refer to:
*Douglas Stewart (poet) (1913–1985), Australian poet
*Edward Askew Sothern (1826–1881), English actor who was sometimes known as Douglas Stewart
* Douglas Stewart (equestrian) (1913–1991), British Olympic equestri ...
.
Selected S.U.D.S. productions
Freelance directing and acting in radio drama
During the years in which Hollinworth worked for the Sydney University Dramatic Society, she also directed some other plays on a freelance basis.
Among these were ''Day Must Break'', a first play by Scottish-Australian playwright
Alexander Connell, presented in 1937 by the
J. C. Williamson company at the
Theatre Royal.
The ''
Sydney Mail Sydney Mailmay refer to:
* Sydney Mail (train service), a train service that existed between 1888 and 1972 going from Brisbane to Wallangarra, where passengers would transfer at Wallangarra for the Brisbane Limited.
* The Sydney Mail, an Australi ...
'' announced that Hollinworth would be "the first Australian woman to produce a professional play" at that theatre. A reviewer commented that, while the subject of the play was profound, the plot was flimsy and some of the acting melodramatic; however, Hollinworth "had provided an attractively simple setting".
She formed the Leonardo Theatre Group in 1935, and with them she directed productions of ''Lucrece'' (1935) and ''Beggar on Horseback'' by
George S. Kaufman
George Simon Kaufman (November 16, 1889June 2, 1961) was an American playwright, theater director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals for the Marx Brothers and others. ...
and
Marc Connelly
Marcus Cook Connelly (December 13, 1890 – December 21, 1980) was an American playwright, director, producer, performer, and lyricist. He was a key member of the Algonquin Round Table, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930.
Biogra ...
(1935).
A ''Sydney Morning Herald'' reviewer expressed surprise "that
'Beggar on Horseback''reached as high a standard as it did", continuing "Miss May Hollinworth has already given evidence of resourcefulness and imagination as producer for amateurs".
She was the producer of The Thirty-Eight Theatre, an amateur group which formed in 1938, which gave play-readings as well as two stage productions,
Dodie Smith
Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith (3 May 1896 – 24 November 1990) was an English novelist and playwright. She is best known for writing ''I Capture the Castle'' (1948) and the children's novel ''The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1956). Other works i ...
's ''
Bonnet Over the Windmill'' in May 1939, and
Rosamond Lehmann
Rosamond Nina Lehmann (3 February 1901 – 12 March 1990) was an English novelist and translator. Her first novel, ''Dusty Answer'' (1927), was a ''succès de scandale''; she subsequently became established in the literary world and intimate ...
's ''No More Music'' in August 1939. A review of ''Bonnet Over the Windmill'' commented, "Much of the credit for the success of the presentation must go to the producer, May Hollinworth, who, in several recent productions, has proved her ability to handle casts with skill and judgment."
Hollinworth worked with the Impressionist Theatre company, as director or as stage manager, for a number of productions, including ''
Cyrano de Bergerac '' and ''Death Takes a Holiday''.
She also directed pageants for mission societies,
Christmas plays
and performances by school associations,
and, in 1930 and 1934, fundraising performances for what was then called the Sydney Industrial Blind Institution, including a production of
Marguerite Dale
Marguerite Ludovia Dale (; 22 October 1883 – 13 May 1963) was an Australian playwright and feminist.
Early life and education
The daughter of Charles Ludovia Hume and his wife Celia Annie Maltby, she was born Marguerite Ludovia Hume in ...
's play ''Meet as Lovers''.
The ''
Australian Women's Weekly
''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known as simply ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Mercury Capital in Sydney. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by th ...
'' described Hollinworth in 1937 as "among the many well known personalities on the air". From the late 1920s, she had acted in radio dramas broadcast on the
Australian Broadcasting Commission
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...
's station
2FC. Productions included ''The Tomb of Osiris'' by John Pickard in 1929,
and ''
The Man Who Stayed at Home'' by
J. E. Harold Terry
Joseph Edward Harold Terry (1885–1939) was an English novelist, playwright, actor and critic who was born in York. He was a nephew of the actor Eille Norwood. and a grandson of Sir Joseph Terry. and became famous for writing two of the longe ...
and Lechmere Worrall in 1931.
The Metropolitan Players and the Metropolitan Theatre, 1944–1950
In 1944, Hollinworth founded the Metropolitan Players.
Among the founding members were actors who had appeared in Hollinworth S.U.D.S. productions, including Alathea Siddons,
a science graduate from Sydney University,
who, as a former student, had appeared in ''The Frogs'' (1940), ''Cousin Muriel'' (1941) and ''Julius Caesar'' (1941);
Lyndall Barbour
Lyndall Harvey Barbour (19 May 1916 – 10 October 1986) was an Australian actress, primarily of radio, although she also added stage and television work (both series and made-for-television movies) to her repertoire. Born in Egypt to Australian p ...
;
Bruce Beeby
Bruce Edward Beeby (21 October 1921 – 20 October 2013) was an Australian actor who worked primarily in British films and television. He was probably best known for portraying Stephen "Mitch" Mitchell in the 1950s BBC radio serials '' Journ ...
;
and
Kevin Brennan.
Others in the first year who later became well-known included Carlotta Kalmar;
John Dease
Conly John Paget Dease (26 May 1906 – 1 February 1979) was a prominent Australian radio presenter and quiz show host at 2GB, Sydney, and through it, the Macquarie Radio Network from 1935 until at least 1969.
He was born in Bhamo, Upper Burma, ...
;
Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, Order of Australia, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notabl ...
;
Jane Holland;
and
Enid Lorimer
May Enid Bosworth Nunn OAM (27 November 188715 July 1982), known professionally as Enid Lorimer and also as a publisher of children's literature under the pen name Ellen Bosworth, was a British-born Australian film, stage, television and radio ...
.
Their first performances were given to entertain troops at suburban halls and an army hospital.
Initially, the Players did not have their own theatre. Performances were held on a subscription basis at a suburban hall in
Killara
Killara is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia north-west of the Sydney Central Business District in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council. East Killara is a separate suburb and ...
, a suburb on the
North Shore of Sydney, where a new amateur theatrical group, the Kuringai Theatre Guild,
had just been formed, with O. D. Bisset as chairman.
Two early plays, ''The First Mrs. Fraser'' and ''Dangerous Corner'', were reported to have audiences numbering 1200 and 1500, respectively.
In 1946, Hollinworth opened the Metropolitan Theatre in an upstairs room in Reiby Place, in the warehouse district of
Circular Quay
Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the Syd ...
, Sydney,
with "an excellent production of ''Othello.'' "
As the theatre was tiny (it seated seventy),
seats were again sold by subscription.
Additional performances, open to the public, were given at other venues, often a church hall (also tiny) in the inner Sydney suburb of
Darlinghurst
Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. I ...
.
As at S.U.D.S, Hollinworth presented a range of drama with the Metropolitan Players. She included at least one Australian play each year,
including premieres of ''
The First Joanna
''The First Joanna'' is a 1943 play by Dorothy Blewett that was adapted for radio and television.
Plot
An English girl called Joanna marries an Australian wine-grower and moves to his family home in South Australia. She does not like it and is abo ...
'' (winner of the Playwrights' Advisory Board competition)
and
Douglas Stewart Douglas Stewart may refer to:
*Douglas Stewart (poet) (1913–1985), Australian poet
*Edward Askew Sothern (1826–1881), English actor who was sometimes known as Douglas Stewart
* Douglas Stewart (equestrian) (1913–1991), British Olympic equestri ...
's ''Shipwreck''. She intended to produce all of Shakespeare's major plays, believing that there was no better experience for actors than playing Shakespearian character parts.
During this period, Hollinworth received acknowledgement of her work from reviewers, audience, critics and theatre staff. In 1944, "
ta luncheon, given by J. C. Williamson's stage manager .. for May Hollinsworth
ic ... a rare tribute was paid her. Stage hands and cast declared that through her good management it was made the happiest season they had ever played."
One reviewer described her in 1945 as "known for her special skill in integrating the broad, thematic currents of a play"; another wrote in 1946, "the Metropolitan is doing some very fine work which deserves attention ... A well-knit team gave a very satisfactory performance ... the numerous small parts were carefully cast and integrated ... the atmosphere of the period and setting was captured." In a 1947 profile of the company, ''
Pix magazine'' wrote, "May Hollinworth is distinguished in the world of serious theatre. If she were working in England or America, by now she would have won national acclaim. Many people who have worked under her direction have made names for themselves in radio ... Given the chance, Miss Hollinworth and her Metropolitans could contribute on a large scale to our culture."
George Johnston in 1947 described Hollinworth as "a woman with sharp eyes, sharp ears, a tongue that can be encouraging or caustic, an apparently inexhaustible fund of energy, a compelling personality", and quoted Professor
Alan Stout of Sydney University as saying, "If the Commonwealth Government really wants to get anywhere with a National Theatre, it should choose May Hollinworth . . . who produces the best work in Sydney. She is a superb producer."
English journalist David E. Walker described Hollinworth in his book ''We Went to Australia'' (1949) as "a large woman with large ideas", and wrote, "Competent and unprejudiced critics have said of .. May Hollinworth, that her productions compare favourably with many that grace
Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue is a major road in the West End of London, named after The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. It runs north-easterly from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus. From Piccadilly Cir ...
and New York."
Reviewers did not hesitate to comment on what they considered mistakes, however.
Leslie Rees wrote of a performance of ''Twelfth Night'' in 1946, "I count it a grave error on Miss Hollinworth's part to require
avid Saxby's Sir Andrewto sustain a monotonous and unfunny falsetto."
A ''
Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' reviewer of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1949 considered that "Betty Lucas was miscast as Juliet. She spoke in a high-pitched voice which was difficult to follow, and did not convey the innocence, poetry, and freshness of the part."
Several writers lamented the limitations of the Reiby Place venue. In 1947, George Johnston wrote, "May Hollinworth's .. pint-size theatre can be found at the end of some squalid wooden stairs in a building surrounded by waterfront warehouses. It can accommodate only a meagre audience. ... Yet this fragment can see drama equal to some of the best in the world. It can see first-class performances of Shakespeare. It can see plays of W. B. Yeats that otherwise would remain unperformed in this country. It can see such plays as ... Douglas Stewart's own splendid Australian drama, "Ned Kelly", which surely deserved a better premiere than an audience of 70 in an upstairs room overlooking empty garbage-bins, an unlighted lane, and a rather limp-looking hamburger stand."
Another reviewer wrote, "May Hollinworth, who has to wrestle with the limitations of a severely cramped stage and a small stuffy room, deserves at least air conditioning, and at best translation to a more spacious and sound-proof realm for the working of her magic unhampered by the noise of dust-bins and by the soporific discomfort of wedged-in humanity."
Despite this, the Metropolitan Theatre was "considered one of the finest training grounds for young artists in Australia".
Actors who belonged to the Metropolitan Players during the remaining years of Hollinworth's directorship and later became notable included
Betty Lucas
Betty Helen Lucas (31 May 1924 – 7 April 2015), also known as Betty Lucas Peterson, was an Australian character actress and theatre director, known for her numerous roles on stage and television, starting from the post-WWII years in 1945.
Biog ...
,
David Cahill,
Gerry Duggan,
H. G. Kippax
Harold ("Harry") Gemmell Kippax AO, better known as H. G. Kippax (6 October 192012 August 1999) ,
Dinah Shearing
Dinah Hilary Shearing (12 February 1926 – 14 June 2021) was an Australian actress, active in all facets of the industry, in particular theatre.
Biography
Dinah Shearing was born in Sydney, New South Wales to English parents she appeared o ...
,
Robin Lovejoy
Robin Casper Lovejoy, OBE (17 December 1924 – 14 December 1985) was an Australian director, actor, and designer best known for his work on television and in theatre. He was one of Australia's leading theatre directors of the 1960s and 197 ...
,
Redmond Phillips
Redmond Bernard Phillips (5 June 1912 – 3 November 1993) was a New Zealand actor and writer, particularly of theatre and television, who worked in his native country, as well also worked in England and Australia.
Biography
Phillips was born i ...
,
Richard Meikle
Richard Meikle (10 October 1929 – 2 June 1991) was an Australian actor who worked extensively in film, theatre, and radio. He was the father of writer Sam Meikle.
Career
Meikle began his career as a stage actor. His first recorded role was in ...
,
and
John Meillon
John Meillon, ( ; 1 May 1934 – 11 August 1989), was an Australian character actor, known for many straight as well as comedy roles, he became most widely known internationally as Walter Reilly in the films ''Crocodile Dundee'' and ''Crocodil ...
.
Hollinworth had some opportunities to present to larger audiences. In 1944, she directed J.C. Williamson's production of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' at the Theatre Royal,
which was seen by more than 12,000 Sydney children. In 1947, she staged Shakespeare's ''As You Like It'' at an open air theatre in a city park in Sydney, to an audience of more than one thousand. The following year, an article about children's theatre in Australia reported that Hollinworth planned to present an annual series of open-air performances in school grounds across Sydney city. George Johnston reported that she planned "to establish a full-time touring repertory company to give performances of the best drama to the school children in New South Wales .. envisag
ng84 performances a year to more than 100,000 school children".
While Hollinworth did not fully realise this plan, in 1949, the company toured seventeen towns in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, performing ''Twelfth Night'' at matinees for school students, and ''The Rivals'' and Priestley's ''
Laburnum Grove
''Laburnum Grove'' is a 1936 British comedy film directed by Carol Reed and starring Edmund Gwenn, Cedric Hardwicke and Victoria Hopper. It was based on the 1933 play of the same name written by J. B. Priestley.
Plot summary
To rid himself of ...
'' in the evening.
Hollinworth hoped that, "In this way, .. theatre will be built in Australia. Not only will interest be stimulated, but a living will be given to our young artists."
In 1949 also, the Metropolitan Theatre moved to new premises in the hall of
Christ Church St. Laurence, Pitt St, with a capacity of two hundred seats.
This enabled the company to increase its subscription from 1000 to 4000. The first production there was considered by critics as disappointing,
due in part to difficulties adapting from a tiny auditorium to a larger one. The next production, the premiere of Douglas Stewart's play ''Shipwreck'', was however considered impressive.
Selected Metropolitan productions
Illness, retirement and guest directing
Hollinworth became seriously ill during rehearsals for the Metropolitan Theatre's September 1950 production, ''Raymond, Lord of Milan''
(which had been published in Sydney in 1851 and produced once, in 1863). She was hospitalised, and forced to hand over direction of the play to its star,
Nigel Lovell
Nigel Tasman Lovell (27 January 1916 – 13 December 2001) was an Australian stage, radio, film and television actor, and producer of opera and both stage and radio drama.
History
Lovell was born in Sydney, a son of Tasman Lovell, Professor of ...
. Benefit performances for a May Hollinworth Testimonial Fund were held by the Metropolitan Theatre
and other Little Theatres. It was hoped that Hollinworth would return to directing the following year;
however, her retirement from the Metropolitan Players was permanent.
By 1955, her health had improved, and she was invited to direct at Doris Fitton's
Independent Theatre
Independent Theatre, formerly known as The Independent Theatre Ltd., was an Australian dramatic society founded in 1930 by Dame Doris Fitton in Sydney, Australia. It is also the name given to the building it occupied from 1939 (then known as the ...
.
Among her productions there were
Peter Ustinov
Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...
's ''
The Love Of Four Colonels
''The Love of Four Colonels'' is a play by the British writer Peter Ustinov, first performed in 1951. It is a fantasy set around military officers from the four Allied Occupation Powers (American, British, French and Soviet) of postwar Germany.
...
'' in 1955 ("producer May Hollinworth back at production after five years of illness and obscurity knew how to win stylish teamwork from resourceful players in loading up and triggering the Ustinov wit"); ''
I Am a Camera
''I Am a Camera'' is a 1951 Broadway play by John Van Druten adapted from Christopher Isherwood's 1939 novel ''Goodbye to Berlin'', which is part of ''The Berlin Stories''. The title is a quotation taken from the novel's first page: "I am a came ...
'', also in 1955 (about which one reviewer wrote "May Hollinworth
.took over from Miss Fitton when the production was in its early stages. In her own right each is a capable producer but the two styles did not mix, unfortunately, and the result was one of the most mundane productions to come from this theatre for some time");
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...
' ''
The Rose Tattoo
''The Rose Tattoo'' is a three-act play written by Tennessee Williams in 1949 and 1950; after its Chicago premiere on December 29, 1950, he made further revisions to the play for its Broadway premiere on February 2, 1951, and its publication by ...
'' in 1956 (described as "a most lively and finished production by May Hollinworth, with precision and excellence of detail rare in repertory work");
William Inge
William Motter Inge (; May 3, 1913 – June 10, 1973) was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broad ...
's ''
Come Back, Little Sheba'' in 1957 ("another achievement for May Hollinworth as producer, and an achievement for the well-knit cast ...
hey
Hey or Hey! may refer to:
Music
* Hey (band), a Polish rock band
Albums
* ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014
* ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980
* ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
fully earn the enthusiastic applause and the excellent house"); and ''Do You Know the Milky Way?'' by Karl Wittlinger in 1964 ("
James Dibble
James Edward Dibble (4 February 1923 – 13 December 2010) was an Australian television presenter, best known as the presenter of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) Sydney news for 27 years, from Monday, 5 November 1956 until his ...
and Robert Levis .... both .. achieved complete credibility in .. a play remarkable for its cohesion all well tended by the producer, Miss May Hollingworth."
ic
In 1957, Hollinworth was invited by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust to direct the world premiere in Sydney of
Richard Beynon's play ''
The Shifting Heart
''The Shifting Heart'' is a play written in 1957 in Australia by Richard Beynon, it is an insight to the psychology of racism and its victims. In the background of 1950s Collingwood, Melbourne.
Characters
* Momma Bianchi
* Poppa Bianchi
* ...
'',
which had won the 1956 Journalists' Award in Australia, and third prize in the ''
Observer
An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment.
Observer may also refer to:
Computer science and information theory
* In information theory, any system which receives information from an object
* State observer in con ...
'' play competition in London.
This fully professional production, in which the author played a key role, was considered "close to
spectacular success",
in which Hollinworth "directed her strong cast with sensitiveness and strength".
Hollinworth also directed the play on its Newcastle and Canberra tours the following year; in the latter, a reviewer considered that she "has used pace and vigour to take her through the difficulties in the script, giving a compelling picture of characters in action."
Hollinworth experienced ill health again from 1963,
and the 1964 production of ''Do You Know the Milky Way?'' was the last that she directed. In her later years, she was patron of the Pocket Playhouse Theatre, Sydenham,
adjudicated at the British Drama League Festival,
and joined the All Nations Club, which promoted cultural exchange between established and
New Australians
New Australians were non-British migrants to Australia who arrived in the wave of Post-war immigration to Australia, immigration following World War II. The term initially referred to newly arrived immigrants, generally refugees, who were expecte ...
.
In her will, she left her house at Stanmore, "Hollinworth", to what was then the Adult Deaf and Dumb Society of New South Wales (now the Deaf Society of New South Wales).
Hollinworth died in
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (abbreviated RPAH or RPA) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located on Missenden Road in Camperdown. It is a teaching hospital of the Central Clinical School of the Sydney Medical School ...
, Camperdown, on 19 November 1968; her funeral, according to Anglican rites, was held at the
Northern Suburbs Crematorium, Sydney
The Northern Suburbs Crematorium, officially Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, is a crematorium in North Ryde, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. It was officially opened on 28 October 1933, and the first cremation t ...
.
Recognition
A bronze plaque commemorating May Hollinworth is affixed to the wall at the site of the Metropolitan Theatre, 1 Loftus Street, Sydney (in the 2010s, the Paragon Hotel).
References
Further reading
* Hunter, Richard. ''Sydney's Little Theatres 1945 to 1955: with special reference to The Metropolitan Theatre.'' Thesis, School of Drama, University of New South Wales, 1981
External links
*
Biographical cuttings on May Hollinworth at the National Library of Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollinworth, May
1895 births
1968 deaths
Australian stage actresses
Australian theatre directors
Australian theatre managers and producers
Actresses from Sydney
19th-century Australian women
20th-century Australian women