Michael Gow is an Australian playwright and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

most famed for his 1986 work '' Away''.

Early life

As a student at

Sydney University 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 six ...

, Gow acted and directed with the Dramatic Society from 1973-1976. After graduation, Gow went on to act professionally with

Nimrod Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...

, Thalia and Sydney Theatre Companies.

Career

After Gow received notice as a playwright for ''The Kid'' in 1983, his play ''Away'' first performed in 1986 by Sydney's

Griffin Theatre Company Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new works, based in Sydney. Founded in 1979, it is the resident theatre company at the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross. the artistic director is Declan Green. Artistic direct ...

established him as a major Australian playwright. ''Away'' is the story of three Australian families who go on holiday "up the coast" for Christmas 1967 as a remedy to personal crises, whose story threads eventually interconnect. The families cross the class and social divides: one is in a smart hotel, another is at the local caravan park; another is in the throes of possible divorce. These factors are woven into a story of love and loss that allows a young boy and girl to taste first love and the pain of death while their parents cope, more or less, with the consequences. ''Away'' received multiple productions in Australia and internationally, and remains a landmark of Australian contemporary drama and the best of Gow's earlier work. Other plays of the late 1980s and early 1990s include ''Europe'', an intriguing work as a young man and a European actress of uncertain age meet in her dressing room, '' Furious'' and ''

Sweet Phoebe ''Sweet Phoebe'' is an Australian play script by Michael Gow. The 1994 world premiere production starring Cate Blanchett was by Sydney Theatre Company under the artistic direction of Wayne Harrison. Other notable performances of the play include ...

''. Gow's writing for television includes the 1984 telemovie ''

Crime of the Decade ''Crime of the Decade'' is a 1984 Australian TV movie.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p32 References External links *''Crime of the Decade''at Ozmovies Australian drama television films ...

'' and a 1989 miniseries adaptation of

Sumner Locke Elliott Sumner Locke Elliott (17 October 191724 June 1991) was an Australian (later American) novelist and playwright. Biography Elliott was born in Sydney to the writer Sumner Locke and the journalist Henry Logan Elliott. His mother died of eclamps ...

's ''

Edens Lost ''Edens Lost'' is a 1989 Australian mini-series based on the novel of the same title by Sumner Locke Elliott, produced by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Central Independent Television. Gillian Armstrong and Margaret Fink had ...

'' for which he received an AFI Award for Best Screenplay in a Miniseries. He was the artistic director at the

Queensland Theatre Company Queensland Theatre, formerly the Queensland Theatre Company and Royal Queensland Theatre Company, is a professional theatre company based in Brisbane, Australia. It regularly performs in its own Bille Browne Theatre and the Queensland Performi ...

from 1999 until 2010. Productions he directed for the company included ''Private Fears in Public Places'', ''

John Gabriel Borkman ''John Gabriel Borkman'' is a 1896 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was his penultimate work. Plot The Borkman family fortunes have been brought low by the imprisonment of John Gabriel who used his position as a bank manager to s ...

'', ''

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' is a play by Edward Albee first staged in October 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of a middle-aged couple, Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they receive ...

'' (2007); ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...

'', '' Anatomy Titus Fall of Rome: A Shakespeare Commentary'', ''

I Am My Own Wife ''I Am My Own Wife'' is a play by Doug Wright based on his conversations with the German antiquarian Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. The one-man play premiered Off-Broadway in 2003 at Playwrights Horizons. It opened on Broadway later that year. The p ...

'', (2008); ''The School of Arts'' and ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as a ...

'' (2009). Gow had not written a full-length play for ten years while fully engaged as artistic director of Queensland Theatre Company. In 2007, his play ''Toy Symphony'' received its world premiere production at Sydney's

Belvoir St Theatre Belvoir is an Australian theatre company based at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia, originally known as Company B. Since 2016 and its artistic director is Eamon Flack. The theatre contains a 330-seat Upstairs Theatre and a 80-seat D ...

. It was a critical and popular success, starring

Richard Roxburgh Richard Roxburgh (born 23 January 1962) is an Australian actor, writer, producer, and director. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including three AACTA Awards (including AFI), three Logie Awards, ...

in his first stage role for some years. '' Toy Symphony'' is a further exploration of Gow's

Shire Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the beginn ...

roots and much else besides. ''Toy Symphony'' was awarded Best New Australian Work at the

2008 Helpmann Awards The 2008 Helpmann Awards were presented on 28 July 2008 at the Lyric Theatre, Sydney. The ceremony was hosted by Jonathan Biggins and Julia Zemiro Julia Zemiro () (born 14 April 1967) is a French-born Australian television presenter, radio ...

, and the production was also nominated for Best Play. The production also won four

Sydney Theatre Awards The Sydney Theatre Awards are annual awards to recognise the strength, quality and diversity of professional theatre in Sydney, Australia. They were established in 2005 by a group of major Sydney theatre critics. The awards recognise mainstage and ...

including Best Mainstage Production. Gow criticised the new HSC syllabus in 2017, which had a renewed emphasis on classic works.

Works

*''The Kid'' (1983) *''The Astronaut’s Wife'' (1985) *'' Away'' (1986) *''17'' (N/A) *''On Top Of The World'' (1987) *''Europe'' (1987) *''1841'' (1988) *''All Stops Out'' (1989) *'' Furious'' (1994) *''

'' (1994) *''Live Acts On Stage'' (1996) *''Up Here'' (2004) *''

The Fortunes of Richard Mahony ''The Fortunes of Richard Mahony'' is a three-part novel by Australian writer Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson under her pen name, Henry Handel Richardson. It consists of ''Australia Felix'' (1917), ''The Way Home'' (1925), and ''Ultima Thule' ...

'', adapted from the novel by

Henry Handel Richardson Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson (3 January 187020 March 1946), known by her pen name Henry Handel Richardson, was an Australian author. Life Born in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, into a prosperous family that later fell on hard tim ...

(2004) *'' Toy Symphony'' (2007) *''

Once in Royal David's City Once in Royal David's City is a Christmas carol originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander. The carol was first published in 1848 in her hymnbook ''Hymns for Little Children''. A year later, the English organist Henry Gauntlett dis ...

'' (2014) * Goldilocks (2019)

References

External links

*
titles on www.australianplays.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gow, Michael Living people Australian dramatists and playwrights Australian theatre directors Helpmann Award winners 1955 births