Peter Joseph Kenna (18 March 193029 November 1987) was an Australian playwright, radio actor and screenwriter. He has been called "a quasi-legendary figure in Australian theatre, never quite fashionable, but never quite forgotten either."

Biography

Early life

Born in

Balmain, New South Wales Balmain is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Inner West Council. It is locate ...

, Kenna left school at fourteen and took up various jobs. He started working in the theatre by participating in concert parties at the camps in Sydney during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Career

His first play was written when he was 21. In 1959. the play ''

The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day ''The Slaughter of St. Teresa's Day'' is a play by Australian author Peter Kenna. Plot Oola Maguire, a bookie, holds a party every St. Teresa's Day. The guests are the people she has quarreled with in the past year, and there is only one rule: Fi ...

'' was produced in Sydney, based on the life of

Tilly Devine Matilda Mary Devine (née Twiss, 8 September 190024 November 1970), known as Tilly Devine, was an English Australian organised crime boss. She was involved in a wide range of activities, including sly-grog, razor gangs, and prostitution, and b ...

. The play was turned into a television drama in 1960. He wrote the screenplay for the film ''

The Good Wife ''The Good Wife'' is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in l ...

'' (also known as ''The Umbrella Woman'') produced in 1987, a World War II drama about a man, his wife and his brother. The film starred

Bryan Brown Bryan Neathway Brown AM (born 23 June 1947) is an Australian actor. He has performed in over eighty film and television projects since the late 1970s, both in his native Australia and abroad. Notable films include '' Breaker Morant'' (1980), ...

Rachel Ward Rachel Claire Ward (born 12 September 1957) is an English-Australian

and

Sam Neill Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. Neill's near-50 year career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he has been regarded as one o ...

. Rachel Ward won the

Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...

award for best actress for the film, and Jennie Tate the

Australian Film Institute The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry. It is responsib ...

award for Best Achievement in Costume Design.

Death

He died in Sydney on 29 November 1987 after a long illness.

Works

Plays

* ''

'' (1959 - published 1972,

Currency Press Currency Press is a leading performing arts publisher and its oldest independent publisher still active. Their list includes plays and screenplays, professional handbooks, biographies, cultural histories, critical studies and reference works. H ...

) * ''Talk to the Moon'' (1963 - published 1977, Currency Press) * ''Listen Closely'' (1972 - published 1977, Currency Press) * ''Muriel's Virtues'' (1966) * ''Animal Grab'' * ''An Eager Hope'' * ''The Fair Sister'' * ''The Landladies'' * ''

A Hard God ''A Hard God'' is a semi-autobiographical play by Peter Kenna.Leslie Rees, ''Australian Drama in the 1970s'', Angus & Robertson, 1978 p 192-194 The play was very popular and has come to be regarded as an Australian classic. 1974 Film The Nimrod ...

'' (1974, Currency Press) * ''Mates'' (1977, Currency Press) * ''Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted'' (1977, Currency Press) * ''Furtive Love'' (1980, Currency Press)

Television writing

* ''The Slaughter of St Theresa's Day'' (1960) (adapted for TV) * ''Dust or Polish'' (1972) (TV, adaptation of a novel by

Norman Lindsay Norman Alfred William Lindsay (22 February 1879 – 21 November 1969) was an Australian artist, etcher, sculptor, writer, art critic, novelist, cartoonist and amateur boxing, boxer. One of the most prolific and popular Australian artists of his ...

) * ''The Emigrants'' (1976) (BBC TV) * ''A Hard God'' (1981) (adapted for TV)

Film

* ''The Good Wife'' (1987)

Notes

References

AustLit Agent - Kenna, Peter Joseph
(Retrieved 9 March 2008)

(Retrieved 9 March 2008)
Fifty Australians - Tilly Devine
Australian War Memorial (Retrieved 9 March 2008) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenna, Peter Joseph 1930 births 1987 deaths Australian male dramatists and playwrights Australian screenwriters Australian television writers 20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights Australian male television writers Burials at Rookwood Cemetery 20th-century Australian screenwriters