John Tasker (25 May 1933 – 18 June 1988) was an Australian theatre director.

Biography

He was born in Newcastle, New South Wales and educated at Newcastle Boys’ High School. Travelling to Europe at age 18, he studied at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art and teaching at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

. He was at one time the lover of the English author, journalist, and broadcaster

Colin Spencer Colin Spencer (born 1933) is an English writer and artist who has produced a prolific body of work in a wide variety of media since his first published short stories and drawings appeared in '' The London Magazine'' and '' Encounter'' when he ...

. They met in Brighton in 1957, when both were 24 years old. Their off-and-on two-year relationship dramatically changed when Spencer married archaeologist Gillian Chapman in October 1959. Returning to Australia, Tasker became a theatre director, and died of cancer in 1988. Tasker had arranged for his letters to be returned to Spencer. Upon re-reading them, Spencer published his book ''Which of Us Two'' as a form of atonement.

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987. White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...

chose Tasker to produce the play ''

The Ham Funeral ''The Ham Funeral'' is a play by Australian writer Patrick White. It was written in 1948 and is loosely based on a painting by William Dobell, ''The Dead Landlord''. Plot The play is set in a filthy rooming house in the depressing context of pos ...

'' for th
University of Adelaide Theatre Guild
(premiere in Union Hall in 1961). White's

life partner The term significant other (SO) has different uses in psychology and in colloquial language. Colloquially, "significant other" is used as a gender-neutral term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming ...

Manoly Lascaris Emmanuel George "Manoly" Lascaris ( el, Μανόλης Λάσκαρης; 5 August 191213 November 2003) was the life partner of the Australian novelist and dramatist Patrick White. Lascaris met White while they both were servicemen in the Second ...

acknowledged Tasker as the 'virus' that re-infected White with the excitement of theatre. The Sydney Theatre Critics' Circle named their annual award for best freelance director after him.

Theatre productions

(''incomplete list''):
1961 - ''The Break''
1961 - ''

'', by Patrick White (Union Hall)
1962 - ''The Good Woman of Setzuan'', by Bertolt Brecht (Union Hall)
1962 - ''

The Season at Sarsaparilla ''The Season at Sarsaparilla: a charade of suburbia in 2 acts'' is a 1962 play by Australian writer Patrick White. It concerns three households, the Pogsons, the Boyles, and the Knotts, in the fictional suburb of Sarsaparilla. This play was wri ...

'', by Patrick White (Union Hall)
1963 - ''Oedipus Rex'', by Sophocles (Union Hall)
1964 - ''

Night on Bald Mountain ''Night on Bald Mountain'' (russian: Ночь на лысой горе, translit=Noch′ na lysoy gore, links=no), also known as ''Night on the Bare Mountain'', is a series of compositions by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). Inspired by Russian ...

'', by Patrick White (Union Hall)
1965 - '' The Representative'', by

Rolf Hochhuth Rolf Hochhuth (; 1 April 1931 – 13 May 2020) was a German author and playwright, best known for his 1963 drama '' The Deputy'', which insinuates Pope Pius XII's indifference to Hitler's extermination of the Jews, and he remained a controversial ...

(Union Hall)
1965 - ''Inadmissible Evidence'', by
1968 - ''

America Hurrah ''America Hurrah'' is a satirical play by Jean-Claude van Itallie, which premiered at the Pocket Theatre in New York City on November 7, 1966. Directed by Jacques Levy and Joseph Chaikin, the play was an early expression of the burgeoning 1960s ...

'', by Van Itallie (New Theatre)
1968 - '' The Boys in the Band'', by Mart Crowley (the Playbox)
1969 - ''Candy Stripe Balloon'', revue starring Grahame Bond (Phillip Theatre)
1977 - ''Don't Piddle against the Wind, Mate'', by Kenneth Ross (

Jane Street Theater The Jane is a boutique hotel located at 505–507 West Street, with its main entrance at 113 Jane Street in the West Village section of the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building was originally the American Se ...

)
1978 - ''The Cassidy Album.'' (York Theatre)
1978 - ''The Good Woman of Setzuan'' (Port Moresby Theatre Group, PNG)
1979 - '' Rusty Bugles'', by Sumner Locke Elliott (New Theatre)
1981 - ''The Workroom'', by Tom Kempinski (New Theatre)
1982 - ''The Samseng and The Chettiars’ Daughter'' (Singapore)
1982 - ''Duet for One'', by Tom Kempinski (Marian Street)
1983 - ''Caravan'', by Donald Macdonald (Marian Street)
1986 - ''Absurd Person Singular'', by Alan Ayckbourn (Northside)
1987 - ''As Is'', by William Hoffman (Seymour Downstairs)

Opera productions

1974 The Excursions of Mr Broucek (Janacek) Adelaide Festival Theatre - New Opera 1976 - ''

The Consul ''The Consul'' is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his first full-length opera. Performance history Its first performance was on March 1, 1950 at the Schubert Theatre in Philadelphia with Patricia Neway as t ...

(Canberra Theatre)
1979 - ''

La Belle Hélène ''La belle Hélène'' (, ''The Beautiful Helen'') is an opéra bouffe in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The piece parodies the story of Helen's elopement with Paris, which set off the ...

(Canberra Theatre)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tasker, John 1988 deaths Australian theatre directors Australian LGBT people 1933 births 20th-century LGBT people