Louis Nowra
Encyclopedia
Louis Nowra is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist
.
He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights. His works have been performed by all of Australia's major theatre companies, including Sydney Theatre Company
, Melbourne Theatre Company
, Queensland Theatre Company
, State Theatre Company of South Australia
, Belvoir, and many others, and have also had many international productions. His most significant plays are Così
, Byzantine Flowers, Summer of the Aliens
, Radiance
, and The Golden Age
. In 2006 he completed The Boyce Trilogy for Griffin Theatre Company
, consisting of The Woman with Dog's Eyes
, The Marvellous Boy
and The Emperor of Sydney
. A number of his plays have been turned into films.
His 2009 novel Ice was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award
.
He has written two memoirs, The Twelfth of Never (1999) and Shooting the Moon (2004).
In March 2007, Nowra published a controversial book on violence in Aboriginal communities, Bad Dreaming. He was also one of the principal writers for the landmark, multi award-winning 2008 SBS TV series, First Australians
.
Nowra is also a significant cultural commentator, with essays and commentary appearing regularly in The Monthly
and the Australian Literary Review
as well as major newspapers.
. He changed his name to Louis Nowra in the early 1970s. He studied at Melbourne's La Trobe University
without earning a degree. In his memoir, The Twelfth of Never, Nowra claimed that he left the course due to a conflict with his professor over Patrick White
's The Tree of Man
. He worked in several jobs and lived an itinerant lifestyle until the mid-1970s, when his plays began to attract attention.
His radio plays include Albert Names Edward, The Song Room, The Widows and the five part The Divine Hammer aired on the ABC in 2003.
Nowra has been studied extensively in Veronica Kelly's work The Theatre of Louis Nowra. He resides in Sydney with his wife, author Mandy Sayer.
| width="50%" align="" valign="" style="border:0"|
| width="50%" align="" valign="" style="border:0"|
, The Monthly
, December 2009 - January 2010, pp.44-52.,The Monthly
, February 2010, pp.22-29, The Monthly
, March 2010, pp.40-46.
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
.
He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights. His works have been performed by all of Australia's major theatre companies, including Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company
The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....
, Melbourne Theatre Company
Melbourne Theatre Company
The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne. Founded in 1953, it is the oldest professional theatre company in Australia, and has its own theatre, The MTC Theatre – which houses the 500-seat Sumner Theatre and the 150-seat Lawler Studio – located in Melbourne's Arts...
, Queensland Theatre Company
Queensland Theatre Company
The Queensland Theatre Company was established in 1970 as the Royal Queensland Theatre Company. The Company is the state's flagship professional theatre company, headed up by multi-award winning playwright and director Wesley Enoch...
, State Theatre Company of South Australia
State Theatre Company of South Australia
The State Theatre Company of South Australia is South Australia's leading professional theatre company. It is based in the Dunstan Playhouse at the Adelaide Festival Centre. The current artistic director is Adam Cook...
, Belvoir, and many others, and have also had many international productions. His most significant plays are Così
Così
Così is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra which was first performed in 1992. Set in a Melbourne mental hospital in 1971, Così is semi-autobiographical.- Plot summary:Lewis is always desperate for work as he states "I need the money"...
, Byzantine Flowers, Summer of the Aliens
Summer of the Aliens
Summer of the Aliens is a semi-autobiographical, 1990s play written by Louis Nowra. The play is an often humorous, unsentimental coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old boy, Lewis, who is obsessed with flying saucers, UFO abductions and imagines aliens are invading the earth.It was first written as...
, Radiance
Radiance (play)
Radiance is a play by Australian author and playwright Louis Nowra. The play focuses on three Aboriginal half-sisters, who have gone their separate ways in life, and are reunited when they arrive for their mother's funeral service...
, and The Golden Age
The Golden Age (play)
The Golden Age is a 1985 play written by Australian writer and playwright Louis Nowra. It is based on the story that Nowra heard from an academic about "a strange group of people in the wilds of South-West Tasmania just before World War II".-Plot summary:...
. In 2006 he completed The Boyce Trilogy for Griffin Theatre Company
Griffin Theatre Company
Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new writing. It is the resident theatre company at the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia...
, consisting of The Woman with Dog's Eyes
The Woman with Dog's Eyes
The Woman with Dog's Eyes is a play by the Australian writer Louis Nowra. It is the first part of the Boyce trilogy written for the Griffin Theatre Company at the behest of its Artistic Director David Berthold. The other two plays are The Marvellous Boy and The Emperor of Sydney...
, The Marvellous Boy
The Marvellous Boy
The Marvellous Boy is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra, the second part of the Boyce trilogy. It is set in Sydney, particularly in Kings Cross....
and The Emperor of Sydney
The Emperor of Sydney
The Emperor of Sydney is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra, the third part of the Boyce trilogy following The Woman with Dog's Eyes and The Marvellous Boy...
. A number of his plays have been turned into films.
His 2009 novel Ice was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award
Miles Franklin Award
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize for the best Australian ‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases’. The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin , who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career ...
.
He has written two memoirs, The Twelfth of Never (1999) and Shooting the Moon (2004).
In March 2007, Nowra published a controversial book on violence in Aboriginal communities, Bad Dreaming. He was also one of the principal writers for the landmark, multi award-winning 2008 SBS TV series, First Australians
First Australians
First Australians is an Australian historical documentary series produced over the course of six years and first aired in October 2008. The documentary is part of a greater project that further consists of a hard-cover book, a community outreach program and a substantial website featuring over 200...
.
Nowra is also a significant cultural commentator, with essays and commentary appearing regularly in The Monthly
The Monthly
The Monthly is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer Morry Schwartz...
and the Australian Literary Review
Australian Literary Review
The Australian Literary Review was a monthly supplement to The Australian newspaper established in September 2006 and published on the first Wednesday of each month. It was considered to be a continuation of The Australian's Review of Books, which was a supplement published between 1996 and 2001...
as well as major newspapers.
Biography
Nowra was born Mark Doyle in MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. He changed his name to Louis Nowra in the early 1970s. He studied at Melbourne's La Trobe University
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
without earning a degree. In his memoir, The Twelfth of Never, Nowra claimed that he left the course due to a conflict with his professor over Patrick White
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
's The Tree of Man
The Tree of Man
The Tree of Man is the fourth published novel by the Australian novelist and 1973 Nobel Prize-winner, Patrick White. It is a domestic drama chronicling the lives of the Parker family and their changing fortunes over many decades...
. He worked in several jobs and lived an itinerant lifestyle until the mid-1970s, when his plays began to attract attention.
His radio plays include Albert Names Edward, The Song Room, The Widows and the five part The Divine Hammer aired on the ABC in 2003.
Nowra has been studied extensively in Veronica Kelly's work The Theatre of Louis Nowra. He resides in Sydney with his wife, author Mandy Sayer.
Awards
- 1990 – Prix Italia award, for the radio play Summer of the Aliens
- 1992 – Winner of the NSW Premier's Literary Prize for the play Cosi
- 1994 – Winner of Victoria Premier's, Louis Esson Prize for Drama for The Temple
- 1994 – Australian Literary Society Gold MedalALS Gold MedalThe Australian Literature Society Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for “an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year.” From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the Australian Literature Society, then from 1983 by the Association for...
for Radiance and The Temple - 1994 – The Australia/Canada Award
- 1995 – Green Room AwardGreen Room AwardsThe Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne....
for Best New Play - 1996 – Honorary Doctorate – Griffith University, 1996
- 1996 – Australian Film InstituteAustralian Film InstituteThe Australian Film Institute 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...
Award – Best Adapted Screenplay for Cosi - 1999 – Nominated for Green Room AwardGreen Room AwardsThe Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne....
Best New Australian Play for Language of the Gods - 2000 – Nominated for New South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsNew South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsThe New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards were established in 1979 by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran. Commenting on its purpose, Wran said: "We want the arts to take, and be seen to take, their proper place in our social priorities...
for The Twelfth of Never - 2000 – Courier-Mail Book of The Year for The Twelfth of Never
- 2009 – Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin AwardMiles Franklin AwardThe Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize for the best Australian ‘published novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases’. The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin , who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career ...
for Ice. - 2009 - First AustraliansFirst AustraliansFirst Australians is an Australian historical documentary series produced over the course of six years and first aired in October 2008. The documentary is part of a greater project that further consists of a hard-cover book, a community outreach program and a substantial website featuring over 200...
: Logie AwardLogie AwardThe TV Week Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. Renamed by Graham Kennedy in 1960 after he won the first 'Star Of The Year' award, the name 'Logie' awards honours John Logie Baird, a Scotsman who invented the television as a...
: Outstanding Documentary or Documentary Series - 2009 - First AustraliansFirst AustraliansFirst Australians is an Australian historical documentary series produced over the course of six years and first aired in October 2008. The documentary is part of a greater project that further consists of a hard-cover book, a community outreach program and a substantial website featuring over 200...
: New South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsNew South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsThe New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards were established in 1979 by the New South Wales Premier Neville Wran. Commenting on its purpose, Wran said: "We want the arts to take, and be seen to take, their proper place in our social priorities...
Script Writing Award for Louis NowraLouis NowraLouis Nowra is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist.He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights...
, Rachel PerkinsRachel PerkinsRachel Perkins is a film and television director, film and television producer and a writer. She is known for her films Bran Nue Dae, Radiance and One Night the Moon. Perkins is an Arrernte woman from Central Australia, who was raised in Canberra by parents Eileen and Charles Perkins...
& Beck Cole - 2009 - First AustraliansFirst AustraliansFirst Australians is an Australian historical documentary series produced over the course of six years and first aired in October 2008. The documentary is part of a greater project that further consists of a hard-cover book, a community outreach program and a substantial website featuring over 200...
: Australian Writers' GuildAustralian Writers' GuildThe Australian Writers' Guild is the professional association for all performance writers, that is, writers for film, television, radio, theatre, video and new media. The AWG was established in 1962 and is recognised throughout the industry in Australia as being the voice of performance writers...
Award: Outstanding Writing in a Documentary (Episode 1) for Louis NowraLouis NowraLouis Nowra is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist.He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights...
, Rachel PerkinsRachel PerkinsRachel Perkins is a film and television director, film and television producer and a writer. She is known for her films Bran Nue Dae, Radiance and One Night the Moon. Perkins is an Arrernte woman from Central Australia, who was raised in Canberra by parents Eileen and Charles Perkins...
Plays
| width="50%" align="" valign="" style="border:0"|
- Kiss The One-Eyed Priest (1973)
- Death Of Joe Orton (1974)
- Inner Voices (Currency Press, 1977)
- The Lady Of The Camellias (1979)
- Visions (Currency Press, 1979)
- Beauty And The Beast (1980)
- Cyrano De Bergerac (1980)
- Inside The Island (Currency Press, 1981)
- The Precious Woman (Currency Press, 1981)
- Lulu (1981)
- The Prince Of Homburg (1982)
- RadianceRadiance (play)Radiance is a play by Australian author and playwright Louis Nowra. The play focuses on three Aboriginal half-sisters, who have gone their separate ways in life, and are reunited when they arrive for their mother's funeral service...
- Royal Show (1982)
- Spellbound (1982)
- Sunrise (Currency Press, 1983)
- Albert Names Edward (Currency Press, 1983)
- The Golden AgeThe Golden Age (play)The Golden Age is a 1985 play written by Australian writer and playwright Louis Nowra. It is based on the story that Nowra heard from an academic about "a strange group of people in the wilds of South-West Tasmania just before World War II".-Plot summary:...
(Currency Press, 1985)
| width="50%" align="" valign="" style="border:0"|
- Beatrice
- The Song Room (Editions Rodopi, 1987)
- Capricornia (Currency Press, 1988)
- Byzantine Flowers (1989)
- Summer of the AliensSummer of the AliensSummer of the Aliens is a semi-autobiographical, 1990s play written by Louis Nowra. The play is an often humorous, unsentimental coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old boy, Lewis, who is obsessed with flying saucers, UFO abductions and imagines aliens are invading the earth.It was first written as...
(Currency Press, 1992) - CosìCosìCosì is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra which was first performed in 1992. Set in a Melbourne mental hospital in 1971, Così is semi-autobiographical.- Plot summary:Lewis is always desperate for work as he states "I need the money"...
(Currency Press, 1992) - Crow
- Incorruptible (Currency Press, 1995)
- Jungle (1995)
- Language of the Gods (Currency Press, 1999)
- Miss Bosnia
- The Temple
- Watchtower
- Devil Is A Woman (2004)
- The Woman with Dog's EyesThe Woman with Dog's EyesThe Woman with Dog's Eyes is a play by the Australian writer Louis Nowra. It is the first part of the Boyce trilogy written for the Griffin Theatre Company at the behest of its Artistic Director David Berthold. The other two plays are The Marvellous Boy and The Emperor of Sydney...
(2004) - The Marvellous BoyThe Marvellous BoyThe Marvellous Boy is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra, the second part of the Boyce trilogy. It is set in Sydney, particularly in Kings Cross....
(2005) - The Emperor of SydneyThe Emperor of SydneyThe Emperor of Sydney is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra, the third part of the Boyce trilogy following The Woman with Dog's Eyes and The Marvellous Boy...
(2006) - Page 8 (2006)
Non-fiction writing
- The Cheated (Angus & Robertson, Australia, 1979)
- Warne's World (Duffy & Snellgrove, Australia, 2002)
- Bad Dreaming (Pluto Press, Australia 2007)
Novels
- The Misery of Beauty (Angus & Robertson, Australia, 1976)
- Palu (Picador, Australia, 1987)
- Red Nights (Picador, Australia, 1997)
- Abaza (Picador, Australia, 2001)
- Ice (Allen & Unwin, 2008)
Memoirs
- The Twelfth of Never (Picador, Australia, 1999) ISBN 978-0-330-36187-3
- Shooting the Moon (Picador, Australia, 2004) ISBN 978-0-330-36490-4
Screen writing
- Displaced Persons (1984)
- Hunger (1986)
- "The Last Resort" (TV Series. 1988)
- Map of the Human HeartMap of the Human HeartMap of the Human Heart is the title of a 1993 film by New Zealand director Vincent Ward. It was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival....
(1992) - Heaven's BurningHeaven's BurningHeaven's Burning is a 1997 Australian film directed by Craig Lahiff and written by Louis Nowra.-Plot:Midori Takada arrives in Sydney with her new husband Yukio . She believes her marriage is a mistake and uses the honeymoon as a means to escape by walking out of their hotel room...
(1997) - RadianceRadiance (play)Radiance is a play by Australian author and playwright Louis Nowra. The play focuses on three Aboriginal half-sisters, who have gone their separate ways in life, and are reunited when they arrive for their mother's funeral service...
(associate producer/writer, 1998) - Twisted TalesTwisted Tales (TV series)Twisted Tales is an Australian television Anthology and Mystery drama which screened on the Nine Network in 1996. Each episode was narrated by Bryan Brown, who also produced the follow-up series, Two Twisted, in 2006. Each episode of the series contains a twist ending.-External links:*...
Directly From My Heart to You (1996) - The MatchmakerThe MatchMaker (1997 film)The MatchMaker is a 1997 film comedy film set in Ireland.-Plot:Marcy Tizzard is assistant to Senator John McGlory from Boston, Massachusetts...
(screen play, 1997) - CosìCosìCosì is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra which was first performed in 1992. Set in a Melbourne mental hospital in 1971, Così is semi-autobiographical.- Plot summary:Lewis is always desperate for work as he states "I need the money"...
(screen play, 1997) - K-19: The WidowmakerK-19: The WidowmakerK-19: The Widowmaker is a movie released on July 19, 2002, about the first of many disasters that befell the Soviet submarine of the same name. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow...
(2002) - Black and WhiteBlack and White (2002 film)Black and White is a 2002 Australian film, directed by Craig Lahiff and starring Robert Carlyle, Charles Dance, Kerry Fox, David Ngoombujarra, and Colin Friels.Louis Nowra wrote the screenplay and Helen Leake and Nik Powell produced the film...
(2002) - Rain of the ChildrenRain of the ChildrenRain of the Children is a 2008 feature film written, directed and produced by Vincent Ward.In Rain of the Children, Ward further explores the subject of his earlier film, In Spring One Plants Alone when, as a young film student he travelled to the Ureweras and documented the lives of an elderly...
(additional dialogue, 2008)
Libretti
- Inner Voices Victorian State OperaVictorian Opera (Melbourne)Victorian Opera is an opera company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded in 2005 and commenced operations in January 2006 with funding from the Victorian government, and Richard Gill as Artistic Director...
, 1978 - Whitsunday Opera AustraliaOpera AustraliaOpera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
, 1988 - Love Burns Seymour Group, 1992 Adelaide Festival of ArtsAdelaide Festival of ArtsThe Adelaide Festival of Arts is an arts festival held biennially in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Although locally considered to be one of the world's greatest celebrations of the arts, that is internationally renowned and the pre-eminent cultural event in Australia, it is actually...
- On the Beach Victorian Arts Centre Rio Tinto Grant 2000
Essays
Nowra has also published a number of essays:, The Monthly
The Monthly
The Monthly is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer Morry Schwartz...
, December 2009 - January 2010, pp.44-52.,The Monthly
The Monthly
The Monthly is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer Morry Schwartz...
, February 2010, pp.22-29, The Monthly
The Monthly
The Monthly is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer Morry Schwartz...
, March 2010, pp.40-46.
External links
- http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2008/2431202.htm Transcript of interview with Ramona KovalRamona KovalRamona Koval is an Australian broadcaster, writer and journalist.Her parents were Yiddish-speaking survivors of the Holocaust who arrived in Melbourne from Poland in 1950....
, The Book ShowThe Book ShowThe Book Show is an Australian ABC radio program for the discussion of everything relating to the written word. It is broadcast live around Australia on Radio National with a daily weekday morning show which is then replayed nightly and also has a Sunday evening show. The show is hosted by Ramona...
, ABC Radio National, on his novel "Ice", 27/11/08 - Short video interview with Louis Nowra talking about his plays and writing methods
- In an interview with Dr. Tess BradyTess BradyTess Brady is a writer and interviewer/presenter. She is currently the Artistic Director for Clunes Back to Booktown.-Biography:Brady was born in Adelaide, South Australia. She studied at the University of Adelaide, Flinders University, Exeter University, and Deakin University...
, Louis Nowra shares some tips on how to write a play - Teacher's Notes on Louis Nowra
- Louis Nowra Australian theatre credits at AusstageAusstageAusStage is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia. It provides records of productions from the beginnings of theatre in Australia up to today...