Timothy Conigrave’s Followers (62)

Timothy Conigrave

Born

in Melbourne, Australia

November 19, 1959

Died

October 18, 1994

Genre

Gay and Lesbian

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Australian actor, writer, and activist.

Conigrave was born in Melbourne, and after attending the Jesuit Xavier College and Monash University, where he appeared in Bertolt Brecht's A Man's a Man and Ariane Mnouchkine's 1789. Following graduation he worked with the St. Martin's Youth Arts Centre. Under the direction of Helmut Bakaitis, Alison Richards and Val Levkowicz, he performed in the touring productions of The Zig & Zag Follies, Cain's Hand and Quick-Eze Cafe. In July 1981 he performed in the Australian Performing Group (APG) production of Bold Tales at The Pram Factory, under the direction of Peter King. Also in 1981 he worked on Edward Bond's Saved for the Guild Theatre Company and completed his first play, The Blitz Kids, which was pe Australian actor, writer, and activist.

Conigrave was born in Melbourne, and after attending the Jesuit Xavier College and Monash University, where he appeared in Bertolt Brecht's A Man's a Man and Ariane Mnouchkine's 1789. Following graduation he worked with the St. Martin's Youth Arts Centre. Under the direction of Helmut Bakaitis, Alison Richards and Val Levkowicz, he performed in the touring productions of The Zig & Zag Follies, Cain's Hand and Quick-Eze Cafe. In July 1981 he performed in the Australian Performing Group (APG) production of Bold Tales at The Pram Factory, under the direction of Peter King. Also in 1981 he worked on Edward Bond's Saved for the Guild Theatre Company and completed his first play, The Blitz Kids, which was performed at the La Mama Theatre (Adelaide) in August 1981.

Conigrave later moved to Sydney to study at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), from which he graduated in 1984. Two years later he was instrumental in initiating the acclaimed Soft Targets (1986) project at Sydney's Griffin Theatre Company, where for a period he served on the board of directors.

He appeared in such plays as Brighton Beach Memoirs, As Is, and On Top of the World. He was also a playwright, producing works including Thieving Boy, Like Stars in your Hands and The Blitz Kids.

He was a member of The Globos, a musical comedy cabaret group, performing at Sydney's Kinselas nightclub in the mid-1980s.

His major work, the autobiographical Holding the Man (1995), is the story of his 15-year love affair with John Caleo. They met at Xavier when Caleo was captain of the football team and Conigrave wanted to be an actor. Conigrave finished the book shortly before dying of an AIDS-related illness. The book was published by Penguin Books in Australia in February 1995, and also in Spain and North America. It won the 1995 United Nations Award for Non-Fiction.

Holding the Man has been adapted into a multi award-winning play by Tommy Murphy. The premiere production was directed by David Berthold at Griffin Theatre Company. It later played a return season at Griffin, February–March 2007, where it also sold out, before transferring to the Sydney Opera House for a third sell-out season, 9–26 May 2007. Company B at the Belvoir St Theatre hosted a fourth season 22 September-4 November 2007. A fifth season played at the Brisbane Powerhouse in early March 2008, with a sixth following as part of Melbourne Theatre Company's 2008 season, 19 March-26 April 2008. In 2010 it played in London's Trafalgar Studios. There have also been productions in San Francisco, Auckland, New Zealand, and most recently was a 2014 production in Los Angeles directed by Larry Moss and featuring Nate Jones, Adam J. Yeend, Cameron Daddo and Roxane Wilson.

Conigrave and Caleo were diagnosed with HIV in 1985. They remained relatively healthy until 1990. In 1991, Caleo was diagnosed with cancer. Conigrave nursed Caleo, despite fighting his own illness. Caleo died on Australia Day (26 January) 1992. Conigrave died on 18 October 1994. ...more

Combine Editions
Timothy Conigrave’s books

Average rating: 4.41 · 6,480 ratings · 729 reviews · 4 distinct works • Similar authors

	Holding the Man 4.42 avg rating — 6,453 ratings — published 1995 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Holding the Man by Tommy Murphy, Timothy Conigrave, David Berthold (introduction) 4.16 avg rating — 126 ratings — published 2006 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Strangers in Between / Holding the Man: Adaptation by Tony Murphy, Timothy Conigrave 4.24 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 2006 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Thieving Boys / Like Stars in My Eyes 4.18 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 1997	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Timothy Conigrave (?)

“You are a hole in my life, a black hole. Anything I place there cannot be returned. I miss you terribly. Ci vedremo lassu, angelo.”
― Timothy Conigrave, Holding the Man

tags: aids, death, hopeless, loss-of-love, tragedy, true-love

34 likes

“I guess the hardest thing is having so much love for you and it somehow not being returned. I develop crushes all the time, but that is just misdirected need for you. You are a hole in my life, a black hole. Anything I place there cannot be returned.”
― Timothy Conigrave, Holding the Man

tags: love

13 likes

“She got into my head at the age when I was loading the operating system that forms self-image.”
― Timothy Conigrave, Holding the Man

2 likes

See all Timothy Conigrave's quotes »

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