John Romeril

by Gareth Griffiths (Editor)

John Romeril has been one of the most prolific contributors to Australian theatre in the last twenty years. But since until recently few of his plays have been published, he has had inadequate recognition. As a founding member of the APG he was 'in at the start' of the revival of the so-called New Wave in Australian drama in the sixties. Romeril continues to be a leading influence in contemporary theatre. His work ranges from the well-known The Floating World (1974) to such recent successes as the community based play The Kelly Dance (1984), the mainstream drama Lost Weekend (1989) and the political play Black Cargo (1991). John Romeril is truly the great survivor of modern Australian theatre.

238 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Broderick · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Romeril was a prolific Melbourne playwright, however it was with one particular play in mind that I picked up this book, his musical adaptation of John Morrison's short story, Black Cargo. Having recently read another of Morrison's works, The Creeping City (see my review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4367261633), I was reminded of seeing the Black Cargo production in 1991, and wanted to revisit it through the essays and interviews I found in this book. There are three such pieces that deal with the production. Geoffrey Milne provides a brief summary of the play, and describes some of Romeril's techniques in adapting the story for the stage. David Watt tells us how Romeril's collaboration with the Melbourne Workers' Theatre came about to produce this play, and Irene Vela, Romeril's musical director for the production, describes what it was like to work with Romeril. These three chapters provide some great insight into what was an amazing piece of musical theatre. It's a great shame that productions like this only ever seem to get one run in history.