Papers of Nicholas Enright
MSS 051
Collection Title
Papers of Nicholas EnrightCollection Identifier
MSS 051Inclusive date(s)
1971 to 2002Extent and Medium
Creator(s)
Category
Subject: Terms(s)
Subject: Person(s)
Collection Description
This collection comprises manuscript papers and related material by the Australian playwright Nick Enright.
Administrative / Biographical history
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Enright
Nick (Nicholas) Paul Jonathan Enright was born 22 December 1950 in Maitland, NSW and died in Sydney at the age of 52 on 30 March 2003.
Nick Enright was one of Australia's most significant and prolific playwrights, and was a major influence on Australian theatre for over twenty-five years, as a writer, teacher and as an artist. He wrote and adapted over fifty works for theatre, film, television and radio.
Enright was educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview from 1962-1967, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Sydney University in 1971 and an M.F.A. from New York University School of the Arts in 1977 on a grant from the Australia Council.
Enright's professional career began at the age of sixteen in the theatre for J. C. Williamson. After graduation from Sydney University, he spent a year as general assistant at the Nimrod Street Theatre before joining the Melbourne Theatre Company in 1973, as their first trainee director. After studying playwriting with Israel Horovitz at New York University School of the Arts from 1975-1977, he returned to Australia and was assistant then associate director at the South Australian Theatre Company (later the State Theatre Company of South Australia) from 1979-1981. He was head of the Acting Course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art from 1983-1984 and Adjunct Professor at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University from 1998-2000. He taught at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, the New York University School of the Arts, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, conducted workshops with Australian Theatre for Young People and was an occasional teacher at the Actors' Centre, Sydney. He was a member of the Literature Board of the Australia Council from 1986-1989.
Enright was the recipient of numerous nominations and awards, including:
Order of Australia, Member in the Order of Australia (AM), 2004 Note: For service to the performing arts, particularly as a playwright, teacher, actor and director, and as a mentor of emerging talent
Tony Awards, Best Book of a Musical, 2004: nominated for The boy from Oz
Variety Humanitarian Lifetime Achievement Award, 2003
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Special Award, 2003: winner
A man with five children shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Play Award, 2003
Cloudstreet winner of the Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia, Best Play, 2002, awarded for the 2001 season; winner AWGIE Awards, Best Stage Adaptation, 1999; joint winner of the Gold AWGIE Award, 1999; winner of the Dublin Theatre Festival, Best International Production, 1999; and winner of the Green Room Award, Best New Australian Play, 1999
Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards, 1998: individual winner
Blackrock winner of the AWGIE Awards, Film Award, Adaptation, 1997; winner of the AWGIE Awards, Major Award, 1997; winner of the AWGIE Awards, Stage Award, 1996; and received a nomination from the Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) for Best Adapted Screenplay, [1997]
Coral Island nominated for AWGIE Awards, Television Original, 1996
Good works winner of the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards in Wellington for Best Production, 1995; winner of the Melbourne Green Room Award for Best New Australian Play, 1995; nominated for the NSW and Victorian Premiers' Literary Awards and the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards in Wellington in three categories, Best Director, Best Production and Best Lighting Design
Lorenzo's oil nominated for the Writers' Guild of America Award, Best Original Screenplay, 1992; Academy Award nomination, Best Original Screenplay, 1992; and received the Christopher Award for Motion Pictures, 1993
A property of the clan winner of the AWGIE Awards, Community Theatre Award, 1993; winner of the AWGIE Awards, Major Award, 1993; winner of the CONDA Award (City of Newcastle Drama Award) for Best New Play Written for a Newcastle Company, 1992
Come in spinner winner of the Logie Awards, Best Mini Series, 1991; and winner of the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards, Best Screenplay, 1990
Breaking through winner of the Human Rights Media Award, 1991
Watching over Israel winner of the AWGIE Awards, Best Radio Play, 1990
Daylight saving winner of the AWGIE Awards, Major Award, 1990; and winner of the AWGIE Awards, Stage Award, 1990
Variations winner of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Play Award, 1983
Enright wrote or adapted the following works:
Electra, with Frank Hauser, adaptation of the play by Sophocles, produced Melbourne, 1978
The servant of two masters, with Ron Blair, adaptation of the play by Carlo Goldoni, produced Adelaide, 1978
Oh what a lovely war, mate!, by Joan Littlewood, adaptation of Australian scenes by Enright, produced Adelaide, 1979
The Venetian twins : a musical comedy, adaptation of the play by Carlo Goldoni, music by Terence Clarke, produced Sydney, 1979
The Maitland and Morpeth string quartet, text and narration by Nick Enright, music by Vincent Plush, produced on Sunday Night Radio Two, 1 April 1979
King Stag, adaptation of the play by Carlo Gozzi, produced Adelaide, 1980
On the wallaby, produced Adelaide, 1980
Buckley's : an entertainment with music - and politics , produced Adelaide, 1981
Music is, for children; produced Adelaide, 1981
1932 radio show : with a song in your heart, devised by John D. Russell, scripted and compered by Enright, produced Adelaide, 1982
Fatal Johnny, for children; produced Adelaide, 1982
First class women, produced Sydney, 1982
Variations, music by Terence Clarke, produced Sydney, 1982
The marriage of Figaro, adaptation of the play by Beaumarchais, produced Adelaide, 1983
Summer rain, music by Terence Clarke, produced Sydney, 1983
Don Juan, adaptation of the play by Molière, produced Adelaide, 1984
The snow queen, adaptation of the story by H. C. Anderson, music by Graham Dudley, produced Adelaide, 1985
Orlando Rourke retitled Strange harvest : the musical saga of Orlando Rourke, music by Alan Johns, produced Adelaide, 1985
Ship without a sail: the songs of Lorenz Hart : a documentary, 1985
The Trojan women, adaptation of the play by Euripides, 1989
Daylight saving, produced Sydney, 1989
Carnival of the animals : verse to accompany the grand zoological fantasia of Camille Saint-Saens, by Nick Enright, produced Sydney, 1989
Come in spinner, with Lissa Benyon, adaptation of the novel by F. James and D. Cusack, 1990
Breaking through, adaptation of No longer a victim, by Cathy-Ann Matthews, 1990
Watching over Israel : a play for radio, 1990
St. James Infirmary blues, produced Sydney, 1990
Mongrels, produced Sydney, 1991
St James Infirmary, produced Penrith, NSW, 1992
A property of the clan, produced Newcastle, NSW, 1992
Lorenzo's oil, with George Miller, 1992
The betrothed, music by David King, produced Perth, 1993
Pericole, by Jaques Offenbach; original libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy; new English version adapted by Nick Enright, produced Sydney, 1993
Good works, produced Penrith, NSW, 1994
The quartet from Rigoletto, produced Sydney, 1995
Blackrock , produced Sydney, 1995
The way I was, produced Sydney, 1995
Miracle city, music by Max Lambert, produced Sydney, 1995
Playgrounds, produced Sydney 1996
The voyage of Mary Bryant, music by David King, produced Perth, 1996
The female factory, produced Sydney, 1997
Cloudstreet, adaptation of Tim Winton's novel with Justin Monjo, produced Sydney, 1998
The boy from Oz, produced Sydney, 1998
Mary Bryant, music by David King, produced 1998
Chasing the dragon, produced Sydney, 1998
Five sevens, produced Perth, 1998
A man with five children, produced Sydney, 1999
A poor student, produced Sydney, 2001
The good fight, music by David King, produced Perth, 2002
Country music, produced Kensington, NSW, 2002.
References:
Enright's curriculum vitae provided by HLA Management, 2003
Contemporary dramatists, 6th edition (1999) p. 167-169
AustLit Australian Literature Gateway database, 2003
ScreenSound Australia, National Screen and Sound Archives, 2003
The Rodney Seaborn Library at National Institute of Dramatic Art, 2003
Theatre programs
Acquisition Details
Scope and Content
The collection comprises papers relating to Nick Enright's career as a playwright, teacher, actor, director and translator. There are manuscript and typescript drafts of his works, diaries, notebooks, research material, promotional material, which includes posters and programs, newspaper cuttings, audiovisual material, photographs and reviews of performances of his plays and memorabilia. The correspondence includes letters with agents, colleagues and fans.
Appraisal & Processing Information
Awaiting processing: 21 boxes
Access Restrictions
Other
Access: Check with Curator
This collection contains a variety of copyright material. Copyright is held by the creator of each item. Specific conditions for this collection are listed below. If no conditions are stipulated then the standard terms of the Copyright Act apply for published and unpublished items. Digitised material from manuscript collections is provided to clients by UNSW Canberra in good faith for private study and research only, and may not be published or re-purposed without the express and written permission of the individual legal holder of that copyright. Refer also to the UNSW copyright, disclaimer and takedown policy.
Copying: Check with Curator
Existence and Location of Orginals
Related and Separated Materials
Further material relating to Nick Enright is located in the papers of:
Papers of Nicholas Enright, State Library of New South Wales, MLMSS 7000
Hanger Collection of Australian Playscripts, Fryer Library, University of Queensland
The Rodney Seaborn Library, The National Institute of Dramatic Art, Sydney
ScreenSound Australia, National Screen and Sound Archive
Performing Arts Collection of South Australia.
Separated Material
This collection originally included the following publication, listed below. This work has been catalogued separately, and added to the Library's main collection.
Nocturnal submissions, Issue no. 6, 1999.
Disclaimer
This collection contains a variety of copyright material. Copyright is held by the creator of each item. Specific conditions for this collection are listed below. If no conditions are stipulated then the standard terms of the Copyright Act apply for published and unpublished items. Digitised material from manuscript collections is provided to clients by UNSW Canberra in good faith for private study and research only, and may not be published or re-purposed without the express and written permission of the individual legal holder of that copyright. Refer also to the UNSW copyright, disclaimer and takedown policy.