Debra Oswald
Encyclopedia
Debra Oswald is an Australia
n writer for film
, television
, stage
, radio
and children's fiction. In 2008 her Stories in the Dark won Best Play in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. She is creator and head writer of the Channel 10 drama series Offspring
, for which she won the 2011 NSW Premier's Literary Award.
She began writing as a teenager. Her first play was workshopped at the 1977 Australian National Playwrights Conference when she was 17, and then broadcast on ABC Radio. She studied at the Australian National University
and at the Australian Film Television and Radio School
and has since made her living as a writer for film, television, stage and radio as well as publishing a number of novels for children. She lives in Sydney
with the author
and radio
personality Richard Glover; they have two sons.
Her best-known play, Dags, has had many productions around Australia and has been published and performed in Britain and the United States
. Debra's other plays include Going Under, produced by Adelaide's Troupe Theatre in 1983, and Lumps, which premiered at the Q Theatre in 1993. In 1996, a co-production of Debra's play Gary's House by Playbox and the Q Theatre played in Melbourne
, Penrith
and the Gold Coast. There have also been productions in Adelaide
, Hobart
, Newcastle, Canberra
and Hjoerring, Denmark. Gary's House is on the New South Wales Year 12 drama syllabus. In 2000, her play Sweet Road was presented in Melbourne and Adelaide in a Playbox/STC of SA co production, and in Sydney by the Ensemble Theatre. Sweet Road, Gary's House and The Peach Season
were all short-listed for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
.
Mr Bailey's Minder and The Peach Season
both premiered at Griffin Theatre Company
. Mr Bailey's Minder toured nationally in 2006 and premiered in the United States in 2008 at The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Gary's House was staged in Japanese in Tokyo by Rakutendan Theatre in 2008.
Her writing for television includes the mini series Palace of Dreams (1985) as well as Dancing Daze (1986), Police Rescue
(1991), Bananas in Pyjamas
(1992), Wildside (1997), The Secret Life of Us
(2001), and Outriders (2001). Her Police Rescue scripts have been nominated for AFI, AWGIE and State Library awards. Her telemovie Offspring was filmed in late 2009, produced by Southern Star/John Edwards and Network Ten; a series based on Offspring was broadcast in 2010. A second series is currently in production.
Debra is also the author of the children's novels Me and Barry Terrific (1987) and The Return of the Baked Bean (1990) and The Fifth Quest (2002). She has also written three Aussie Bites
- Nathan and the Ice Rockets (1998), Frank and the Emergency Joke (2000), and "Frank and the Secret Club". The Redback Leftovers (2000) is an entertaining story for upper primary students about the debut season of the worst soccer team ever. It has been republished in 2007. Her two most recent novels for young people are Getting Air (2007), a story about skateboarding, andBlue Noise (2009), a book about teenagers who establish a blues band.
She has written four plays for teenage audiences, the most recent of which is House on Fire, performed by the Australian Theatre for Young People in June 2010. She's written two previous plays for the Australian Theatre for Young People - Skate , which toured to the Belfast Festival, and Stories in the Dark .
Of Stories in the Dark, her winner in the NSW Literary Awards, the judges said: "By engaging us with dark tales, paradoxically told as a distraction in a time of war, Oswald probes the role of imagination in survival, with insight and a sureness of craft.... Debra Oswald's clear-eyed, compassionate play shows us the role of story in making sense, and thus its place in the persistence of hope."
Plays available through Currency Press
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n writer for film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, stage
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and children's fiction. In 2008 her Stories in the Dark won Best Play in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. She is creator and head writer of the Channel 10 drama series Offspring
Offspring (TV series)
Offspring is an Australian television comedy-drama series which premiered on Network Ten in Australia on 15 August 2010. Offspring is centred around 30-something obstetrician Nina Proudman and her family, as they navigate the chaos of modern life...
, for which she won the 2011 NSW Premier's Literary Award.
She began writing as a teenager. Her first play was workshopped at the 1977 Australian National Playwrights Conference when she was 17, and then broadcast on ABC Radio. She studied at the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
and at the Australian Film Television and Radio School
Australian Film Television and Radio School
The Australian Film, Television and Radio School is the Australian national centre for professional education and advanced training in film, television, radio and digital media. The School is an Australian Commonwealth government statutory authority...
and has since made her living as a writer for film, television, stage and radio as well as publishing a number of novels for children. She lives in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
with the author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
personality Richard Glover; they have two sons.
Her best-known play, Dags, has had many productions around Australia and has been published and performed in Britain and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Debra's other plays include Going Under, produced by Adelaide's Troupe Theatre in 1983, and Lumps, which premiered at the Q Theatre in 1993. In 1996, a co-production of Debra's play Gary's House by Playbox and the Q Theatre played in Melbourne
Melbourne
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...
, Penrith
Penrith, New South Wales
Penrith is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Penrith is located west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Penrith...
and the Gold Coast. There have also been productions in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, Newcastle, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
and Hjoerring, Denmark. Gary's House is on the New South Wales Year 12 drama syllabus. In 2000, her play Sweet Road was presented in Melbourne and Adelaide in a Playbox/STC of SA co production, and in Sydney by the Ensemble Theatre. Sweet Road, Gary's House and The Peach Season
The Peach Season
The Peach Season is a play by the Australian playwright Debra Oswald. It premiered at Sydney's Griffin Theatre Company in March 2006.The play was short-listed for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards....
were all short-listed for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
The 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...
.
Mr Bailey's Minder and The Peach Season
The Peach Season
The Peach Season is a play by the Australian playwright Debra Oswald. It premiered at Sydney's Griffin Theatre Company in March 2006.The play was short-listed for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards....
both premiered at 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...
. Mr Bailey's Minder toured nationally in 2006 and premiered in the United States in 2008 at The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Gary's House was staged in Japanese in Tokyo by Rakutendan Theatre in 2008.
Her writing for television includes the mini series Palace of Dreams (1985) as well as Dancing Daze (1986), Police Rescue
Police Rescue
Police Rescue was an Australian television series which originally aired on ABC TV between 1989 and 1996. It was produced by ABC and Southern Star Xanadu in association with the BBC....
(1991), Bananas in Pyjamas
Bananas in Pyjamas
Bananas in Pyjamas is an Australian children's television show that premiered in July 1992 on ABC Television. It has since become syndicated in many different countries, and dubbed into other languages. In the United States, the "Pyjamas" in the title was modified to reflect the American spelling...
(1992), Wildside (1997), The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us was a television drama series set in the beachside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. The series was produced by Southern Star Entertainment and screened in Australia from 2001 to 2005 on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK...
(2001), and Outriders (2001). Her Police Rescue scripts have been nominated for AFI, AWGIE and State Library awards. Her telemovie Offspring was filmed in late 2009, produced by Southern Star/John Edwards and Network Ten; a series based on Offspring was broadcast in 2010. A second series is currently in production.
Debra is also the author of the children's novels Me and Barry Terrific (1987) and The Return of the Baked Bean (1990) and The Fifth Quest (2002). She has also written three Aussie Bites
Aussie Bites
Aussie Bites is a series of short novels, aimed at 7–10 years old, written by a variety of Australian authors. Each novel stands alone, not forming linking storylines, although there are several sequels...
- Nathan and the Ice Rockets (1998), Frank and the Emergency Joke (2000), and "Frank and the Secret Club". The Redback Leftovers (2000) is an entertaining story for upper primary students about the debut season of the worst soccer team ever. It has been republished in 2007. Her two most recent novels for young people are Getting Air (2007), a story about skateboarding, andBlue Noise (2009), a book about teenagers who establish a blues band.
She has written four plays for teenage audiences, the most recent of which is House on Fire, performed by the Australian Theatre for Young People in June 2010. She's written two previous plays for the Australian Theatre for Young People - Skate , which toured to the Belfast Festival, and Stories in the Dark .
Of Stories in the Dark, her winner in the NSW Literary Awards, the judges said: "By engaging us with dark tales, paradoxically told as a distraction in a time of war, Oswald probes the role of imagination in survival, with insight and a sureness of craft.... Debra Oswald's clear-eyed, compassionate play shows us the role of story in making sense, and thus its place in the persistence of hope."
Awards
- 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 Award, 2011: winner for OffspringOffspringIn biology, offspring is the product of reproduction, of a new organism produced by one or more parents.Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny in a more general way... - 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...
, Play Award, 2008: winner for Stories in the Dark - Queensland Premier's Literary AwardsQueensland Premier's Literary AwardsThe Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were inaugurated in 1999 and have grown to become a leading literary awards program within Australia, with $225,000 in prizemoney over 14 categories. One of Australia's richest prizes, top categories offer up to $25,000 for 1st prize.-Fiction Book...
, Drama Script (Stage) Award, 2005: shortlisted for Mr Bailey's Minder - Griffin Award for New Australian Playwriting, 2004: winner for Mr Bailey's Minder
- Seaborn Playwright's Prize for The Peach SeasonThe Peach SeasonThe Peach Season is a play by the Australian playwright Debra Oswald. It premiered at Sydney's Griffin Theatre Company in March 2006.The play was short-listed for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards....
(2005)
Plays
- Dags (Currency Press, 1987)no.
- The Two-way Mirror [manuscript]
- Our Hopeful Youth [manuscript]: a radio play with music in three scenes
- Bananas in Pajamas(1992)
- Lumps (1993)
- Gary's House (Currency Press in association with the Playbox Theatre Centre, 1996)
- Sweet Road (Currency Press in association with Playbox Theatre, 2000)
- Skate (Currency Press, 2004)
- Mr Bailey's Minder (Currency Press, 2005)
- The Peach SeasonThe Peach SeasonThe Peach Season is a play by the Australian playwright Debra Oswald. It premiered at Sydney's Griffin Theatre Company in March 2006.The play was short-listed for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards....
(Currency Press, 2007) - Stories in the Dark (Currency Press, 2008)
- House on Fire (2010)
Children's Books
- Me and Barry Terrific (Oxford University Press, 1987)
- The return of the Baked Bean (Puffin, 1991)
- Nathan and the ice rockets (Puffin Books, 1998) with Matthew Martin
- The Redback Leftovers (Puffin, 2000)
- Frank and the emergency joke (Puffin, 2000) with Stephen Axelsen
- Frank and the secret club (Puffin Books, 2005) with Matthew Martin
- The fifth quest (Puffin, 2002)
- Getting air (Random House Australia, 2007)
- Blue Noise (Random House Australia, 2009)
External links
- Short video interview with Debra Oswald talking about her plays and writing methods
- Teacher's Notes on Debra Oswald
Plays available through Currency Press