Jack Hibberd
Encyclopedia
Dr Jack Hibberd (born 12 April 1940 in Warracknabeal, Victoria
) is an Australian playwright
.
, where he resided at Newman College
and practised as a clinical immunologist
in Melbourne
from 1964 until 1973. He is married to the actress Evelyn Krape, and a father to Lily (1972) and James (1984) from a first marriage, and Spike and Molly.
Hibberd co-founded The Australian Performing Group (APG); he was a member of the APG for ten years and chairman for two. In 1983 he founded the Melbourne Writers Theatre. In 2005, Hibberd was appointed until April 2008 to the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts
White With Wire Wheels was staged in 1967 at the University of Melbourne. Shortly afterwards, his short play Three Old Friends was the first production to be staged at the La Mama Theatre
, opening on 29 July 1967 with a cast composed of Graeme Blundell
, Bruce Knappet and David Kendall. Hibberd's most famous works are the plays Dimboola
(1969) and A Stretch of the Imagination (1972). In 1973, David Williamson
directed a sold-out season of Dimboola at the Pram Factory. In 1979, it was made into a film
. A Stretch of the Imagination has been produced in the UK, US, Germany and China (the Shanghai production in 1987 was the first performance of an Australian play in that country). His parody of an opera, Sin (1978) is inspired by Brecht
/Weill
's The Seven Deadly Sins.
La Mama Theatre re-mounted a forty year anniversary production of Three Old Friends along with Just Before the Honeymoon and This Great Gap of Time, opening 18 July 2007 and directed by Matt Scholten, along with two productions of A Stretch of the Imagination, one directed by Laurence Strangio (a radical re-interpretation featuring two performers) and another by Greg Carroll. In 2008, La Mama produced Dimboola again.
In 2009 a new production of A Stretch of the Imagination will be taken on a national 14-week tour to 26 venues by HIT Productions. Directed by Denis Moore, the play stars John Wood
, best known for his TV roles, especially Sen. Sergeant Tom Croydon in Blue Heelers
.
Jack Hibberd also regularly reviews plays and books for the media and practices medicine part-time.
Over the years Hibberd has also published short stories and essays on theatre.
Warracknabeal, Victoria
Warracknabeal is a wheatbelt town in the Australian state of Victoria. Situated on the banks of the Yarriambiack Creek, 330 km north-west of Melbourne, it is the business and services centre of the northern Wimmera and southern Mallee districts, and hosts local government offices of the Shire...
) is an Australian playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
.
Biography
Hibberd studied medicine at the University of MelbourneUniversity of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, where he resided at Newman College
Newman College (University of Melbourne)
Newman College is a Roman Catholic, co-educational residential college affiliated with the University of Melbourne. During the university year it houses about 235 undergraduate students and about 55 postgraduate students and tutors...
and practised as a clinical immunologist
Immunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the...
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...
from 1964 until 1973. He is married to the actress Evelyn Krape, and a father to Lily (1972) and James (1984) from a first marriage, and Spike and Molly.
Hibberd co-founded The Australian Performing Group (APG); he was a member of the APG for ten years and chairman for two. In 1983 he founded the Melbourne Writers Theatre. In 2005, Hibberd was appointed until April 2008 to the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts
Career
His first playPlay (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
White With Wire Wheels was staged in 1967 at the University of Melbourne. Shortly afterwards, his short play Three Old Friends was the first production to be staged at the La Mama Theatre
La Mama Theatre (Melbourne)
The La Mama Theatre is a theatrical venue located at 205 Faraday St, Carlton, Victoria. It opened in a former factory building on 30 July 1967 and still operates today under the direction of Liz Jones....
, opening on 29 July 1967 with a cast composed of Graeme Blundell
Graeme Blundell
Graeme Blundell is an Australian actor, director, producer, writer and biographer.Blundell was born in Melbourne; he grew up in Clifton Hill, a suburb of Melbourne...
, Bruce Knappet and David Kendall. Hibberd's most famous works are the plays Dimboola
Dimboola (play)
Dimboola is a play by the Australian author Jack Hibberd. It premiered in 1969 at La Mama Theatre under the direction of Graeme Blundell. The whole action of the play supposedly takes place at a real wedding at which the actors represent the families of the bride and groom and the audience are...
(1969) and A Stretch of the Imagination (1972). In 1973, David Williamson
David Williamson
David Keith Williamson AO is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.-Biography:...
directed a sold-out season of Dimboola at the Pram Factory. In 1979, it was made into a film
Dimboola (film)
Dimboola is a 1979 Australian independent film about a country wedding reception. It is based on the 1969 play of the same name by Jack Hibberd and was principally filmed on location in Dimboola, Victoria.-Cast:* Max Gillies* Natalie Bate* Bill Garner...
. A Stretch of the Imagination has been produced in the UK, US, Germany and China (the Shanghai production in 1987 was the first performance of an Australian play in that country). His parody of an opera, Sin (1978) is inspired by Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
/Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
's The Seven Deadly Sins.
La Mama Theatre re-mounted a forty year anniversary production of Three Old Friends along with Just Before the Honeymoon and This Great Gap of Time, opening 18 July 2007 and directed by Matt Scholten, along with two productions of A Stretch of the Imagination, one directed by Laurence Strangio (a radical re-interpretation featuring two performers) and another by Greg Carroll. In 2008, La Mama produced Dimboola again.
In 2009 a new production of A Stretch of the Imagination will be taken on a national 14-week tour to 26 venues by HIT Productions. Directed by Denis Moore, the play stars John Wood
John Wood (Australian actor)
John Wood is a Gold Logie Award-winning Australian actor, best known for his role as Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon in the Seven Network's long running police drama Blue Heelers.-TV career:...
, best known for his TV roles, especially Sen. Sergeant Tom Croydon in Blue Heelers
Blue Heelers
Blue Heelers is an Australian police drama series which depicted the lives of police officers stationed at the fictional Mount Thomas police station in a small town in Victoria.- Overview :...
.
Jack Hibberd also regularly reviews plays and books for the media and practices medicine part-time.
Plays
- White With Wire Wheels (1967) in ISBN 0140481060
- Three Old Friends (1967)
- Brain Rot Series – short plays (among others):
- Just Before the Honeymoon (1967)
- One of Nature's Gentlemen (1967)
- O (1968)
- This Great Gap of Time (1968)
- Dimboola (1969) ISBN 9130025079
- A Stretch of the Imagination (1972) ISBN 0869370197
- Captain Midnight V.C. (1973) – with music by Lorraine Milne ISBN 0868050202
- The Les Darcy Show (1974)
- A Toast to Melba (1976)
- One of Nature's Gentlemen (1976)
- Mothballs (1981)
- Lavender Bags (1981)
- Peggy Sue, Or, The Power of Romance (1982) ISBN 0868050016
- Liquid Amber (1982)
- Squibs, (1984) – a collection of short plays (see Brain Rot) for schools ISBN 0949780057
- Duets (1989) – includes Glycerine Tears and The Old School Tie
- Slam Dunk (1996) ISBN 0868194832
Novels
- Memoirs of an Old Bastard (1989) ISBN 0869142313
- The Life of Riley (1990) ISBN 1863300872
- Perdita (1992) ISBN 0869142399
Poetry
- Le vin des amants (1977) – after Charles BaudelaireCharles BaudelaireCharles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
ISBN 090813102X - The Genius of Human Imperfection (1988) ISBN 1876044268
- Madrigals for a Misanthrope (2005) ISBN 1876044462
Musical theatre
- The Overcoat (1976) – adaptation of Nikolai GogolNikolai GogolNikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
's novel of that nameThe Overcoat"The Overcoat" is the title of a short story by Ukrainian-born Russian author Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story and its author have had great influence on Russian literature, thus spawning Fyodor Dostoyevsky's famous quote: "We all come out from Gogol's 'Overcoat'." The story has been...
, music by Martin Friedel - Sin, operaOperaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in 7 deadly actsSeven deadly sinsThe 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...
& entracts (1978) – commissioned by the Victoria State OperaVictoria State OperaThe Victoria State Opera, based in Melbourne, Australia, where it was founded in 1962 as the Victorian Opera Company, collapsed in 1996 due to financial difficulties. At this point, the former Australian Opera merged with this company and renamed itself Opera Australia, taking on the...
, music by Martin Friedel - Smash hit! or a goggle-moggle for Kugel (1980) – a play with music by George Dreyfus
- Odyssey of a Prostitute (1984) – a singspielSingspielA Singspiel is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera...
adaptation of a MaupassantGuy de MaupassantHenri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
story, music by Martin Friedel
Other
- The Barracker's Bible (1983, with Garrie Hutchinson) – a dictionary of Australian sporting slang ISBN 0869140280
- The Great Allergy Detective Book (1995) ISBN 1863951032
Over the years Hibberd has also published short stories and essays on theatre.
External links
- More complete list of works
- Papers of Jack Hibberd at the National Library of Australia (43 boxes)
- Biography and works
- Short video interview with Jack Hibberd 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...
, Jack Hibberd shares some tips on writing a play