John Romeril

John Henry Romeril (born 1945) is an Australian playwright. He has written more than 70 plays for theatre, film, radio, and television, and is best known for his 1975 play The Floating World.

Early life and education John Henry Romeril was born in 1945 and grew up in Melbourne, living in Moorabbin until 1966. He attended Bentleigh West State School, Brighton Tech., and Brighton High Schools, and then undertook a BA (Hons) at Monash University, graduating in 1970 with majors in English Literature and Politics.

Career Over the course of his career, Romeril wrote plays for theatre, film, radio, and television, including stage, musicals, puppet theatre, pantomimes, and street theatre.

In 1968 he became involved with La Mama Theatre, which had been established in that year by Betty Burstall. In 1969 a group involved with the theatre founded the Australian Performing Group (APG) in 1970 established the Pram Factory. The APG went on to perform many of Romeril's plays, which were performed at the Pram Factory. Romeril also worked collaboratively with other APG writers, including Jack Hibberd and Tim Robertson.

In 1972, Romeril co-wrote a one-act play for four actors called Bastardy, based on the life of the main actor in the first production of the play, Jack Charles. Premiering on 23 August 1972, Charles played the main character at the season at the Pram Factory, with Peter Cummins, Jude Kuring, and Tim Robertson taking the other three parts. Charles plays a cat burglar who was struggling to get over his drug habit. The production was directed by Bruce Spence. The script of the play was published in 1982 by Yackandandah Playscripts,

His later work is placed firmly in the context of Australia being part of the Asia Pacific region, including Japan. American cultural imperialism and national politics. ) Award 2008: Patrick White Award

Some of his works have also been awarded, including Tokyo Henry (Playbox Asialink Playwrighting Competition, 2003) and Miss Tanaka (Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, 2002).

Selected works

A Nameless Concern (1968) Kitchen Table (1968) The Man from Chicago (1969) Marvellous Melbourne (1970) Mrs Thally F (1971) I Don't Know Who to Feel Sorry For (1973) The Floating World (1975) Bastardy, with Uncle Jack Charles (first performed 1972; published 1982) Jonah (1985) Kelly Dance (1986) Legends (1986) Definitely Not the Last: A rock'n'roll fable (1989) Lost Weekend (1989) Black Cargo (1991) Love Suicides (1997) Kate 'N' Shiner (1998) Miss Tanaka (2001) One Night the Moon, with Rachel Perkins (2001)