Jim McNeil
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James Thomas McNeil (23 January 1935 – 16 May 1982) was an
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...
award-winning playwright. While serving a 17-year sentence in
Parramatta Correctional Centre The Parramatta Correctional Centre is a heritage-listed former medium security prison for males on the corner of O'Connell and Dunlop Streets, North Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was in operation between 1798 and 2011. The ...
for
armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...
and shooting a police officer, McNeil began writing plays. Within a few years he was being hailed as one of Australia's three most significant playwrights of the 20th century. He was released on
parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...
10 years early, won an Australian Writers' Guild Award and married actress and director
Robyn Nevin Robyn Anne Nevin (25 September 1942) is an Australian actress recognised with the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards and the JC Williamson Award at the Helpmann Awards for her outstanding contributions to Australian theatre performance art. F ...
, from whom he later separated. At the time of his release, McNeil's plays were being produced simultaneously in every state and territory in Australia. Ross Honeywill, ''Wasted: the true story of Jim McNeil – violent criminal and brilliant playwright''. Viking, September 2010


Biography

McNeil was born on 23 January 1935 and raised in St Kilda,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
. As a teenager, he worked on the waterfront and became associated with the infamous
Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union The Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union (FSPDU) was an Australian trade union which existed between 1900 and 1993. It represented labourers in the shipbuilding industry, covering "mostly work associated with chipping, painting, scrubbin ...
. In 1957, aged 22, he married his pregnant girlfriend Valerie and they went on to have six children. McNeil became a criminal, specialising in armed robberies. He was dubbed by the media as "The Laughing Bandit" because of his amusement at how easy it was to take money from people at gunpoint. In 1967, after failing to appear in court in Victoria, McNeil robbed a hotel at
Wentworth Falls Wentworth Falls (Postcodes in Australia, postcode: 2782) is a town in the Blue Mountains (New South Wales), Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, situated approximately west of the Sydney central business district, and about east of Katoo ...
, west of
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
. He forced the hotel manager at gunpoint to empty the safe and in the ensuing escape, shot and wounded a police officer. McNeil was arrested, tried, and convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison. In Parramatta Correctional Centre, he joined "The Resurgents Debating Society", a small group of prisoners who would meet in the prison chapel to debate prison visitors, write and paint. In 1970, McNeil wrote his first play, ''The Chocolate Frog''. It was performed by prisoners for Saturday morning visitors and was reviewed by theatre critic Katharine Brisbane. While imprisoned at Parramatta and later, the
Bathurst Correctional Complex Bathurst Correctional Centre, originally built as Bathurst Gaol in 1888, is a prison for men and women located in the city of Bathurst, New South Wales, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, and operated by the Department of Communities and Justi ...
, McNeil also wrote ''The Old Familiar Juice'', ''How Does Your Garden Grow'' and ''Jack'', his last play. Australian arts identities agitated for McNeil's early release and on Monday 14 October 1974 he was released on
parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...
10 years early. Within months of his release from prison, he married Australian actress and director
Robyn Nevin Robyn Anne Nevin (25 September 1942) is an Australian actress recognised with the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards and the JC Williamson Award at the Helpmann Awards for her outstanding contributions to Australian theatre performance art. F ...
. They separated less than two years later, with Nevin taking out an
apprehended violence order An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable remed ...
to prevent McNeil coming near her. He helped Aboriginal playwright Bob Merritt to write his 1975 play ''
The Cake Man ''The Cake Man'' is a 1975 play by Aboriginal Australian writer Bob Merritt, notable for being the first play written by an Indigenous Australian person to be published, televised and to tour out of Australia. A telemovie was made of a 1977 p ...
'', which he wrote while serving time for a minor offence in Bathurst Gaol. McNeil was awarded a A$7,000 literary grant by the
Australian Council for the Arts Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announc ...
. In 1975 he won the
Australian Writers' Guild The Australian Writers' Guild (AWG) is the professional association for Australian performance writers for film, television, radio, theatre, video, and new media. The AWG was established in 1962, and has conferred the AWGIE Awards since 1968, ...
award for the most outstanding script in any category for his play ''How Does Your Garden Grow''. Katharine Brisbane, whose
Currency Press Currency Press is a leading performing arts publisher and its oldest independent publisher still active. Their list includes plays and screenplays, professional handbooks, biographies, cultural histories, critical studies and reference works. H ...
published McNeil's plays, later said that:
Re-entering the outside world did his talent no good. He was no longer the brightest, cleverest person in the room: the skills that prison life had taught him were of little use outside. He was frightened most of the time, took to drink and to making promises he could not keep... In his time he received more recognition than he deserved and he exploited everyone he got to know. His plays are still remarkable and still have an important message that those inside are people just like us on the outside, with the same feelings and the same domestic needs. But reading them today I find that they are a little thinner than I thought at first sight.
Suffering from alcohol-related issues, McNeil returned to St Kilda in 1981, living at Ozanam House, a crisis accommodation facility for homeless men. McNeil died of alcohol-related illnesses on 16 May 1982. McNeil's life has been told in a biography ''WASTED'' by Ross Honeywill.Rubbo, Mark, ''Readings Magazine'', 1 September 2010


Plays

*'' The Chocolate Frog'' (1970) *''The Last Cuppa'' (1970) – later reworked as '' The Old Familiar Juice'' (1972) *'' How Does Your Garden Grow?'' (1974) *''Jack'' (1977)


Footnotes


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McNeil, Jim 1935 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Australian criminals Australian male dramatists and playwrights Australian people convicted of robbery Place of birth missing 20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights People from St Kilda, Victoria Criminals from Melbourne Writers from Melbourne