Mark Doyle, better known by his stage name Louis Nowra, (born 12 December 1950) is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist.
He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights. His works have been performed by all of Australia's major theatre companies, including
Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in the Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Theatre ...
,
Melbourne Theatre Company
The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre com ...
,
Queensland Theatre Company,
State Theatre Company of South Australia,
Belvoir, and many others, and have also had many international productions. His most significant plays are ''
Così
''Così'' is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra which was first performed in 1992 at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Set in a Melbourne mental hospital in 1971, ''Così'' is semi-autobiographical, and is the sequel to his p ...
'', ''
Radiance
In radiometry, radiance is the radiant flux emitted, reflected, transmitted or received by a given surface, per unit solid angle per unit projected area. Radiance is used to characterize diffuse emission and reflection of electromagnetic radiati ...
'' (both of which he turned into films), ''
Byzantine Flowers'', ''
Summer of the Aliens'' and ''
The Golden Age''. In 2006 he completed ''The Boyce Trilogy'' for
Griffin Theatre Company, consisting of ''
The Woman with Dog's Eyes'', ''
The Marvellous Boy'' and ''
The Emperor of Sydney'', all directed by
David Berthold.
His 2009 novel ''Ice'' was shortlisted for the
Miles Franklin Award
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the Will (law), will of Miles Franklin ...
. His script for 1996 movie ''Cosi'', which revolves around a group of mentally ill patients who put on a play, won the Australian Film Institute Award that year for Best Adapted Screenplay. Nowra's work as a scriptwriter also includes a credit on the comedy ''
The Matchmaker'' and the
Vincent Ward romance ''
Map of the Human Heart'', which was invited to the Cannes Film Festival.
His radio plays include ''
Albert Names Edward'', ''The Song Room'', ''The Widows'' and the five part ''The Divine Hammer'', which aired on the ABC in 2003.
He has written two memoirs, ''The Twelfth of Never'' (1999) and ''Shooting the Moon'' (2004). In March 2007, Nowra published a controversial book on violence in Aboriginal communities, ''
Bad Dreaming''. He was also one of the principal writers for the multi award-winning 2008 SBS TV series, ''
First Australians''.
Nowra is also a cultural commentator, with essays and commentary appearing regularly in ''
The Monthly
''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...
'' and the ''
Australian Literary Review
The ''Australian Literary Review'' (ALR) was a monthly supplement to ''The Australian'' newspaper established in September 2006 and published on the first Wednesday of each month. The headquarters was in Surry Hills, New South Wales. It was co ...
'' as well as major newspapers. He has been married three times, and is bisexual, having had relationships with men as well.
Biography
Nowra was born Mark Doyle
[National Library of Australia]
Guide to the Papers of Louis Nowra, MS 10042
Retrieved 26 April 2014 in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, to the second of his mother's three husbands. His birthdays were never celebrated with parties when he was growing up, and he could never quite understand why. His mother told him as a boy that he would hear stories about her having killed a man, but he was not to believe any version but her own, which she would not reveal until his 21st birthday. His sister later told him that their mother had killed her own father, their grandfather. On his 21st birthday, 12 December 1971, his mother confirmed this, and said that it had occurred on 12 December 1945, exactly five years before he was born, which was why there were no celebrations of his own birthday. His mother was charged with murder but acquitted on the ground of extreme provocation after years of alcohol-fuelled violence. She in turn was abusive towards her own son, often telling him he was stupid and worthless, making him walk down the street in his sister's dresses as a punishment, and telling him he was "behind the door when looks were given out".
[ His father was also abusive when he was around, but he was an interstate truck driver who was not often home. His mother has not seen, heard or read any of his work, and he has had almost no contact with her since he left Melbourne. He has had no contact with his father at all. He developed an early love of theatre through his uncle Bob Herbert (or Bob Herbert-Hay), a stage manager for J. C. Williamson's productions.][
In the early 1970s he walked out of his Australian literature studies at Melbourne's ]La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...
. The subject of a tutorial was Patrick White's novel '' The Tree of Man''. Nowra stood up, said he thought it was dreadful, walked out and never returned to finish his degree.[
He later had a difficult personal relationship with Patrick White. White championed Nowra's early work (''Visions'', ''Inside the Island''), even taking out a paid advertisement in '']The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' when they refused to publish his letter admonishing the theatre critic H. G. Kippax, who had been negative about the plays. But Nowra never liked White's work.[ White could also be very negative about Nowra. He attended the premiere of Nowra's translation of Rostand's '' Cyrano de Bergerac'', but left the auditorium before the start because he thought, sight unseen, it would be uninteresting. His partner Manoly Lascaris refused to leave, so White sat out the performance in the foyer.
Nowra had a similarly challenging relationship with the actress ]Judy Davis
Judith Davis (born 23 April 1955) is an Australian actress. In a career spanning over four decades of both List of Judy Davis performances, screen and stage, she has been commended for her versatility and regarded as one of the finest actresses ...
, who appeared in some of his plays. Nowra considered both White and Davis had personalities that combined self-loathing, narcissism, ruthlessness and haughty egos.["Louis Nowra: Patrick, Judy and me", edited extract from '' Shooting the Moon'', Weekend Australian magazine, 24–25 July 2004, pp.18–21]
His first plays were written at La Mama Theatre in Melbourne in 1973.[ Soon after abandoning his university degree, he got into his car one day and decided to drive north, as far away from his parents as possible, but without any clear destination. He reached the NSW coastal town of Nowra, when his car broke down. He had already decided to abandon his birth name, and chose Nowra because of this enforced stop.][ He worked in several jobs and lived an itinerant lifestyle until the mid-1970s, when his plays began to attract attention. Since this time he has lived in Sydney, mainly in Kings Cross.
In late 1974 he married the composer Sarah de Jong;][Kelly, Victoria, ed]
''Louis Nowra'', p. 41
Retrieved 26 April 2014 they co-wrote some of the music for his stage works.[ In 1976 they lived in ]Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, Germany for six months.[ They divorced ten years later, after he had an affair with her best female friend. During his marriage to de Jong, he was resident playwright of the ]Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in the Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Theatre ...
in 1979–1980, and Associate Director at Adelaide
Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
's Lighthouse Theatre in 1982–1983.[
He also appeared in the 1988 Australian film '' The Everlasting Secret Family'' as a shop assistant, his only film acting role.
He engaged in a number of gay relationships for some time, before marrying his second wife, television presenter Gerri Williams, at the Soho Bar in Kings Cross, in early 1997. It was attended by the ]Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI), also called Order of Perpetual Indulgence (OPI), is a charitable, protest, and street performance movement that uses drag and religious imagery to satirize issues of sex, gender, and morality (particular ...
.[Burke, Kelly, "That was then, this is Nowra", ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 13 November 1999, Spectrum, p. 3s] He married his third and current wife, the author Mandy Sayer, in 2003. They had worked together when they co-edited the anthology ''In the Gutter ... Looking at the Stars'' in 2000. They have separate homes not far from each other, in which their daytime writing activities are conducted, and they come together in the evening. In February 2014 they were named joint holders of the 2014 Copyright Agency Non-Fiction Writer-in-Residence at the University of Technology, Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a technical institution can be traced back t ...
.[UTS Newsroom, 21 February 2014]
"Leading literary duo appointed to UTS residency"
Retrieved 26 April 2014
Nowra's plays are studied in Veronica Kelly's work ''The Theatre of Louis Nowra''.
Awards
* 1990 – Prix Italia
The Prix Italia is an international television, radio-broadcasting and web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with th ...
award, for the radio play ''Summer of the Aliens''
* 1992 – Winner of the NSW Premier's Literary Prize for the play ''Cosi''
* 1994 – Winner of Victoria Premier's, Louis Esson Prize for Drama for ''The Temple''
* 1994 – Australian Literary Society Gold Medal for ''Radiance'' and ''The Temple''
* 1994 – The Australia/Canada Award
* 1995 – Green Room Award for Best New Play
* 1996 – Honorary Doctorate – Griffith University, 1996
* 1996 – Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Cinema of Australia, Australian film indu ...
Award – Best Adapted Screenplay for ''Cosi''
* 1999 – Nominated for Green Room Award Best New Australian Play for ''Language of the Gods''
* 2000 – Nominated for New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...
for ''The Twelfth of Never''
* 2000 – Courier-Mail Book of The Year for ''The Twelfth of Never''
* 2009 – Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the Will (law), will of Miles Franklin ...
for ''Ice''.
* 2009 – '' First Australians'': Logie Award
The TV Week Logie Awards (known colloquially as The Logies) is an annual ceremony celebrating and honouring the best shows and stars in Television in Australia, Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The eve ...
: Outstanding Documentary or Documentary Series
* 2009 – ''First Australians'': New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...
Script Writing Award for Louis Nowra, Rachel Perkins and Beck Cole
* 2009 – ''First Australians'': 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: Outstanding Writing in a Documentary (Episode 1) for Louis Nowra and Rachel Perkins
* 2013 – Patrick White Literary Award
Works
Plays
*''Kiss The One-Eyed Priest'' (1973)
*''Death of Joe Orton'' (1974)
*''Inner Voices'' (Currency Press, 1977)
*''The Lady of the Camellias'' (1979)
*''Visions'' (Currency Press, 1979)
*''Beauty and the Beast'' (1980)
*''Cyrano De Bergerac'' (1980; translation of Edmond Rostand's French play)
*''Inside The Island'' (Currency Press, 1981)
*''The Precious Woman'' (Currency Press, 1981)
*''Lulu'' (1981; adapted from Frank Wedekind
Benjamin Franklin Wedekind (July 24, 1864 – March 9, 1918) was a German playwright. His work, which often criticizes bourgeois attitudes (particularly towards sex), is considered to anticipate expressionism and was influential in the developme ...
's Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box
Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology connected with the myth of Pandora in Hesiod's c. 700 B.C. poem ''Works and Days''. Hesiod related that curiosity led her to open a container left in the care of her husband, thus releasing curses ...
)
*''The Prince of Homburg'' (1982)
*''Royal Show'' (1982)
*''Spellbound'' (1982)
*''Sunrise'' (Currency Press, 1983)
*''Albert Names Edward'' (Currency Press, 1983)
*'' The Golden Age'' (Currency Press, 1985)
*''The Song Room'' (Editions Rodopi, 1987)
*''Capricornia'' (Currency Press, 1988; adapted from Xavier Herbert's novel
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
)
*''Byzantine Flowers'' (1989)
*''Watchtower'' (1990)
* The Lewis Trilogy:
** '' Summer of the Aliens'' (Currency Press, 1992)
** ''Così
''Così'' is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra which was first performed in 1992 at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Set in a Melbourne mental hospital in 1971, ''Così'' is semi-autobiographical, and is the sequel to his p ...
'' (Currency Press, 1992)
** ''This Much Is True'' (Currency Press, 2017)
*''Radiance
In radiometry, radiance is the radiant flux emitted, reflected, transmitted or received by a given surface, per unit solid angle per unit projected area. Radiance is used to characterize diffuse emission and reflection of electromagnetic radiati ...
'' (1993)
*''The Temple'' (1993)
*''Crow'' (1994)
*''Incorruptible'' (Currency Press, 1995)
*''Jungle'' (1995)
*''Miss Bosnia'' (1995)
*''Language of the Gods'' (Currency Press, 1999)
*''Beatrice'' (2003)
*''Devil Is A Woman'' (2004)
* The Boyce Trilogy:
** '' The Woman with Dog's Eyes'' (2004)
** '' The Marvellous Boy'' (2005)
** '' The Emperor of Sydney'' (2006)
* ''Page 8'' (2006)
Non-fiction writing
*''The Cheated'' (Angus & Robertson, Australia, 1979)
*''Warne's World'' (Duffy & Snellgrove, Australia, 2002)
*''Chihuahuas, Women and Me'' (Giramondo, Australia, 2005)
*''Bad Dreaming'' (Pluto Press, Australia, 2007)
*''Kings Cross: A Biography'' (NewSouth Publishing, Australia, 2013)
*''Woolloomooloo: A Biography'' (NewSouth Publishing, Australia, 2017)
*''Sydney: A Biography'' (NewSouth Publishing, Australia, 2020)
Novels
*''The Misery of Beauty'' (Angus & Robertson, Australia, 1976)
*''Palu'' (Picador, Australia, 1987)
*''Red Nights'' (Picador, Australia, 1997)
*''Abaza'' (Picador, Australia, 2001)
*''Ice
Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
'' (Allen & Unwin, 2008)
*''Into That Forest'' (Allen & Unwin, 2012)
Memoirs
*''The Twelfth of Never'' (Picador, Australia, 1999)
*''Shooting the Moon'' (Picador, Australia, 2004)
Screenwriting
*''Displaced Persons
Forced displacement (also forced migration or forced relocation) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR defines 'forced displaceme ...
'' (1985) (TV film)
*''Hunger
In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...
'' (1986)
*'' The Lizard King'' (1986)
*'' The Last Resort'' (TV series, 1988)
*'' Map of the Human Heart'' (1992)
*''Heaven's Burning
''Heaven's Burning'' is a 1997 Australian crime film starring Russell Crowe and directed by Craig Lahiff. The film was released in Australia on 6 November 1997. It follows the adventures of an Australian crime scene getaway, getaway driver (Crowe ...
'' (1997)
*''Radiance
In radiometry, radiance is the radiant flux emitted, reflected, transmitted or received by a given surface, per unit solid angle per unit projected area. Radiance is used to characterize diffuse emission and reflection of electromagnetic radiati ...
'' (associate producer/writer, 1998)
* Twisted Tales ''Directly From My Heart to You'' (1996)
*'' The Matchmaker'' (screenplay, 1997)
*''Così
''Così'' is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra which was first performed in 1992 at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Set in a Melbourne mental hospital in 1971, ''Così'' is semi-autobiographical, and is the sequel to his p ...
'' (screenplay, 1997)
*'' K-19: The Widowmaker'' (2002)
*''Black and White
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...
'' (2002)
*'' Rain of the Children'' (additional dialogue, 2008)
Libretti
*''Inner Voices'' Victorian State Opera, 1978[
* ''Whitsunday'' ]Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with t ...
, 1988
* ''Love Burns'' Seymour Group, 1992 Adelaide Festival of Arts
The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...
* ''On the Beach'' Victorian Arts Centre Rio Tinto Grant 2000
* ''Midnight Son
''Midnight Son'' is a 2011 vampire horror film written and directed by Scott Leberecht, produced by Matt Compton, and starring Zak Kilberg. A trailer was released late October 2010.
Plot
Jacob (Zak Kilberg) is a young man in Los Angeles, Californ ...
'', Victorian Opera 2012
Anthologies
* ''In the Gutter ... Looking at the Stars: A Literary Adventure Through Kings Cross'' (2000; ed. Louis Nowra, Mandy Sayer)
Essays
Nowra has also published a number of essays:
*, ''The Monthly
''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...
'', December 2009 – January 2010, pp. 44–52.
*,''The Monthly
''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...
'', February 2010, pp. 22–29
*, ''The Monthly
''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...
'', March 2010, pp. 40–46.
References
External links
ABC
Transcript of interview with Ramona Koval, '' The Book Show'', Radio National
ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2.
...
, on his novel ''Ice'', 27/11/08
Louis Nowra Australian theatre credits
at AusStage
AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia, providing records of productions from the first recorded performance in Australia (1789, by convicts) up unt ...
"Louis Nowra interviewed by Veronica Kelly & producer Gary McFeat, 1985 [videorecording
">ideorecording">"Louis Nowra interviewed by Veronica Kelly & producer Gary McFeat, 1985 [videorecording
''State Library of New South Wales Catalogue.'' Retrieved 31 May 2018.
"Item 1: Louis Nowra interviewed by Martin Portus, 21 November 2017"
''State Library of New South Wales Catalogue.'' Retrieved 31 May 2018.
"Item 2: Louis Nowra interviewed by Martin Portus, 24 November 2017"
''State Library of New South Wales Catalogue.'' Retrieved 31 May 2018.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowra, Louis
Living people
1950 births
Australian memoirists
Australian musical theatre librettists
Bisexual male writers
Bisexual memoirists
Bisexual novelists
Bisexual dramatists and playwrights
Bisexual screenwriters
Australian bisexual writers
Australian LGBTQ screenwriters
Australian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights
Australian LGBTQ novelists
Writers from Melbourne
Australian opera librettists
Australian male novelists
20th-century Australian novelists
20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights
Australian male screenwriters
ALS Gold Medal winners
Australian male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Australian male writers
Australian male non-fiction writers
20th-century Australian screenwriters
Patrick White Award winners