Jack Hibberd
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Dr Jack (John Charles) Hibberd (born 12 April 1940 in Warracknabeal, Victoria) is an Australian playwright.
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[edit] Biography
Hibberd studied medicine at the University of Melbourne 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.[1]
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[2]
[edit] Career
His first play 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, USA, Germany and China (the Shanghai production in 1987 was the first performance of an Australian play in that country).[2] 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 Lawrence Strangio and another by Greg Carroll. In 2008, La Mama produced Dimboola again.
Jack Hibberd also regularly reviews plays and books for the media and practices medicine part-time.[2]
[edit] Selected works
[edit] 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
[edit] Novels
- Memoirs of an Old Bastard (1989) ISBN 0869142313
- The Life of Riley (1990) ISBN 1863300872
- Perdita (1992) ISBN 0869142399
[edit] Poetry
- Le vin des amants (1977) — after Charles Baudelaire ISBN 090813102X
- The Genius of Human Imperfection (1988) ISBN 1876044268
- Madrigals for a Misanthrope (2005) ISBN 1876044462
[edit] Musical theatre
- The Overcoat (1976) — adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's novel of that name, music by Martin Friedel
- Sin, opera in 7 deadly acts & entracts (1978) — commissioned by the Victorian State Opera, 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 singspiel adaptation of a Maupassant story, music by Martin Friedel
[edit] 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.
[edit] Awards
- State Library Of Victoria Creative Fellowships 2005[3]
[edit] References
- About the Author of Dimboola: Jack Hibberd. Dimboola Performing Group Inc. (4 August 2007). Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
- Blundell, Graeme (22 March 2008). Too close to home. The Australian. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ Black Pepper Publishing – Biography: Jack Hibberd
- ^ a b c Goldsworthy, Peter (18 October 2005). Assessment Meeting Report (PDF) pp.3,4. Australia Council. Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
- ^ Media Release. State Library of Victoria (27 June 2005). Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
[edit] Bibliography
- McGillick, Paul (1988). in Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt: Jack Hibberd (Google Books), Australian Playwrights, Rodopi. ISBN 9051830033. Retrieved on 2008-03-29.
