Biography

Rayson was born in Melbourne, Victoria and graduated from the University of Melbourne

University 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...

 and the Victorian College of Arts. She has worked as a freelance journalist and editor in addition to her primary career as playwright and screenwriter. Rayson was the co-founder of the community theatre group, Theatreworks

TheatreWorks

TheatreWorks may refer to:*TheatreWorks *TheatreWorks *TheatreWorks *Theatreworks *Theatreworks *Theatreworks USA*TheaterWorks...

 in Melbourne's eastern suburb of St. Kilda, working there for four years while writing. Rayson has been writer-in-residence at Geelong's Mill Theatre, Playbox Theatre

Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne

Malthouse Theatre is the resident theatre company of the Malthouse performing arts complex in Southbank, part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct....

, La Trobe University

La Trobe University

La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...

 (which has awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Letters), and Monash University

Monash University

Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

.

Recognised as one of Australia's most significant playwrights, Rayson's first major success was Hotel Sorrento, which won several prizes including the Australian Writers' Guild Award. The play has become an Australian classic, regularly performed by regional theatre groups, and appearing in university courses and on the high school syllabus. The film of the play, directed by Richard Franklin, won an AFI Award for best screenplay (Peter Fitzpatrick and Franklin). In 2010, the play's London debut won critical acclaim.

New Rayson plays have been a popular mainstay of Australian state theatre companies' programming for the past decade. Her more recent works are Falling from Grace, Scenes from a Separation (written with Andrew Bovell), Competitive Tenderness, Life After George, Inheritance, The Glass Soldier and The Swimming Club.

Rayson's commitment to plays that engage with social issues was most evident in her 2005 work Two Brothers, an attack on the hardline asylum seeker policy of Australia's conservative Howard government. The play provoked bitter controversy, especially from people who saw its central character, a ruthless politician, as a cruel parody of Australia's deputy prime minister, Peter Costello. Rayson claimed that Costello, who had played no part in asylum seeker policy, was not her target: she was satirising the government as a whole, and exploring the phenomenon of the family rent by political division and sexual tension.

Rayson was the joint recipient of the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award

Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards

The Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards honour Sidney Myer a Jewish Australian businessman and philanthropist who established what is now the Myer Foundation. These awards seek to enhance the status of the performing arts in Australia and recognise outstanding achievement in drama, comedy, dance,...

 in 1996 and has won Victorian and NSW Premier's Literary Awards and three prestigious Helpmann awards. She is the only playwright ever to be nominated for the Miles Franklin Award.

Her TV writing credits include SeaChange

SeaChange

SeaChange was a popular Australian television show that ran for 39 episodes from 1998 to 2001 on the ABC. It was created by Andrew Knight and Deborah Cox and starred Sigrid Thornton, David Wenham, William McInnes, John Howard, Tom Long and Kerry Armstrong...

.

Plays

• Please Return To Sender (1980)
• Mary (1981)
• Leave It Till Monday (1984)
• Room To Move (1985)
• Hotel Sorrento (1990)
• Falling From Grace (1994)
• Scenes From A Separation (1995) co-written with Andrew Bovell
• Competitive Tenderness (1996)
• Life After George (2002)
• Inheritance
  Inheritance (disambiguation)
  Inheritance may refer to:* Inheritance, transferring property and debt upon death to a beneficiaryLiterature* Inheritance , by Steven Savile...
  
  (2003)
• Two Brothers (2005)
• The Glass Soldier (2008)
• The Swimming Club (2010)

Awards

• Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award
  Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards
  The Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards honour Sidney Myer a Jewish Australian businessman and philanthropist who established what is now the Myer Foundation. These awards seek to enhance the status of the performing arts in Australia and recognise outstanding achievement in drama, comedy, dance,...
  
   (1996)
• Victorian Premier's Literary Award
  Victorian Premier's Literary Award
  The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Governmentwith the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry....
  
  
• NSW Premier's Literary Award
• Three Helpmann Awards
• Two Australian Writers' Guild Awards.

External links

• Short video interview with Hannie Rayson talking about her plays and writing methods
• Teacher's Notes on Hannie Rayson