Description

Birthrights is a bittersweet play about motherhood. At 29, Helen has a vital operation that stops her from having what she desperately wants: a child. Her younger sister Claudia gives her a wonderful gift when she bears a child for her sister as a surrogate. But what happens when, years later, Claudia discovers that she and her husband Martin cannot conceive and that Kelly, the child she gave to her sister, is the only baby she will ever bear?

In Soulmates, Williamson applies his merciless humour to the literary world in a play about the slippery business of books, authors, and the readers who love them both. Commerce competes with art; serious writing with popular writing. Set in Melbourne and New York, this is a tale of revenge in which best-selling expatriate author Katie Best engineers a scheme to bring her most craven critic Danny O'Loughlin undone.

Biography

David Williamson

DAVID WILLIAMSON is Australia’s best known and most widely performed playwright. Some of his 55 produced plays over the last 50 years include The Coming of the Stork, The Removalists, Don’s Party, The Club, Travelling North, Emerald City, Money & Friends, Dead White Males, The Jack Manning Trilogy, Up for Grabs, Soulmates, Nothing Personal, When Dad Married Fury, Rupert, Cruise Control, Dream Home, Odd Man Out, Sorting Out Rachel, Nearer the Gods, The Big Time, Family Values, Crunch Time, The Great Divide, The Puzzle and Aria. His plays (also in translation) have been performed internationally, including in London, Los Angeles, New York and Washington. David has adapted many of his plays into feature films to great acclaim and his original feature screenplays include Gallipoli, Phar Lap, The Year of Living Dangerously, Balibo (as co-writer) and On the Beach (adapted for television). David’s many awards include 12 Australian Writers’ Guild Awards, 5 Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Screenplay and, in 1996, the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award. David has received four honorary doctorates and been made an Officer of the Order of Australia, as well as having been named one of Australia’s Living National Treasures.