Justin Fleming
Agent: Australia - Curtis Brown 612 93315301 fiona@curtisbrown.com.au -UK Jean Diamond 020 7631 0400 jd@diman.co.uk -USA Barbara Hogenson bhogenson@aol.com
North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Email: Justin@Fleming.net JUSTIN FLEMING (b. 1953) has been Vice-President of The Australian Writers' Guild
and has served on the Board of The Australian National Playwrights' Centre. He wrote
THE COBRA, the "definitive theatrical masterpiece on Lord Alfred Douglas and Oscar
Wilde" (Variety) and he wrote Part One of THE CELLULOID HEROES - A HISTORY OF
CINEMA (Anthony Buckley/Film Australia/ABC TV).
Fleming's writing is marked by its universal subject and style - Harold Pinter describing
him as a writer "of authority and distinction." Pinter especially admired his "amazingly
successful portrait of Samuel Beckett" in Fleming's classic drama, BURNT PIANO (Le
Piano Brulé), which short-listed him for the NSW Premier's Literary Award, the AWGIE
award for Best Play, and earned the New York New Dramatists' Exchange Award. It was
also chosen for the inaugural exchange between the Melbourne Theatre Company and
the Centaur Theatre, Montreal.
Fleming's first play, HAMMER, was directed by Doug Anderson for Ensemble
Productions and the Festival of Sydney in 1981. His early writing caught the attention of
Dorothy Hewett, who introduced his work to foremost director, Richard Wherrett AM,
beginning a professional collaboration which lasted until Wherrett's death, and which
included THE COBRA. In the role of the aged Lord Alfred at 75 years, Sir Robert
Helpmann gave what some describe as the acting performance of his career in the
Sydney Opera House when this now famous play premiered in 1983. Wherrett also
directed Fleming's controversial work in the Sydney Opera House, HAROLD IN ITALY,
which Variety Magazine in New York hailed as " a daring enterprise which forges new
ground, where several art forms are fused to create a work of magic. Fleming is revealed
as a writer with a gifted, elaborate imagination. In Harold In Italy he has written an
original and entertaining work of art." The piece was subsequently produced at the
legendary Teatr Studijni, Lodz, Poland, directed by Peter Barlow. Other plays include
INDIAN SUMMER, THE NONSENSE BOY (Ensemble Productions), JUNCTION (NIDA),
THE MYTH OF THE PASSIVE CITIZEN (Short&Sweet/The Edge Theatre) THE AWFUL
MANNERS OF JAMES HOPPER, CHILD of the DARK SUN and KANGAROO (Square
Brackets Theatre Company).
Justin has the distinction of having twice being awarded the Keesing Studio
Fellowship to the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, where he wrote BURNT PIANO, THE
STARRY MESSENGER and COUP d'ETAT, which was shortlisted for the Patrick White
Award, nominated for an AWGIE award for Best Play and won the Banff PlayRites
Residency, Canada. His Paris journal, THE THING'S THE PLAY, is published by
Halstead Press in PARIS STUDIO. His adaptation of Emile Zola's Au bonheur des
dames, THE DEPARTMENT STORE, won the inaugural Mitch Mathews Award at its world
premiere in The Old Fitzroy Theatre, Sydney, mounted by Parnassus Den Productions
and directed by Christopher Hurrell. COUP d'ETAT & OTHER PLAYS (BURNT PIANO,
THE COBRA, JUNCTION, THE STARRY MESSENGER, KANGAROO) is published by
Xlibris.
As lyricist, Justin has worked on a number of productions, including RIPPER - THE
TERROR OF WHITECHAPEL, with composer Thos Hodgson; CRYSTAL BALLS
(Compact Opera/Sadler's Wells, London) and TESS (Savoy, London and UK Tour) with
Stephen Edwards; SATANGO (Griffin/Riverside Theatres), with Stewart D'Arrietta; and
Justin wrote the lyrics to LAID IN EARTH with music by Damian Barbeler for the 2009
Queensland Music Festival.
Justin has degrees in Law from Sydney and Dublin, and a Master of Laws from
University College London. Written for ABC/BBC television, his history of the common
law, BARBARISM TO VERDICT, was published internationally by HarperCollins, with a
foreword by Sir John Mortimer Q.C.. For ABC Television, Justin wrote Part One of the
history of cinema, THE CELLULOID HEROES. His other publications include ALL THAT
BROTHERS SHOULD BE, the history of the ex-students' union of Saint Ignatius' College,
Riverview, where he was the Inaugural Dr. Anne Clark Writer-in-Residence (1997) and
THE VISION SPLENDID, the history of law firm, Carroll & O'Dea. Justin is also the
author of THE CREST OF THE WAVE, a history of Waverley College, published by Allen
& Unwin, and the sequel, THE WAVE ROLLS ON. Justin's plays are published in French
by Lansman Editeur, translated by Jean-Pierre Richard.
Screenplays include LORD DEVIL , THE SHEDDING, MOVIE DREAMS, CHRISTMAS,
THE TREE HOUSE, COLD CALL , CAROLINE, DEAD MEN RUNNING, NELLIE and THE BOAT.
Recent plays include THE HYPOCRITE, a translation of Molière's Tartuffe, which The
Age review called "a skilful and witty translation, thoroughly modern, a great
achievement, intelligent and entertaining, which brilliantly highlights the themes of
hypocrisy and enlightenment," and ORIGIN, on the impact of Charles Darwin,
commissioned by the Melbourne Theatre Company. Justin is the author of A LAND BEYOND THE RIVER, for the Storylines Cultural Festival, November 2009.
The Papers of Justin Fleming have been acquired by the State Library of New South
Wales.
Interests: Theatre, Film, Music, Science, Walking.
Published writer: Yes
Freelance: Yes |
