Lachlan Philpott (born 20 March 1972) is an Australian theatre writer, director, and teacher. He graduated from the University of New South Wales (BA Hons Theatre and Film), the Victorian College of the Arts (Post-Grad Dip, Directing Theatre), and NIDA Playwrights Studio. He was Artistic Director of Tantrum Theatre in Newcastle, writer-in-residence at Red Stitch in Melbourne, and the Literary Associate at ATYP. His 18 plays have been performed across Australia as well as Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He was Chair of the Australian Writers%27 Guild Playwrights’ Committee between 2012 and 2016, and was the recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship Inaugural Professional Playwriting Scholarship in 2014....[1] In 2012 his play Silent Disco won the Stage Award at the 45th annual AWGIE Awards.
Australian arts journalists have described Philpott's writing style as "fluid and musical", filled with "poetic stylistic devices which he employs" that demand "verbal dynamics and intricate adjustments [from] actors and demand a focus of concentration and a technique of great security and flexibility".[2] The Australian Arts review described him as "one of the country’s hottest writers, rocketing into the Sydney theatre landscape in his distinctive language".[3] The Australian newspaper has compared some of Philpott's work to that of Nobel Prize-winning author Patrick White.[4]
His most recent work, The Trouble With Harry, about the criminal trial of an Australian trans man in the 1920s, opened at the 2014 Melbourne Festival.[5] Writing for The Australian newspaper, journalist Chris Boyd compared Philpott's writing to that of Patrick White, and praised Philpott's "poetic ear and alien eye":
Philpott’s play about Harry Crawford, who was convicted of the murder of his wife Annie in the early 1920s, is a poetic fugue for voices. The language is heightened without being self-conscious or arch. Philpott’s easy use of a louse-ridden bantam hen (which turns out to be a rooster) as a device is as effective as the bitch-on-heat motif in White’s The Season at Sarsaparilla.
His account of working-class life circa 1917 has a cool and non-judgemental curiosity. It’s not detached exactly — there’s a lenient fascination that looks a little like envy — but it’s anthropological somehow.[4]
An advocate for the Australian writing professionals, coverage and debate over Philpott's call for greater emphasis on Australian-written content on Australian theatre stages has appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald[6] and his suggestion on a five-year-ban on any further productions of Shakespeare to allow for more productions of Australian works was discussed by panelists including Germaine Greer and John Bell on ABC TV's Q & A program[7]
Australian theatre professionals discussed in the mainstream media Philpott's call for a ban, such as director Damian Ryan who told the ABC that though he agreed that some of the Shakespeare's works were done too often in Australia, "audiences want to watch it" and that "actors dream of playing these roles and love to set themselves up against this extraordinary test".[8] Elsewhere, writer and director Ross Mueller praised Philpott's contributions to original Australian stage writing and Philpott's call for the ban, presenting the opposite view to Greer in saying that:
In 2013, Philpott and the Perth Theatre Company had a well-publicised disagreement over authorship when the Company staged Philpott's play Alienation making substantial changes to the text without the playwright's permission. Philpott removed his name from the production and placed notes of protest on theatre seats on the play's opening night[9] but via a statement through the Australian Writer's Guild stated his retention of intellectual ownership over the original script. The Perth Theatre Company declined to respond publicly, saying only that they were aware “of statements made by certain stakeholders and partners in our production Alienation. PTC strongly disagrees and is disappointed with these statements and considers them to be inaccurate and unwarranted. PTC will continue to operate in a professional manner, and at this stage, does not intend to make any further public comments, preferring to have the relevant matters resolved through agreed resolution processes”[10]
Nevertheless, a proposed Penrith season of the production was cancelled, with the Penrith Theatre Company releasing the following statement:
Unfortunately, Lachlan Philpott has raised concerns that he considers the production of Alienation currently showing by the Perth Theatre Company (which was to show in Penrith between 18 and 27 July 2013), does not reflect his original, scripted or communicated intentions as the playwright. As such the Penrith season of Alienation has been cancelled. [We are] committed to supporting and promoting the works of Australian playwrights such as Lachlan Philpott.[11]
Dr Alyson Campbell, Head of Graduate Studies in Performing Arts at the VCA, chose Philpott to speak about HIV as it is represented in Australian theatre for a panel held in Melbourne in 2014, citing Philpott’s need to address the "cultural amnesia about HIV in the gay community”.[12]
Philpott spent time in Beijing working with Chinese director Wang Chong on a work about China's "Little Emperors", the legions of now adult males raised as only children under the one-child program. The Age newspaper described the Melbourne production of the work as "a collaboration between Australian playwright Lachlan Philpott and Chinese director Wang Chong [that] dives into some of the social implications through heightened, visually striking domestic melodrama" and praised its "brilliant direction, concept and design"[13]