May Hollinworth
May Hollinworth was an Australian theatre producer and director, former radio actress, and founder of the Metropolitan Theatre in Sydney. The daughter of a theatrical producer, she was introduced to the theatre at a young age. She graduated with a science degree, and worked in the chemistry department of the University of Sydney, before being appointed as director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society. She held that post from 1929 to 1943, when she resigned and founded the Metropolitan Theatre, which she directed from 1944 to 1950. She presented a range of dramatic works, including Shakespeare and other classics, and contemporary plays from Australia and around the world. She premiered several Australian plays. She retired from the Metropolitan Theatre in 1950 due to illness, but was later invited to direct plays at the Independent Theatre and the Elizabethan Theatre in Sydney. She had a reputation as a superb producer, known for her highly effective use of lighting, and her abilities to arrange actors on stage to convey dramatic meaning visually, to overcome the challenges of large and small stages with minimal facilities, and to select and nurture a cast. Many actors who became notable in Australia and other countries played under her direction at the start of their careers.
Early life and education
Hollinworth was born in the Sydney suburb of Homebush to William Haley Harper Hollinworth, a wool clerk, employee of the Australasian Mortgage and Agency Company, and theatre producer, and his wife Alice Ida Louisa. Hollinworth made her first stage appearance at the age of two. While training in dance, she broke a leg, and the injury and subsequent weight gain terminated her aspirations in that field. In 1921, she appeared in a production of Euripides' The Trojan Women staged by Grace Stafford, a prominent teacher of speech and drama. She was also associated with companies led by Australian actor and director Gregan McMahon, English actor-manager Cyril Maude, Australian actor Julius Knight, and English Shakespearean actor Allan Wilkie. She attributed much of her acting ability and production knowledge to the two English actors, and followed the traditions of the Benson school of acting.Hollinworth was a science graduate, and worked as a demonstrator in chemistry at the University of Sydney. She was also an amateur photographer, and her interest in the theatre developed further through working on the properties of light and colour.
Career
In 1926 and 1927, while employed in the chemistry department at Sydney University, Hollinworth acted in and directed several plays for the Sydney University Dramatic Society amateur theatre group. In 1927, with Hollinworth directing, S.U.D.S. entered the Sydney Repertory Society One Act Play Competition with The Maker of Dreams by Oliphant Down, and won first prize of £20. Hollinworth also directed the S.U.D.S. in a controversial performance of As You Like It, staged with modern dress and accessories, including a radio and cigarettes. One review of the production commented that "now and again, 'As You Like It' becomes recognisable through this veil of modern customs and modern manners", but did concede that it had "been handled delicately". The Sydney Morning Herald sought to "defend the modernists against the charge of artistic heresy", pointing out that "On the stage there is no such thing as realism. All is based on illusion." Their reviewer also observed that "the audience, after the initial feeling of strangeness... were not conscious of any incongruity."Director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society, 1929–1943
In 1929, Hollinworth was appointed director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society, a post she held for fourteen years. Her first production following her appointment was Aristophanes' The Frogs. She selected both classics and contemporary plays from Australia and other countries. Under her direction, the S.U.D.S. received many favourable reviews of their "splendidly mounted productions". They were an amateur drama group, comprising a changing cast of students and some former students, and in some plays their inexperience was noted as lacking animation or not making the lines meaningful.However, Hollinworth was noted as "a wizard with lighting effects", and for her "ability to translate drama.. into haunting stage action and pictures." She creatively overcame the challenges of the stages available to the group: in tiny theatres, she was able to create an impression of space, while on the large stage of the Sydney University Great Hall, lacking a proscenium or curtains, she used spotlights to concentrate the focus, and gave the role of scene arranger to characters within the play, or dressed the stage hands as servants in period costume.
One reviewer considered that "the society is doing some of the best work by amateurs to be seen in Sydney at present." Another commented, "This clever producer likes something that requires imagination and originality in setting and lighting", while another wondered, "It would be interesting to see what Miss Hollinworth could do with a professional cast - something outstanding is indicated."
In 1943, Hollinworth resigned from the S.U.D.S. Her final production as director of the group was the stage debut of Ned Kelly by Australian poet Douglas Stewart.
Selected S.U.D.S. productions
Freelance directing and acting in radio drama
During the years in which Hollinworth worked for the Sydney University Dramatic Society, she also directed some other plays on a freelance basis. Among these were Day Must Break, a first play by Scottish-Australian playwright Alexander Connell or Macdonald, presented in 1937 by the J. C. Williamson company at the Theatre Royal. The Sydney Mail announced that Hollinworth would be "the first Australian woman to produce a professional play" at that theatre. A reviewer commented that, while the subject of the play was profound, the plot was flimsy and some of the acting melodramatic; however, Hollinworth "had provided an attractively simple setting".She formed the Leonardo Theatre Group in 1935, and with them she directed productions of Lucrece and Beggar on Horseback by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. A Sydney Morning Herald reviewer expressed surprise "that reached as high a standard as it did", continuing "Miss May Hollinworth has already given evidence of resourcefulness and imagination as producer for amateurs".
She was the producer of The Thirty-Eight Theatre, an amateur group which formed in 1938, which gave play-readings as well as two stage productions, Dodie Smith's Bonnet Over the Windmill in May 1939, and Rosamond Lehmann's No More Music in August 1939. A review of Bonnet Over the Windmill commented, "Much of the credit for the success of the presentation must go to the producer, May Hollinworth, who, in several recent productions, has proved her ability to handle casts with skill and judgment."
Hollinworth worked with the Impressionist Theatre company, as director or as stage manager, for a number of productions, including Cyrano de Bergerac and Death Takes a Holiday. She also directed pageants for mission societies, Christmas plays and performances by school associations, and, in 1930 and 1934, fundraising performances for what was then called the Sydney Industrial Blind Institution, including a production of Marguerite Dale's play Meet as Lovers.
The Australian Women's Weekly described Hollinworth in 1937 as "among the many well known personalities on the air". From the late 1920s, she had acted in radio dramas broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Commission's station 2FC. Productions included The Tomb of Osiris by John Pickard in 1929, and The Man Who Stayed at Home by J. E. Harold Terry and Lechmere Worrall in 1931.
The Metropolitan Players and the Metropolitan Theatre, 1944–1950
In 1944, Hollinworth founded the Metropolitan Players. Among the founding members were actors who had appeared in Hollinworth S.U.D.S. productions, including Alathea Siddons, a science graduate from Sydney University, who, as a former student, had appeared in The Frogs, Cousin Muriel and Julius Caesar ; Lyndall Barbour; Bruce Beeby; and Kevin Brennan. Others in the first year who later became well-known included Carlotta Kalmar; John Dease; Leo McKern; Jane Holland; and Enid Lorimer.Their first performances were given to entertain troops at suburban halls and an army hospital. Initially, the Players did not have their own theatre. Performances were held on a subscription basis at a suburban hall in Killara, a suburb on the North Shore of Sydney, where a new amateur theatrical group, the Kuringai Theatre Guild, had just been formed, with O. D. Bisset as chairman. Two early plays, The First Mrs. Fraser and Dangerous Corner, were reported to have audiences numbering 1200 and 1500, respectively.
In 1946, Hollinworth opened the Metropolitan Theatre in an upstairs room in Reiby Place, in the warehouse district of Circular Quay, Sydney, with "an excellent production of Othello. " As the theatre was tiny, seats were again sold by subscription. Additional performances, open to the public, were given at other venues, often a church hall in the inner Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst.
As at S.U.D.S, Hollinworth presented a range of drama with the Metropolitan Players. She included at least one Australian play each year, including premieres of The First Joanna and Douglas Stewart's Shipwreck. She intended to produce all of Shakespeare's major plays, believing that there was no better experience for actors than playing Shakespearian character parts.
During this period, Hollinworth received acknowledgement of her work from reviewers, audience, critics and theatre staff. In 1944, " a luncheon, given by J. C. Williamson's stage manager.. for May Hollinsworth ,... a rare tribute was paid her. Stage hands and cast declared that through her good management it was made the happiest season they had ever played." One reviewer described her in 1945 as "known for her special skill in integrating the broad, thematic currents of a play"; another wrote in 1946, "the Metropolitan is doing some very fine work which deserves attention... A well-knit team gave a very satisfactory performance... the numerous small parts were carefully cast and integrated... the atmosphere of the period and setting was captured." In a 1947 profile of the company, Pix magazine wrote, "May Hollinworth is distinguished in the world of serious theatre. If she were working in England or America, by now she would have won national acclaim. Many people who have worked under her direction have made names for themselves in radio... Given the chance, Miss Hollinworth and her Metropolitans could contribute on a large scale to our culture." George Johnston in 1947 described Hollinworth as "a woman with sharp eyes, sharp ears, a tongue that can be encouraging or caustic, an apparently inexhaustible fund of energy, a compelling personality," and quoted Professor Alan Stout of Sydney University as saying, "If the Commonwealth Government really wants to get anywhere with a National Theatre, it should choose May Hollinworth... who produces the best work in Sydney. She is a superb producer." English journalist David E. Walker described Hollinworth in his book We Went to Australia as "a large woman with large ideas", and wrote, "Competent and unprejudiced critics have said of.. May Hollinworth, that her productions compare favourably with many that grace Shaftesbury Avenue and New York."
Reviewers did not hesitate to comment on what they considered mistakes, however. Leslie Rees wrote of a performance of Twelfth Night in 1946, "I count it a grave error on Miss Hollinworth's part to require to sustain a monotonous and unfunny falsetto." A Sydney Morning Herald reviewer of Romeo and Juliet in 1949 considered that "Betty Lucas was miscast as Juliet. She spoke in a high-pitched voice which was difficult to follow, and did not convey the innocence, poetry, and freshness of the part."
Several writers lamented the limitations of the Reiby Place venue. In 1947, George Johnston wrote, "May Hollinworth's.. pint-size theatre can be found at the end of some squalid wooden stairs in a building surrounded by waterfront warehouses. It can accommodate only a meagre audience.... Yet this fragment can see drama equal to some of the best in the world. It can see first-class performances of Shakespeare. It can see plays of W. B. Yeats that otherwise would remain unperformed in this country. It can see such plays as... Douglas Stewart's own splendid Australian drama, "Ned Kelly," which surely deserved a better premiere than an audience of 70 in an upstairs room overlooking empty garbage-bins, an unlighted lane, and a rather limp-looking hamburger stand." Another reviewer wrote, "May Hollinworth, who has to wrestle with the limitations of a severely cramped stage and a small stuffy room, deserves at least air conditioning, and at best translation to a more spacious and sound-proof realm for the working of her magic unhampered by the noise of dust-bins and by the soporific discomfort of wedged-in humanity."
Despite this, the Metropolitan Theatre was "considered one of the finest training grounds for young artists in Australia". Actors who belonged to the Metropolitan Players during the remaining years of Hollinworth's directorship and later became notable included Betty Lucas, David Cahill, Gerry Duggan, H. G. Kippax, Dinah Shearing, Robin Lovejoy, Redmond Phillips, Richard Meikle, and John Meillon.
Hollinworth had some opportunities to present to larger audiences. In 1944, she directed J.C. Williamson's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Theatre Royal, which was seen by more than 12,000 Sydney children. In 1947, she staged Shakespeare's As You Like It at an open air theatre in a city park in Sydney, to an audience of more than one thousand. The following year, an article about children's theatre in Australia reported that Hollinworth planned to present an annual series of open-air performances in school grounds across Sydney city. George Johnston reported that she planned "to establish a full-time touring repertory company to give performances of the best drama to the school children in New South Wales.. envisag 84 performances a year to more than 100,000 school children".
While Hollinworth did not fully realise this plan, in 1949, the company toured seventeen towns in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, performing Twelfth Night at matinees for school students, and The Rivals and Priestley's Laburnum Grove in the evening. Hollinworth hoped that, "In this way,.. theatre will be built in Australia. Not only will interest be stimulated, but a living will be given to our young artists."
In 1949 also, the Metropolitan Theatre moved to new premises in the hall of Christ Church St. Laurence, Pitt St, with a capacity of two hundred seats. This enabled the company to increase its subscription from 1000 to 4000. The first production there was considered by critics as disappointing, due in part to difficulties adapting from a tiny auditorium to a larger one. The next production, the premiere of Douglas Stewart's play Shipwreck, was however considered impressive.
Selected Metropolitan productions
Illness, retirement and guest directing
Hollinworth became seriously ill during rehearsals for the Metropolitan Theatre's September 1950 production, Raymond, Lord of Milan. She was hospitalised, and forced to hand over direction of the play to its star, Nigel Lovell. Benefit performances for a May Hollinworth Testimonial Fund were held by the Metropolitan Theatre and other Little Theatres. It was hoped that Hollinworth would return to directing the following year; however, her retirement from the Metropolitan Players was permanent.By 1955, her health had improved, and she was invited to direct at Doris Fitton's Independent Theatre. Among her productions there were Peter Ustinov's The Love Of Four Colonels in 1955 ; I Am a Camera, also in 1955 ; Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo in 1956 ; William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba in 1957 ; and Do You Know the Milky Way? by Karl Wittlinger in 1964
In 1957, Hollinworth was invited by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust to direct the world premiere in Sydney of Richard Beynon's play The Shifting Heart, which had won the 1956 Journalists' Award in Australia, and third prize in the Observer play competition in London. This fully professional production, in which the author played a key role, was considered "close to spectacular success", in which Hollinworth "directed her strong cast with sensitiveness and strength". Hollinworth also directed the play on its Newcastle and Canberra tours the following year; in the latter, a reviewer considered that she "has used pace and vigour to take her through the difficulties in the script, giving a compelling picture of characters in action."
Hollinworth experienced ill health again from 1963, and the 1964 production of Do You Know the Milky Way? was the last that she directed. In her later years, she was patron of the Pocket Playhouse Theatre, Sydenham, adjudicated at the British Drama League Festival, and joined the All Nations Club, which promoted cultural exchange between established and New Australians. In her will, she left her house at Stanmore, "Hollinworth", to what was then the Adult Deaf and Dumb Society of New South Wales.
Hollinworth died in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, on 19 November 1968; her funeral, according to Anglican rites, was held at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium, Sydney.