Contemporary accounts in colonial Sydney newspapers name Morris Phillips as a playwright and actor who, shortly after his arrival in Sydney from London, performed in his play The Massacre of Jerusalem at the Royal Victoria Theatre, Pitt Street Sydney, on 13 September 1838. Phillips was also a dancer and he performed a dance 'Cat-Choca' on the same program. Phillips may also have worked as a printer. The review of the play in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser on 15 September 1838 (2) advises Phillips 'to cut the stage and return to his printing.'
According to the entry on Australia in Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama, '[i]n 1838 Morris (also Morrice) Phillips arrived in Sydney with a play, Fidelio' (38). Fidelio; or, The Fortress of St. Jacques, according to Allardyce Nicoll, was first produced at the Royal Pavilion, Whitechapel Road, Mile End, in London on 7 January 1837 (vol iv, 372).
Allardyce Nicoll lists a play The Warrior Kings; or, The Massacre of Jerusalem by an unknown author first produced at the Royal Pavilion on 30 November 1835 (iv, 551). This may be by Phillips but AustLit has not yet established that the play is by Phillips.
OCLC World Cat lists three plays by Phillips including Fidelio. The other two are The Death Guard; Or, The Rustic Banditti: In 3 Acts (1835); and The Heiress of Glenfillan; or, The Delegates and the Children of the Wreck (18–). Neither of the latter two plays are listed in Nicoll.
Source: Gassner, John and Quinn, Edward (eds). The Reader's Encyclopedia of Word Drama (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1969); Nicoll, Allardyce. A History of English Drama 1660-1900 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966; OCLC WorldCat. Web. 23/06/2014. See also 'Works About Their Works' for this author in AustLit.
