Patricia Cornelius Patricia Cornelius i(A23980 works by)
Born: Established: 1952 ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Patricia Cornelius, a founding member of Melbourne Workers' Theatre, is an award-winning playwright, as well as director, dramaturg and novelist. She has written over twenty plays. (Source: Australian Script Centre).

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

My Sister Jill 2023 single work drama

'Against the backdrop of 1950s and 60s suburban Melbourne and in the wake of the Second World War, multi-award-winning writer Patricia Cornelius delivers a poetic, heart-rending tale that unpacks the shadow of war, and the trauma it leaves behind.

'The youngest of Jack and Martha’s five children, Christine idolises her father, especially his stories of wartime heroics. She cannot understand why her siblings – Jill, Johnnie and twins Door and Mouse – don’t share her love for their dad. Jill, meanwhile doesn’t understand why their mum puts up with him. As Christine watches on, one by one her siblings start to rebel against the tumultuous environment they are growing up in. Once fascinated by her father’s war stories, they slowly start to lose their shine as the conflict in Vietnam intensifies and war once again becomes front of mind for the family.'

Source: Production blurb.

2024 nominated Victorian Green Room Awards New Writing for the Australian Stage
2024 winner Victorian Green Room Awards Direction : Theatre - Companies
2024 winner Victorian Green Room Awards Production : Theatre - Companies
In The Club 2018 single work drama
— Appears in: Lovely Lovely Sometimes Ugly 2019;

'Annie, Ruby and Olivia are going out. They want to get laid, get loose, get love — but they are women in a world of men. Not just any men, gods among men, their beloved boys, the boys of the AFL. And the rules of the game out there in the world of the night club and the dance floor are merciless, and the lines of division are clear.

'Patricia Cornelius is one of Australia’s most awarded, brilliant and uncompromising playwrights. In this brand new work she weaves fiction together with verbatim material to shine her fierce light on women’s accounts of sexual violence in the dark world of the club behind the club.' (Production summary)

2019 highly commended Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Prize for Drama
y separately published work icon Caravan 2017 12163284 2017 single work drama

The dilapidated old caravan might be full of musty carpet and faded dreams, but for years a mother and daughter have called it home.

With nowhere else to go, Judy and daughter Donna live on top of each other, knowing the other won’t leave: they’re stuck, and will be till the end.

Judy holds court from the caravan’s double bed, surrounded by pills, a breathing machine and a flat-screen TV. Donna is just desperate not to die there. Donna’s looking to be whisked away by a Tinder date, but as the phone pings and Judy sucks oxygen from a mask in the tiny, cluttered space, they bicker and make up, scream and threaten violence and dream of better things.

Bitter and hilarious, tender and toxic, Caravan is a darkly comic look at life on the margins and the universal need for love.' (Production Summary)

2018 nominated AWGIE Awards Stage Award
Last amended 5 Aug 2019 16:32:49
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