Max Richards first started writing after he joined the Drama School in Christchurch, New Zealand. His work has been performed regularly at La Mama Theatre, Melbourne, where he became resident playwright in 1973. In March of that year his play 'Night Flowers' was disrupted in its run, after highly emotional debate erupted at the end of each performance. The play, about a lesbian relationship, was given another run in the theatre's Open Stage program later in the year, but it was boycotted by the Radical Lesbians and the theatre picketed. In 1977 his play 'Cripple Play' was presented at the Arts Theatre in London. Many of Richards' radio plays, drama scripts and screenplays are held in manuscript form at the Fryer Library, University of Queensland.