MICK BARNES

Mick Barnes is a veteran playwright and journalist. His plays have been performed in most Australian capital cities and in Edinburgh. He became the oldest writer to win a Walkley Award for excellence in journalism (feature writing) in 2019 at the age of 83. Mick now lives in an aged care facility in Petersham, Sydney, where he writes, produces and directs mini-plays specifically for a theatre troupe made up of aged residents and some staff. Some of these tiny gems can be found on Youtube. As well as the two scripts featured here, his works include The King and Di, Unit 46, Conspiracy, Ripper, Departures (a double bill featuring the one-act plays About Jason and His Grace’s False Teeth), The Runaway Man, Inside-Out, Rainbow Requiem. Mick’s plays are noted for their wry humour. Currently he is working with his friend, computer whiz Peter Ford, on a revolutionary form of theatre they are calling Zoom Theatre, which will overcome the staging restrictions made evident by the Covid pandemic. This pioneer play, Bully Boys, is a rollicking treatment of the glory days of J F Archibald’s Bulletin magazine when Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson dominated the Australian literary scene. Mick is also the author of s book of short stories and verse entitled His Grace’s False Teeth (and other gritty tales.)