Richard Wherrett

Richard Bruce Wherrett AM (10 December 1940 – 7 December 2001) was an Australian stage director, whose career spanned 40 years. He is known for being the founding director of the Sydney Theatre Company in 1979.

Richard Wherrett was born on 10 December 1940, the younger brother of motoring journalist Peter Wherrett. Their father Eric was an abusive and violent alcoholic from whom the family would often escape to nearby cinema houses when he would fly into a rage. This, together with his mother Lyle McClintock's love of Jerry Lewis films played a big part in Wherrett developing an interest in show business and a talent for comic impersonations.

He was educated at Trinity Grammar School in Sydney, before attending the University of Sydney, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1961. His contemporaries at the university included Clive James, Germaine Greer, Bruce Beresford, Mungo McCallum, Bob Ellis, John Bell, John Gaden, Laurie Oakes and Les Murray.[citation needed ]

After falling off stage during a university performance of The Three Musketeers, Wherrrett abandoned the idea of acting, but discovered his love of directing while in London in the mid-1960s.

He taught English and Ancient History at Trinity Grammar for four years.[citation needed ]

In 1965 Wherrett moved to London and worked with the East 15 Acting School in Loughton, Essex. He also directed at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, the Lincoln Theatre Royal and Lancaster University.

He moved back in Australia in 1970, and worked for the ABC in South Australia, before becoming an assistant on King Oedipus and assistant director on Major Barbara, both for the Old Tote Theatre. Soon after, he was appointed associate director to Robin Lovejoy, as well as artistic director of the Australian Theatre for Young People. His tenure was short-lived, and he ultimately returned to London for a spell, teaching again at East 15.

In 1972 Wherrett moved back to Australia. He joined the Nimrod Theatre Company, and became co-artistic director in 1974, alongside John Bell, the year it relocated to its Belvoir Street premises. Most notably, Wherrett toured The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin, including seasons in London and New York, where it garnered Off-Broadway OBIE awards.

Wherrett also directed at NIDA, including a 1976 production of Romeo and Juliet, starring Mel Gibson and Judy Davis.

In 1979 Wherrett was appointed artistic director at the newly created Sydney Theatre Company. He staged successful productions of The Sunny South, Chicago (which toured interstate and in Hong Kong), and an eight-and-a-half hour version of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (which also played interstate).

Wherrett procured Government funding for a new headquarters for STC and an extra performance space at what became Wharf Theatre, which opened in 1984. After eleven years, Wherrett resigned from the Sydney Theatre Company in 1990.

Wherrett directed 127 professional theatre productions.

He directed the first performance of The Sweatproof Boy (1972), the first play written by Alma De Groen, of whom he directed most of her early works.

He also directed the Australian productions ofJesus Christ Superstar (1992), featuring John Farnham, Kate Ceberano, Jon Stevens, John Waters and Angry Anderson, and Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1995) starring Hugh Jackman, and Bert Newton. Other notable productions wereThe Stars Come Out (1996), a gala concert for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1996) for the Melbourne International Festival, the musical Cabaret (1997), Rhonda Burchmore's Red Hot and Rhonda (1997) and Bell Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (1998).

Wherrett also tackled opera, with Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1982) for Opera Australia, and Turandot (1987) for the Victoria State Opera. He also directed the world premiere of "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" for the Victorian State Opera and Opera Australia.

His last major production was the Johnny O'Keefe musical Shout! The Legend of the Wild One, which toured interstate.

Wherett was the creative director for the lighting of the torch segment of the Opening Ceremony for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

From 1985 to 1988 Wherrett was a member of the Australia Council's Performing Arts Board.

In 1992 Wherrett became artistic director of the Melbourne International Arts Festival, but resigned after producing only two festivals.

Wherrett's only feature film was musical comedy Billy's Holiday. He also directed two short films – The Girl Who Met Simone de Beauvoir in Paris and The Applicant (1981), and ABC TV play, The Girl from Moonooloo, with Jacki Weaver (1982).

In 1997 Wherrett and his brother Peter co-wrote the autobiographal memoir Desirelines: An Unusual Family Memoir. His own autobiography, The Floor of Heaven (2000) was dedicated to Jacki Weaver. He also wrote Mardi Gras! From Frock Up to Lock Up (1999).

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Wherrett knew he was gay from the age of 17. Nevertheless, he had a well-publicised relationship with the actress Jacki Weaver from 1971 to 1974. Weaver claimed she always knew about Wherrett's sexual orientation, but nevertheless described him as the love of her life. She even moved back in with Wherrett to nurse him during his final days.[18]

Wherrett died of liver failure on 7 December 2001, three days before his 61st birthday, after 15 years warding off the effects of HIV.[19] His funeral service was held at St John's Anglican Church, Darlinghurst, with ushers provided by the Sydney Opera House.[20] The General Manager of the Opera House, Michael Lynch, dimmed the lights on the Opera House sails in what Jacki Weaver called "a movingly fitting tribute".[citation needed ]

The 'Richard Wherrett Fellowship' was created in his memory by the STC in his memory. Over the years it has been granted to the following recipients: