Alex Buzo (23 July 1944 - 16 August 2006) was an Australian playwright and author who wrote 88 works. [1] July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Early Life

Buzo was born in Sydney in 1944 to an Albanian-born father and an Australian mother. He attended The Armidale School in Armidale and The International School in Geneva before graduating from the University of New South Wales. The Sydney Opera House is one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, and since its opening it has become an international symbol of Sydney Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia. ... The Armidale School (TAS) is an Anglican boarding and day school for boys, located on the New England Tablelands of northern New South Wales, Australia. ... Armidale (population 22,000) is a university and cathedral city in northern New South Wales, Australia, and is the administrative centre for the New England region. ... Geneva (pronunciation //; French: Genève //, German: //, Italian: Ginevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland, and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). ... The University of New South Wales is a university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ...

Career during 1960s and 1970s

His first play Norm and Ahmed was also his best-known. It explored issues of racism and xenophobia but attracted attention after several actors and the play's director Graeme Blundell were charged with obscenity for use of the word "fucking". The charges were eventually quashed by the Attorney-General. [2]

Buzo along with David Williamson and Jack Hibberd became the leaders of a resurgence in Australian theatre in the 1970s. Other well known plays that he wrote during the period include Rooted from 1969, Macquarie: a Play from 1971 and Coralie Lansdowne Says No from 1974. [3] He had a major contribution to the 1970 film Ned Kelly. He also wrote Batman's Beachhead, Big River, Tom, The Front Room Boys, and The Roy Murphy Show. David Williamson (born 19 February 1942) is one of Australias most well-known playwrights who has also developed screenplays for film and television. ... Ned Kelly is the title of a 1970 movie. ...

Subsequent career

Buzo later wrote books including Tautology, Oxymorons, Kiwis, Real Men Don't Eat Quiche: Adapted for the Australian Male and A Dictionary Of The Almost Obvious.[4] His novels included The Search for Harry Allway and Prue Flies North.

In 1999, Buzo wrote Normie and Tuan which again tackled issues of Australian identity after the rise and fall of Pauline Hanson. [5] A politically active Pauline Hanson with the Australian flag wrapped around her. ...

Buzo died in 2006 after a five year battle with small-cell cancer. One of his last works was Legends of the Baggy Green, a tribute to cricket, one of his life-long passions.

References

• [1] The Australian "Playwright Alex Buzo dies" 16 August 2006
• [2] ABC Radio PM, "Playwright Alex Buzo dies" 16 August 2006
• [3] Melbourne Age, "Satirical playwright Buzo dies, 62" August 17, 2006
• [4] The Australian, Op. Cit.
• [5] Two plays, one nation: examining two related works by Alex Buzo, separated by more than thirty years, Donald Pulford measures changes to Australian self-identity in the light of the Pauline Hanson phenomenon and the refugee crisis. (Essay). Donald Pulford. Meanjin 61.3 (Sept 2002): p121(8) accessed through Infotrack 16 August 2006.