May Hollinworth (1 May 1895 – 19 November 1968) was an Australian theatre producer and director, former radio actress, and founder of the Metropolitan Theatre in Sydney. The daughter of a theatrical producer, she was introduced to the theatre at a young age. She graduated with a science degree, and worked in the chemistry department of the University of Sydney, before being appointed as director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society, a post she held from 1929 until 1943
She founded her own company the Metropolitan Theatre, which she directed from 1944 to 1950 in which she presented a range of dramatic works, from Shakespeare and other classics, to contemporary plays from Australia and around the world. She premiered several Australian plays. She retired from the Metropolitan Theatre in 1950 due to illness, but was later invited to direct plays at the Independent Theatre and the Elizabethan Theatre in Sydney. She had a reputation as a superb producer, known for her highly effective use of lighting, and her abilities to arrange actors on stage to convey dramatic meaning visually, to overcome the challenges of large and small stages with minimal facilities, and to select and nurture a cast. Many actors who became notable in Australia and other countries played under her direction at the start of their careers.
Early life and education Hollinworth was born in the Sydney suburb of Homebush to William Haley Harper Hollinworth, a wool clerk, employee of the Australasian Mortgage and Agency Company, and theatre producer, and his wife Alice Ida Louisa (née Dansie or Dansey). Hollinworth made her first stage appearance at the age of two. While training in dance, she broke a leg, and the injury and subsequent weight gain terminated her aspirations in that field. In 1921, she appeared in a production of Euripides' The Trojan Women staged by Grace Stafford, a prominent teacher of speech and drama. She was also associated with companies led by Australian actor and director Gregan McMahon, English actor-manager Cyril Maude, Australian actor Julius Knight, and English Shakespearean actor Allan Wilkie. She attributed much of her acting ability and production knowledge to the two English actors, and followed the traditions of the Frank Benson school of acting.
Hollinworth was a science graduate, and worked as a demonstrator in chemistry at the University of Sydney. She was also an amateur photographer, and her interest in the theatre developed further through working on the properties of light and colour.
Career In 1926 and 1927, while employed in the chemistry department at Sydney University, Hollinworth acted in and directed several plays for the Sydney University Dramatic Society (S.U.D.S.) amateur theatre group. In 1927, with Hollinworth directing, S.U.D.S. entered the Sydney Repertory Society One Act Play Competition with The Maker of Dreams by Oliphant Down, and won first prize of £20. Hollinworth also directed the S.U.D.S. in a controversial performance of As You Like It, staged with modern dress and accessories, including a radio (or "wireless") and cigarettes. One review of the production commented that "now and again, 'As You Like It' becomes recognisable through this veil of modern customs and modern manners", but did concede that it had "been handled delicately". The Sydney Morning Herald sought to "defend the modernists against the charge of artistic heresy", pointing out that "On the stage there is no such thing as realism. All is based on illusion." Their reviewer also observed that "the audience, after the initial feeling of strangeness ... were not conscious of any incongruity."
Director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society, 1929–1943 In 1929, Hollinworth was appointed director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society, a post she held for fourteen years. Her first production following her appointment was Aristophanes' The Frogs. She selected both classics and contemporary plays from Australia and other countries. Under her direction, the S.U.D.S. received many favourable reviews of their "splendidly mounted productions". They were an amateur drama group, comprising a changing cast of students and some former students, and in some plays their inexperience was noted as lacking animation or not making the lines meaningful.
However, Hollinworth was noted as "a wizard with lighting effects", and for her "ability to translate drama .. into haunting stage action and pictures." She creatively overcame the challenges of the stages available to the group: in tiny theatres, she was able to create an impression of space, while on the large stage of the Sydney University Great Hall, lacking a proscenium or curtains, she used spotlights to concentrate the focus, and gave the role of scene arranger to characters within the play (such as Feste in Twelfth Night), or dressed the stage hands as servants in period costume (as in a 1940 production of School for Scandal).
One reviewer considered that "the society is doing some of the best work by amateurs to be seen in Sydney at present." Another commented, "This clever producer likes something that requires imagination and originality in setting and lighting", while another wondered, "It would be interesting to see what Miss Hollinworth could do with a professional cast – something outstanding is indicated."
In 1943, Hollinworth resigned from the S.U.D.S. Her final production as director of the group was the stage debut of Ned Kelly by Australian poet Douglas Stewart.
Selected S.U.D.S. productions Year Title Author Theatre Reviews1930The Thirteenth ChairBayard VeillerTeachers College Hall, University of Sydney"decidedly attractive .... Hollinworth ... group[ed] and marshall[ed] the actors in a way that was always pictorially effective; ... the general feeling was reposeful, thus throwing into relief the gestures and actions which carried the story forward."1931The Last of Mrs. CheyneyFrederick LonsdaleThe Savoy Theatre, Sydney"a real success"1933L'AiglonEdmond RostandThe Savoy Theatre, Sydney"Brilliant Production ... The closing scene was outstanding.""May Hollinworth, had much to do with this success, her arrangement of scenes which required many characters on the stage being excellent."1934The PiperJosephine Preston PeabodyNew South Wales Conservatorium of Music"an impressive effect ... The first scene ... was set forth with unusual opulence of colour; some of it contributed by the elaborate costumes which crowded the stage and some by the admirable distribution of the lighting. ... The grouping was always finely balanced and artistic."1935As You Like ItShakespeareThe Savoy Theatre, Sydney"splendid work, and the applause which followed the final curtain was proof of the audience's appreciation."1936Don JuanJames Elroy FletcherThe Savoy Theatre, Sydney"a first-rate piece of work."1937Twelfth NightShakespeareGreat Hall, University of Sydney"a courageous and worthy experiment ... Visually .. Miss May Hollinworth's presentation must have satisfied the most exacting taste. ... a presentation of a type all too seldom seen in Sydney."1938LucreceAndré Obey, translated by Thornton WilderS.U.D.S. clubrooms"One might even call this production distinguished .... one could hardly hope to see it better done .... a very moving performance."1938Death Takes a HolidayAlberto Casella, adapted in English by Walter FerrisS.U.D.S. clubrooms"With a clever manipulation of the permanent set, two smallish articles of furniture and ingenious lighting, they have created the illusion of space. .... this production has style".1938Hotel UniversePhilip Barry"Outstanding was the performance of a most unusual play ... Miss Hollinworth is to be congratulated on the highly arresting way in which she unravelled its meaning."1939Come of AgeClemence DaneS.U.D.S. clubroomsAn "ambitious and difficult" production, "The completeness of the performance, which retained to the end its mystic eerieness, reflected very great credit upon the director, May Hollinworth."1939Shallow CupsDymphna CusackIndependent Theatre clubrooms"An evening of five one-act plays by Australian authors presented by five repertory groups. Shallow Cups .. was certainly the best material in the programme."1940The School for ScandalRichard Brinsley SheridanGreat Hall, University of Sydney"a good play well done"; "the groupings of the cast were most artistically arranged and many delectable moments enhanced by the intelligent movement of the players, much of Sheridan's satire was dulled because of the inaudibility of some of the cast."1940FearRuth BedfordNew Theatre League (formerly Workers' Art Club)"at times .. quite a beautiful flow of language ... a remarkably smooth performance, and the producing end was most capably handled by May Hollinworth."1940Shadow and SubstancePaul Vincent CarrollAn "electrically charged production ... Miss Hollinworth does a service in putting on such a play ... John Bushelle's Canon ... had a towering stature, at times a terribleness that galvanised the audience. The Brigid of Shiela Sewell ... became a figure of utmost lovely pathos, one of the rare repertory performances of a year."1940The FrogsAristophanesGreat Hall, University of Sydney"a large, eloquently conceived, scholarly, worthwhile enterprise"; "The .. stage .. was used to full effect by May Hollinworth ... The visual impression was complex, multifarious and satisfying."1941SaturdayKathleen CarrollS.U.D.S. clubroomsAn Australian play showing suburban residents engaged in SP betting, including a bank clerk who bets with money stolen from the bank. "The play builds up to a second-act climax of listening-in to the big race and the immediate sequel of the clerk's suicide. ... May Hollinworth's handling of this high spot had such calculated crescendo that, in the tenseness, the cliché of situation took fresh emotional life." 1941Cousin MurielClemence DaneMelbourne University Theatre, Melbourne1941Julius CaesarShakespeareGreat Hall, University of Sydney"An outstanding feature of the production was the impressive groupings of the players. May Hollinworth ... handled the movement of the crowd scenes in a manner which emphasised the rising drama of the play."1942The BlisterHenrietta Drake-BrockmanBryant's PlayhouseS.U.D.S. won the Fay Compton Cup for best group performance in the British Drama League annual festival.1943The Time of Your LifeWilliam Saroyan"Out of this material, May Hollinworth made the best production of her career ... It is one problem these days to gather a huge cast; it is another to make them obey the will of the hugely American but also individually Saroyanesque rhythm that haunts this apparently amorphous work and gives it coherence and form. ... Bravo, May Hollinworth!"1942, 1943Ned KellyDouglas StewartS.U.D.S. clubrooms"one's faith in this richly written play .. is .. re-affirmed by this May Hollinworth production, some scenes in which are very telling indeed. ... With this production, [she] leaves S.U.D.S after many years of fine work."
Freelance directing and acting in radio drama During the years in which Hollinworth worked for the Sydney University Dramatic Society, she also directed some other plays on a freelance basis. Among these were Day Must Break, a first play by Scottish-Australian playwright Alexander Connell, presented in 1937 by the J. C. Williamson company at the Theatre Royal. The Sydney Mail announced that Hollinworth would be "the first Australian woman to produce a professional play" at that theatre. A reviewer commented that, while the subject of the play was profound, the plot was flimsy and some of the acting melodramatic; however, Hollinworth "had provided an attractively simple setting".