Ned Manning

Ned Manning was born in Coonabarabran, New South Wales in 1950,{{Cite web|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1045606|title=Catalogue record: Kingaroy / Martin Buzacott. Milo / Ned Manning|year=1996|publisher=National Library of Australia|access-date=31 May 2010}} where he grew up on a property.{{Cite news|title=Rice milks Milo role|last=Humphries|first=Glen|date=25 May 2001|work=Illawarra Mercury|pages=Applause, 39}} His father was a progressive Labour shire president, and his mother was a socialite and budding artist.{{Cite web|url= https://www.theleader.com.au/story/7804686/a-love-letter-to-parents-lost/?cs=12 |title= Balmain author Ned Manning's love letter to parents lost |year=2022 |publisher=The Leader |access-date=8 January 2025}} His mother died when he was twelve years old, and he wasn't particularly close with his father.{{Cite web|url= https://www.roaringstories.com.au/painting-the-light-is-a-love-letter-to-my-parents-qa-with-ned-manning/ |title= Painting the Light is a love letter to my parents |year=2022 |publisher= www.roaringstories.com.au |access-date=8 January 2025}}

Manning's first play, Us or Them, was initially produced at the Childers Street Hall in Canberra on 1 November 1977. It was then re-written and performed in 1984 at the Stables Theatre in Sydney for the Griffin Theatre Company,{{Cite web|url=http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowWork&workId=C@DY|title=Catalogue entry: Us or Them|publisher=AustLit|access-date=31 May 2010}} where it marked a turning point in Griffin's history as the play's success led to the cast and creatives being paid full professional rates. The play then transferred to the Phillip Street Theatre and on to the Q Theatre in Penrith.

Milo premiered at the Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf 2 Theatre in October 1984{{Cite web|url=http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowWork&workId=C6Rp|title=Catalogue entry: Milo|publisher=AustLit|access-date=31 May 2010}} before productions at the Q Theatre, Theatre Up North in Townsville, Theatre South in Wollongong and regional performances.{{Cite news|url=http://www.braidwoodtimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/milo-coming-our-way/222210.aspx|title='Milo' coming our way|last=Manning|first=Ned|date=8 May 2001|work=Braidwood Times|access-date=31 May 2010}} Milo has been recorded for Radio National, had numerous other productions, and also been published by Currency Press.

Manning's next play, Kenny's Coming Home (1991), was performed at the Q Theatre, Penrith and was subsequently recorded for radio on ABC Radio National. The play is centred on a Rugby league footballer, Kenny, who gets caught up in a preselection battle between two of his family members.{{Cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/a-new-ball-game/2006/08/04/1154198329041.html|title=A new ball game|last=Lewis|first=Daniel|date=5 August 2006|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=31 May 2010}} Kenny's Coming Home included songs by Shane McNamara.{{Cite web|url=http://www.rgm.com.au/nm_lit.html|title=Ned Manning|work=Playwrights|publisher=RGM Artist Group|access-date=31 May 2010}}

Close to the Bone was written in collaboration with the Indigenous students at the Eora Centre, and first produced there in September 1991.{{Cite web|url=http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowWork&workId=CAe@|title=Catalogue entry: Close to the Bone|publisher=AustLit|access-date=31 May 2010}} Luck of the Draw was produced by the Darwin Theatre Company in May 1999{{Cite web|url=http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowWork&workId=Cebe|title=Catalogue entry: Luck of the Draw|publisher=AustLit|access-date=31 May 2010}} and was the first play written by a non-Indigenous writer to be produced by Kooemba Jdarra theatre company in Brisbane. Last One Standing was performed at Sydney theatre the Old Fitzroy in 2007. Manning played lead character Joe in the Old Fitzroy production.

In 1989 Manning directed the Belvoir St Theatre production of a play, Black Cockatoos, about the relationship between a white woman and an Aboriginal man.{{Cite news|title=Cockatoos a little bushed|last=Bennie|first=Angela|date=9 August 1989|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=16}}

Manning has created many works for young audiences. He has prepared scripts for ten works for The Bell Shakespeare Company's Actors at Work program, a travelling community and schools theatrical education initiative.{{Cite web|url=http://australianplays.org/playwright/ASC-14|title=Ned Manning|work=AustralianPlays.org|publisher=Australian Script Centre, PlayWriting Australia, Currency Press and Playlab Press|access-date=31 May 2010}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/learning/actorsatwork|title=Actors at Work 2010|year=2009|publisher=Bell Shakespeare Company|access-date=31 May 2010}} Other plays for young people have included Alice Dreaming, which is one of the Australian Script Centre's anthology of large cast plays. In 2012 he contributed to a Federation Press anthology of monologues for drama students, No Nudity, Weapons or Naked Flames.{{cite web |last1=Abela |first1=Donna |last2=Bates |first2=Vanessa |last3=Bell |first3=Hilary |last4=Janaczewska |first4=Noëlle |last5=Laughton |first5=Verity |author-link5=Verity Laughton |last6=Manning |first6=Ned |last7=Zimdahl |first7=Catherine |year=2012 |title=No Nudity, Weapons or Naked Flames |url=http://www.federationpress.com.au/bookstore/book.asp?isbn=9781862878778#bookcontents |access-date=23 April 2013 |publisher=Federation Press}} His play Romeo and Juliet Intensive was nominated for a 2011 AWGIE Award.{{cite web|url=http://www.awg.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=389&Itemid=328|title=2011 AWGIE Award Nominations|year=2011|publisher=Australian Writers Guild|access-date=23 April 2013}}

Manning's film credits include the lead role in the 1986 Ozploitation film Dead End Drive-In. Based on a Peter Carey short story called "Crabs", Dead End Drive-In is a post-apocalyptic tale about a young man stranded in a small town's drive-in theater when the wheels are stolen off his car. He finds himself amongst a community of misfits trapped at the site, and seeks to break out. The film, directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith, received mixed reviews{{Cite journal|last=Kroenert|first=Tim|date=23 December 2008|title=Crabs, cars and Peter Carey (DVD review)|journal=Eureka Street|volume=18|issue=25|pages=35–36}} and it is one of American film director Quentin Tarantino's favourites.{{Cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/21/1066631431735.html?from=storyrhs|title=The master's schlock therapy can revive forgotten classics|last=Maddox|first=Garry|date=22 October 2003|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=31 May 2010}} The film received only a short box-office season; Manning was critical of the distributor Greater Union and worked with the film's other actors to secure separate release in independent cinemas.Hawker, Philippa, 'Dead-End Drive-In', in Murray p. 189.

Manning's other film credits include appearances in the 1985 film Rebel (alongside Matt Dillon and Debra Byrne), 2000 teen film Looking for Alibrandi (alongside Pia Miranda and Anthony LaPaglia). and 2003 made for television crime film The Postcard Bandit (opposite the late Tom Long). In 1998 he appeared in docudrama Aftershocks, based on the 1989 Newcastle earthquake. He also made several short films including, Love Bites. His most recent film

was The Menkoff Method, opposite Noah Taylor in 2016.

Manning's television credits include 1984 biographical cricket miniseries Bodyline (alongside Hugo Weaving), 1987 miniseries The Shiralee (alongside Bryan Brown), 1991 miniseries Brides of Christ (alongside Naomi Watts){{Cite web|url=http://www.currency.com.au/search.aspx?type=author&author=Ned+Manning|title=Author Profile: Ned Manning|publisher=Currency Press|access-date=31 May 2010}} and several episodes of miniseries Tanamera – Lion of Singapore. He had a recurring role as Nick Clarke in Prisoner in 1981.

He has made guest appearances in numerous other television series including The Restless Years, Young Ramsay, Cop Shop, Bellamy, A Country Practice, Rafferty's Rules, Home and Away, Heartbreak High, Big Sky, Changi, White Collar Blue, All Saints, Offspring, Neighbours and Mr Inbetween.

In 2012, NewSouth Books published Manning's memoir of a life of school teaching, '"Playground Duty".{{cite web|url=http://www.nswwc.org.au/2012/08/playground-duty-by-ned-manning-366-days-of-writing/|title=Playground Duty by Ned Manning: 366 Days of Writing|last=Calwell|first=Amanda|publisher=New South Wales Writers' Centre|access-date=23 April 2013}}

The same year, he also released his debut novel "Painting the Light" – a love letter to his parents, published by Broadcast Books.{{cite web|url= https://www.nedmanning.com/painting-the-light |title= Painting the Light |publisher=www.nedmanning.com |access-date=8 January 2025}}

Manning taught at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts where he was a Senior Examiner in HSC Drama, and developed a playwrighting program. He has helped local and refugee students write and perform their own plays in Bendigo and at the MTC. He has also taught playwriting at Monash University. He once received a NSW Premiers Teachers Scholarship.{{cite web|url= https://federationpress.com.au/authors/ned-manning/ |title=Authors – Ned Manning |publisher=Federation Press |access-date=7 January 2025}}{{cite web|url= https://www.nedmanning.com/new-page-3 |title=Ned Manning – Dramaturgy & Script Consultancy |publisher=www.nedmanning.com |access-date=8 January 2025}}

{{cite web|url= https://ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/4604 |title= Ned Manning theatre credits |publisher= AusStage}}{{cite web|url= https://www.nedmanning.com/new-page-2 |title= Ned Manning – Theatre |publisher= www.nedmanning.com}}

{{cite web|url= https://www.nedmanning.com |title= Ned Manning is an Australian writer, actor and educator |publisher=Ned Manning website}}

Manning married Bronwyn Bancroft, an Indigenous Australian artist, with whom he had two children, including New South Wales Young Australian of the Year for 2010, Jack Manning Bancroft.{{Cite news|title=Spotlight on Australia's past|last=Bruce-Lockhart|first=Anna|date=7 March 2008|work=The Guardian Weekly}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/?m=jack-manningbancroft-2010 |title=Award recipients: Jack Manning Bancroft |date=18 November 2009 |work=NSW Young Australian of the Year 2010 |publisher=National Australia Day Council |access-date=30 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100920043929/http://australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/?m=jack-manningbancroft-2010 |archive-date=20 September 2010 }}{{Cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/a-persuasive-push-all-the-way-to-university-20090802-e5vd.html|title=A persuasive push all the way to university|last=Galvin|first=Nick|date=3 August 2009|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=18 June 2010}}

Manning remarried to theatre director Marion Potts, with whom he had two children. In 2010, they relocated from Sydney to Melbourne when she was appointed director of the Malthouse Theatre.{{Cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/potts-wins-malthouse-post/2010/02/05/1265151969590.html|title=Potts wins Malthouse post|last=Usher|first=Robin|date=6 February 2010|work=The Age|access-date=31 May 2010}}

{{Reflist}}

• Scott Murray (ed.) Australian Film 1978–1994: A Survey of Theatrical Features (2nd ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press, Australian Film Commission and Cinema Papers. {{ISBN|0-19-553777-7}}.

• {{official|https://www.nedmanning.com/}}

• {{Cite web|title= Ned Manning|publisher= Austlit |url= https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A29877 }}
• {{IMDb name|id=0543345}}

{{Good article}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manning, Ned}}

Category:Living people

Category:1950 births

Category:Australian male television actors

Category:Australian male stage actors

Category:Australian dramatists and playwrights

Category:University of Newcastle (Australia) alumni

Category:People educated at The King's School, Parramatta