Richard Davey

{{Infobox person

| name = Richard Davey

| image = Richard Innes Davey.JPG

| caption = Richard Innes Davey – in mid scene of "The Ship That Never Was"

|birth_name=Richard Innes Davey

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1938|11|04}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2013|03|13|1938|11|04}}

|occupation = Actor, playwright

| yearsactive = 1958–2013

}}

Richard Innes Davey (4 November 1938 – 13 March 2013) was an Australian actor, director and writer. He was the founder of the Round Earth Company and advocate for the understanding of the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station on Sarah Island on the West Coast of Tasmania.

Earlier he had been artistic director of The Hole in the Wall Theatre in Perth, Western Australia from 1969 -1971.{{Cite web|url=http://australianplays.org/playwright/asc-54.html|archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20100623020700/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/120606/20100623-1207/australianplays.org/playwright/asc-54.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2010-06-23|title=Australian Web Archive}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ozscript.org/playwright54.html |title=Richard Davey | OzScript |access-date=2013-04-16 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722194216/http://www.ozscript.org/playwright54.html |archive-date=22 July 2012 |df=dmy-all }}

Work

Over ten years of the Round Earth Theatre Company at Strahan, and work on Sarah Island as a guide, Davey's work has had significance in helping tourists understand the penal station and its context, where previously there had been scattered and not very accessible research. The Ship That Never Was, written by Davey, is Australia's longest-running play, with over 5,000 performances and continuing to be performed nightly at Strahan; it is about the Frederick escape, the successful escape of 10 convicts from Sarah Island to Chile.ABC Radio National, [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/stories/2007/2085488.htm Artworks], ABC Radio, 11 November 2007. Accessed 6 October 2008

His book The Sarah Island Conspiracies: Being an account of twelve voyages to Macquarie Harbour and Sarah Island, which was short listed for a major prize in Hobart in 2005, complements the work of Richard Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish. They both use the painting by William Buelow Gould of the Weedy sea dragon on the covers of their books.

Davey's long lasting interest in Shakespeare's King Lear{{Citation | title=King Lear (20 October 1981 - 24 October 1981) [Event Description] | publication-date=1981 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/232259235 | access-date=30 December 2023}}http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/458 1967 and 1981 – http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/25340 saw production in November 2007 of an adaptation The Madness of King Lear[http://www.australianstage.com.au/reviews/tasmania/the-madness-of-king-lear-945.html Australian Stage Online – The Madness of King Lear ] in Hobart, Tasmania.

Davey died on 13 March 2013 after a long battle with illness.{{cite news|url=http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2013/03/13/374542_most-popular-stories.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130410022707/http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2013/03/13/374542_most-popular-stories.html |archive-date=10 April 2013 |language=en |access-date=26 August 2023 |title=Richard Davey dies at 74 |newspaper=The Mercury}}{{Cite web | url=http://www.westannouncements.com.au/obituaries/thewest-au/obituary.aspx?pid=163644276#fbLoggedOut |title = Obituaries | the West Announcements}}

Audio recordings

{{Citation | author1=Davey, Richard | title=Richard Davey interviewed by Rob Willis in the Rob Willis folklore collection | date=2009 | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/35472860 | access-date=17 April 2013 }}

Plays

(1982) Tell 'em you're Maoris (Put Your Boots On){{citation needed|date=December 2019}}
(1983) Broken Dreams{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}
(1984) The Ship That Never Was{{Citation | author1=Davey, Richard | author2=Fitzpatrick, Phil | title=The ship that never was : the last great escape from Sarah Island, Macquarie Harbour : liberty or death! | date=2003 | publisher=Round Earth Co | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/17761241 | access-date=17 April 2013 }}
(1984) Hallelujah Lady Jane{{Citation | author1=Davey, Richard | title=Hallelujah Lady Jane | date=1980 | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/36682153 | access-date=17 April 2013 }}
(1986) Guarding the Perimeter{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}
(1986) Scapegoats{{Citation | author1=Davey, Richard, 1938–2013, (organizer.) | author2=Theatre Royal (Hobart, Tas.) (host institution) | author3=Zootango Theatre Company (Tas.) (issuing body) | title=Scapegoats : Zootango presents Scapegoats | date=1986 | publisher=[Tasmania] Zootango | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/204611941 | access-date=30 August 2018 }}
(1986) A Cry From The Heart{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}
(1986) The Catfish that cried{{Citation | author1=Davey, Richard | author2=Carroll, Jeff, (composer,) | title=The catfish that cried : an opera for children | date=1986 | publisher=Morley, Western Australia Published by Children's Activities Time Society (Inc) | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/200459263 | access-date=30 August 2018 }}
(1986) Hook's Mountain{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}
(1995) A Bright and Crimson Flower{{Citation | author1=Davey, Richard | author2=Round Earth Company | title=A bright and crimson flower | date=1995 | publisher=The Round Earth Company | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21798208 | access-date=30 August 2018 }}
(2004) The Case Of The Missing Rations{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Books

{{Citation | author1=Davey, Richard | title=Don't park your swan on the grass | date=1984 | publisher=Salamanca Theatre Company | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/22022997 | access-date=17 April 2013 }}
{{Citation | author1=Davey, Richard | author2=Pigot, Neil | author3=Davey, Anita | title=A bright and crimson flower | date=1993 | publisher=Crimson Flower Project | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/11469643 | access-date=17 April 2013 }}
Davey, Richard, (2002) The Sarah Island conspiracies : being an account of twelve voyages made by one G.K. to Macquarie Harbour on the western coast of Van Diemens Land 1822–1833 Strahan, Tas. : Round Earth Co., {{ISBN|0-9750051-0-3}} (Reproduction of a memoir dated 1896 authored by an anonymous clerk G.K. )

Richard Davey

Work

See also

Audio recordings

Plays

Books

References

Further reading