Louis Esson

Background

He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland but moved to Melbourne, Australia when he was three.

Education

He attended the University of Melbourne and began working as a journalist and playwright soon after.

Career

The Pioneer Players produced 18 new Australian plays in their four years of existence. The Pioneer Players have been called "a mismanaged collection of fly-by-night amateurs, but somehow he has come to be called "The Father of Australian drama"". Dead Timber (1911)

The Time is Not Yet Ripe (1912)

The Woman Tamer

The Sacred Place

The Drovers (1922)

The Bride of Gospel Place (1926).

Achievements

• In the 1920s he was a co-founder of the Pioneer Players, a theatre company dedicated to the performance of Australian plays and the development of a national theatre.