PETER KENNA was born in Balmain, Sydney, in 1930, one of thirteen children of a carpenter. He was educated at the Christian Brothers School, Lewisham, to the age of fourteen, after which he worked in a variety of jobs. By the 1950s he had become an established radio actor. Kenna first gained national attention as a playwright in 1959 when his third play, The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day, won the General Motors-Holden national playwrights competition, and was presented at the Elizabethan Theatre, Sydney. The play has since been widely performed on stage, radio and television in Australia and the United Kingdom. Peter Kenna worked in London from 1960 to 1964 and Talk to the Moon was first presented at the Hampstead Theatre Club in 1963. After directing Muriel's Virtues in Sydney in 1966 he returned to London for extended treatment of a chronic illness. After settling again in Sydney in 1971 he had many stage productions: Talk to the Moon had its Australian premiere in Melbourne and Listen Closely in Sydney in 1972. His major play, A Hard God, had its premiere at the Nimrod Street Theatre, Sydney, in 1973, followed by a national tour and productions on ABC radio and television. At the same time a revival of The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day at the Community Theatre, Sydney, led to a new national interest in the play. Mates was first performed in Sydney in 1975 and Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted in 1976. A Hard God became the first part of a trilogy entitled The Cassidy Album, of which Furtive Love is the second play and AnEager Hope the third. The trilogy was performed in its entirety in Adelaide and Sydney in 1978.In 1973 Peter Kenna received a three-year fellowship from mthe Literature Board of the Australia Council. He died in 1987.
