Griffin Theatre Company

Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new writing, based in Sydney. It is the resident theatre company at the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross. It is the only professional theatre company in Sydney entirely dedicated to the development and production of new Australian writing for the stage.

The Artistic Director is Lee Lewis, who took up the position in 2013. Previous Artistic Directors include Sam Strong (2010-2013), Nick Marchand (2006–2010), David Berthold (2003–06), Ros Horin (1992–2003), Ian Watson and the original Artistic Director, Peter Kingston.

In 1979, actors Peter Carmody, Penny Cook, Rosemarie Lenzo and Robert Menzies banded together under the directorship of Jenny Laing-Peach to present the Irish play The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy at the Kirk Gallery in Cleveland Street, Surry Hills. They made a profit and went on to produce two Australian plays by John Stone at the Orange Door in Oxford St, Paddington - Discovering Australia and The Grand Finale of Rene Trouver, directed by Peter Kingston. The name 'Griffin' derived from the name of the street in Surry Hills in which Jenny Laing-Peach lived. Slowly the group enlarged (incorporating quite a few NIDA graduates) and next presented Joe Orton's The Ruffian on the Stair at the ANU Canberra in March 1980.

Bob Ellis and Anne Brooksbank, the owners of The Stables Theatre in Kings Cross, offered Griffin a lease. A month later Ruffian played as a lunch-time and late-night programme with David Williamson's The Coming of Stork in the main timeslot. For the next two years a mixture of overseas and Australian plays were presented at The Stables. But more and more the Company was becoming aware of the amount of Australian writing talent available and in May 1981 after successful readings of four new plays, the decision was made to adopt an all-Australian policy.

With small grants from New South Wales and Commonwealth funding bodies, in 1982 the Company kicked off with Grant Fraser's 'Cheap Thrills' and since then...Australian plays have been produced, most of which have been premieres. Writers represented are Stephen Sewell, Barry Dickins, Ron Blair, Steve J. Spears, Mil Perrin, Craig Cronin, Ingle Knight, Pamela Van Amstel, Ray Mathew, Clem Gorman, Ned Manning, Ross Lonnie, Doreen Clarke, Gordon Graham, Jennifer Paynter, Greg McCart, Mij Tanith, John Stone, Brett Murphy, Hannie Rayson and Michael Gow.

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