Julia Britton

Julia Britton (27 June 1914 - 5 November 2012) was an Australian playwright. Britton was perhaps best known for her literary adaptations and biographical plays.

Julia Britton was born Hilda Hartt in Romiley, Cheshire in 1914, the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Hartt . She attended Withington Girls' School and later, the University of Manchester graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1930. She moved to South Africa six years later, where she worked as a journalist. It was during these years that she began to experiment with writing for the theatre, beginning with her un-produced play The Jacky Hangman. In 1939 she married musician/composer Philip Britton in Cape Town before they emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia with their three children in 1967 when he was appointed to the Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, as the Lecturer in Music Education. She died in Adelaide on 5 November 2012.

In 1984 she was appointed Playwright-in-Residence at the Stage Company in Adelaide, where her acclaimed play, Miles Franklin and the Rainbow's End, was developed and produced at The Space. The play was a critical and commercial success and was later invited for a season at the San Antonio Festival in Texas. It was produced again in Melbourne at the Playbox Theatre and subsequently as part of "A Short Season of Women Writers at La Mama" (1992). It was again revived at Theatreworks by Fly-On-The-Wall Theatre in 2000 and transferred to Perth's The Blue Room as part of the inaugural WA Fringe Festival.

Through friend actor/director Malcolm Robertson, Britton was introduced to director Robert Chuter in 1988, with whom she would later form a long-lasting partnership.

In 1991 she was commissioned to write Loving Friends which was produced site-specific at the National Trust of Australia property Rippon Lea in Elsternwick, Melbourne. The play, that was based on the life of arts patron Lady Ottoline and the Bloomsbury set, was a sell out success and followed with a revival the following year. The sequel to Loving Friends was An Indian Summer, which proved equally as popular.

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