Careful, He Might Hear You

Sumner Locke Elliott was born in Sydney on 17 October 1917. His mother was the writer Helena Sumner Locke. She died of eclampsia the day after his birth, and the boy was raised by his aunts.

Elliott wrote his first play when he was twelve, and while he was still at school joined Sydney’s Independent Theatre. In 1942 he was drafted and served out much of the war as a typist in remote parts of Australia. But he was besotted with the theatre and with play writing.

Elliott went to the United States in 1948. Three years later his play Buy Me Blue Ribbons premiered on Broadway. He launched a prominent career writing plays for the television networks, and based himself in New York. He became an American citizen in 1955 and did not visit Australia again until 1974.

Elliott wrote ten novels in all. He won the Patrick White Literary Award in 1977. After a lifetime of concealing his homosexuality, he spent his final years living with his partner Whitfield Cook. Sumner Locke Elliott died in New York City in 1991.

Robyn Nevin AM has been a leading Australian actress for over fifty years and has directed for more than twenty-five years, directing for all state theatre companies. Robyn held the position of Associate Director with the Sydney and Melbourne theatre companies before being appointed Artistic Director of Queensland Theatre Company. Robyn was Artistic Director and CEO of Sydney Theatre Company from 1999 to 2007.