Geraldine Aron

(1941-) Dramatist. Born in Galway, the Republic of Ireland, but came to South Arica as a young married woman and lived in Cape Town between 1967 and 1986, where she continued her career in advertising by managing a freelance copy bureau. During this time she became a naturalized South African citizen, and her initial dramatic output was produced while resident in South Africa. Her short, poignant verse dialogue Bar and Ger (1975) was successfully staged at the Space Theatre, Cape Town with Yvonne Bryceland and Wilson Dunster (1978). She followed this with a number of plays, ranging from five one-acters (Bar and Ger, Mr. McConkey’s Suitcase, Mickey Kannis caught my Eye, Joggers and A Galway Girl) to two full-length plays (The Spider and The Stone Room) and four monologues (On the Blue Train – Constantia Gable, On the Blue Train – Joe Harris, On the Blue Train – Kathy and The Shrinking of Alby Chapman). While at The Space she also wrote Zombie, based on a storyline conceived by Brian Astbury and also helped with the writing of The Disguise of the Ashes that arose out of the Karnaval at Scarborough to prove that Leonardo was Right – an investigation of guilt and The Final Sting of the Dying Wasp for The Space. A number of the South African plays were collected in Seven Plays and Four Monologues (David Philip, 1985), while some plays appeared in other collections. Most of her earlier works were performed at The Space. After the closing of the Space she wrote for CAPAB and other companies, works including Brenda (1983), the children’s play Why Strelitzias Can’t Fly, **. In 1987 she returned to London, and has continued writing plays there. Her work since includes **, ** and ** (which was performed at the Baxter Theatre in 200*). Two of her works were adapted and filmed for television, namely Bar and Ger (Ashley Lazarus, 19**) and Mickey Kannis Caught my Eye.

Sources

Astbury, 1979, De Beer, 1995, Gosher, 1988, Joyce, 1999, **.

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