Behind the Scenes is a warm and gentle portrait of Australian theatre luminary David Williamson, written by the woman who knows him best, his wife. Kristin Williamson, a successful writer herself, does a reasonable job of showing all facets of this complicated man—arrogant yet shy, generous yet selfish, a commercial success whose heart was rooted in ‘alternative’ theatre. The book takes us from the politically charged theatre of the 1970s right through to Williamson’s retirement in 2005 and explores the writing and staging of some of his best-known plays. However, one wonders how different the book might have been in the hands of a critical outsider. Kristin Williamson’s understandable bias lends itself to light-hearted tales of opening nights, family holidays by the beach, wine-fuelled dinner parties with the cream of Australian literature and embarrassing affairs—an entertaining trip down memory lane but there is a notable lack of depth.  

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine (April 2009, Vol 88, No 6.) is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2009, Thorpe-Bowker.

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