Successful writer, Nick Musgrove (OM 2002), has used his talents to create a play for Old Melburnians to perform. Read more.
The first Old Melburnian theatrical production was staged in 1955. The next was staged 60 years later in 2015, and it has been an annual event since then.
The 2017 event was a double-bill, comprising two very different stories. The Browning Version focused on the departure of a Classics teacher from an English boys’ school after eighteen years of teaching there. A small act causes the teacher to reflect on his past and to contemplate his future.
The alternate play, Challenger, was written by Nick Musgrove (OM 2002). “Challenger is an exploration of the clash between commerce and common sense,” explains Nick. “It describes the critical errors preceding the Challenger shuttle disaster, when the engineers essentially knew what was going to happen but could not dissuade management from the launch.”
Nick has been forging out a successful writing career since leaving Melbourne Grammar School. “I really like writing dialogue in a theatrical form,” says Nick. “I was fortunate, as a Year 9 student, to be allowed to co-write the Middle School (Year 9) play. I was then encouraged to write the School play in 2012. I discovered my love of writing through the support of teachers and fellow students at the School and I am immensely grateful for that.”
Awarded the Doug Salek Drama Award* in Year 12, Nick was able to utilise the funding to attend productions at the West End, London, at the end of the school year. “I was thrilled to receive the Award,” says Nick. “It has had a real impact on my life.”
“I really do attribute everything I have done as a writer to the support and encouragement I received at Melbourne Grammar School,” says Nick. “It is a real buzz to come back and reconnect with the part I loved most about it.”
*The Doug Salek Drama Award was established on the basis of a gift by Doug Salek QC (OM 1969). It aims to assist, encourage, and promote an interest in theatre by a Year 12 student who has, whilst at Melbourne Grammar School, demonstrated a high degree of talent in theatre and an eagerness to participate in drama at the School.
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