# Sally McKenzie

Sally McKenzie (born 8 February 1955) also credited as Sally MacKenzie, is an Australian actress, director, playwright and screenwriter. She graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1977. She was awarded a Master of Fine Arts from the Queensland University of Technology in 1996.

## Early life and education

Sally May McKenzie was born on 8 February 1955 in Lindfield a suburb of Sydney. McKenzie grew up in South Australia. From the age of 11 she took drama classes run by Morna Jones who established the Patch Theatre. During her teenage years McKenzie performed with the Pioneer Players, the Arts Theatre, Theatre 62 and the Bunyip Children's Theatre. She began an arts degree at Flinders University but only completed 2 years before moving to Sydney to study acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).

## Career

McKenzie graduated from NIDA in 1977. In 1978 McKenzie performed under the direction of Peter Schumann with the Bread & Puppet Theater at the Adelaide Festival and understudied all the female roles for the Queensland Theatre Company (QTC) touring production of King Lear in which Warren Mitchell played Lear and Geoffrey Rush played the Fool. In 1979 she was part of the Early Childhood Drama Project the professional arm at La Boite Theatre Company where she performed in numerous productions including The Hills Family Show.
In 1980 McKenzie was a member of the TN! Theatre Company inaugural ensemble performing Jenny Diver in The Threepenny Opera under the baton of Georg Tintner. In 1981 she played Lavinia Mannon in Mourning Becomes Electra for QTC a role she reprised for the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) directed by Michael Blakemore.
Several productions with MTC followed including the title role in The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht and the role of Beatrice-Joanna in The Changeling under the direction of John Sumner. She performed in the Australian premiere of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill with the Nimrod Theatre Company in Sydney. During this time under the direction of Bud Tingwell, McKenzie played Lynn in a 2-hour 500th special episode of Cop Shop for which she won a 1983 Penguin Award for Best Single Performance by an Actress in a Serial.
In 1985 McKenzie played the role of Lady Macbeth for the QTC. She appeared in 20 productions for this company including several premiere productions of plays by David Williamson under the direction of Aubrey Mellor. McKenzie returned to study in 1995 and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts in 1996.
As a playwright McKenzie's plays include Scattered Lives, Martha's War on War, i dot luv dot u☺ and WAY. A review of WAY in Stage Whispers said: "Sally McKenzie grips the audience's attention for a complex seventy-five minutes with an astonishing sustained theatre performance. If you love theatre, see this".
As a screenwriter and director works include documentary Actingclassof1977.com which looks at actor training in Australia in the late 1970s. The film features Steve Bisley, Mel Gibson and Debra Lawrance and first aired on the ABC in June 2008. McKenzie won an Australian Writers' Guild AWGIE Award for Best Documentary Public Broadcast in 2014.
In 2018 McKenzie was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts Fellowship Medal for her research and subsequent paper 'Developing Australian Playwrights and their Plays'. For this paper she interviewed writers for both screen and stage living in the United States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom. The interviewees included Tony Kushner, Christopher Hampton, David Henry Hwang, Mike Leigh, Robert Lepage, David Lindsay-Abaire, Hannah Moscovitch, Judith Thompson and Enda Walsh.

## Filmography
### Film

| Title | Year | Role | Type |
| Cathy's Child | 1979 | Young Nun | Feature film |
| We of the Never Never | 1982 | Carrie | Feature film |
| Undercover | 1983 | Shop Assistant | Feature film |
| The Schippan Mystery | 1984 | Mary Schippan | TV film |
| Tripe | 1985 | Aunt Esme | Short film |
| Sharkey's Party | 1986 | Penny | Short film |
| With Love to the Person Next to Me | 1987 | Gail | Feature film |
| The Lonely Ones | 1988 | Mother | Short film |
| Redheads | 1994 | Warden Zelda | Feature film |
| Mermaids | 2003 | Georgia | TV film |
| Sniffer | 2003 | Aunt Magda | Short film |
| The Diamond Cutter | 2003 | Zelma (voice) | TV film |
| Actingclassof1977.com | 2008 | Herself | TV film |
| Storage | 2009 | Carol | Feature film |
| Jucy | 2010 | Ros | Feature film |
| The Day After Today | 2014 | Angela | Short film |

### Television

| Title | Year | Role | Type |
| Cop Shop | 1983 | Lynn | TV series, 2 hour special |
| Carson's Law | 1983-84 | Emily Forrest | TV series |
| Special Squad | 1984 | Rosetta | TV series |
| Mother and Son | 1985 | Sergeant Watts | TV series |
| Prisoner | 1986 | Roo Morgan | TV series |
| Rafferty's Rules | 1987 | Constable Prior | TV series |
| A Country Practice | 1988 | Phyllis Greenway | TV series |
| The Leaving of Liverpool | 1993 | Official Woman | TV series |
| The Flying Doctors | 1995 | Patsy Goldfisch | TV series |
| Fire | 1995 | Fai Alicis | TV series |
| The Wayne Manifesto | 1996-97 | Ms Cunningham | TV series |
| Fat Cow Motel | 2003 | Eleanor Rigby | TV miniseries |
| Mortified | 2006-07 | Mystic Marj | TV series |
| Reef Doctors | 2013 | Gracie | TV series |
| Harrow | 2019 | Beverly McIntyre | TV series |
| Fires | 2021 | Dell | TV series |
| Apple Cider Vinegar | 2025 | Amy | TV series |

## Theatre

| Year | Play | Writer(s) | Role | Notes |
| 1977 | Mother and Son | Louis Esson | Mrs. Lind | Performed at NIDA With Mel Gibson |
| 1977 | The Hostage | Brendan Behan | Kate/Meg | Performed at NIDA Shared role with Judy Davis |
| 1977 | Once in a Lifetime | George S. Kaufman, Moss Hart | Various | Performed at NIDA Director Richard Wherrett |
| 1978 | Bread & Puppet Theater | Group Devised | Ensemble | Adelaide Festival Director Peter Schumann |
| 1978 | Razzle, Dazzle | Group Devised | Various | The Actors' Company. Director Steve Agnew |
| 1979 | Visions | Louis Nowra | Madame Lynch | La Boite Theatre Company Director John Milson |
| 1979 | The Hills Family Show | Australian Performing Group | Alexandra Hills | La Boite Theatre Company Director Richard Fotheringham |
| 1979 | They Shoot Horses, Don't They? | Horace McCoy | Gloria Beatty | La Boite Theatre Company Director David Bell |
| 1980 | The Threepenny Opera | Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill | Jenny Diver | TN! Theatre Company Director John Milson |
| 1980 | The Importance of Being Earnest | Oscar Wilde | Gwendolen Fairfax | TN! Theatre Company Director John Milson |
| 1980 | Summit Conference | Robert David MacDonald | Eva Braun | TN! Theatre Company Director John Milson |
| 1980 | Mourning Becomes Electra | Eugene O'Neill | Lavinia Mannon | Queensland Theatre Company Director Robin Lovejoy |
| 1980 | Happy End | Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill | Lillian Holiday | Q Theatre. Director Doreen Warburton |
| 1981 | Mourning Becomes Electra Part One | Eugene O'Neill | Lavinia Mannon | Melbourne Theatre Company Director Michael Blakemore |
| 1981 | Mourning Becomes Electra Part Two | Eugene O'Neill | Lavinia Mannon | Melbourne Theatre Company Director Michael Blakemore |
| 1981 | The Good Person of Szechwan | Bertolt Brecht | Shen Te | Melbourne Theatre Company Director Bruce Myles |
| 1981 | The London Cuckolds | Edward Ravenscroft | Peggy | Melbourne Theatre Company Director Simon Chilvers |
| 1981 | Amadeus | Peter Shaffer | Constanze Weber | Melbourne Theatre Company Director John Sumner |
| 1981 | A Cuckoo in the Nest | Ben Travers | Marguerite Hickett | Melbourne Theatre Company Director Simon Chilvers |
| 1982 | The Changeling | Thomas Middleton, William Rowley | Beatrice-Joanna | Melbourne Theatre Company Director John Sumner |
| 1982 | Vocations | Alma De Groen | Vicki | Melbourne Theatre Company Director Graeme Blundell |
| 1983 | The Fields of Heaven | Dorothy Hewett | Lucia Silvieri | Sydney Theatre Company Director Rodney Fisher |
| 1983 | Top Girls | Caryl Churchill | Dulle Gret/Angie | Nimrod Theatre Company Director Chris Johnson |
| 1984 | A Toast to Melba | Jack Hibberd | Ensemble | Nimrod Theatre Company Director John Milson |
| 1985 | Macbeth | William Shakespeare | Lady Macbeth | Queensland Theatre Company Director Gregory Gesch |
| 1987 | Glory | Steve J. Spears | Glory | Griffin Theatre Company Director Ray Goodlass |
| 1988 | The Sentimental Bloke | C. J. Dennis, Graeme Blundell | Rose | Queensland Theatre Company Director Gregory Gesch |
| 1988 | Les Liaisons Dangereuses | Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Christopher Hampton | Émilie | Queensland Theatre Company Director Alan Edwards |
| 1988 | Night and Day | Tom Stoppard | Ruth Carson | Queensland Theatre Company Director Gregory Gesch |
| 1988 | Beach Blanket Tempest | Denis Watkins, Chris Harriott | Regine | TN! Theatre Company Director Sean Mee |
| 1989 | The Man from Mukinupin | Dorothy Hewett | Clemmy Hummer | Queensland Theatre Company Director Aubrey Mellor |
| 1990 | SherWoodstock | Various | Mother Hood | Satirical music theatre. Director Sean Mee |
| 1990 | Top Silk | David Williamson | Jane Fredericks | Queensland Theatre Company Director Aubrey Mellor |
| 1990 | The Ring Cycle | Richard Wagner, David Bell | Frika | Queensland Performing Arts Centre Director David Bell |
| 1991 | Phantoad of the Opera | Various | Ginger | Satirical music theatre. Director Sean Mee |
| 1991 | Seven Little Australians | Ethel Turner, David Reeves | Martha/Miss Jolly | Queensland Theatre Company Director Alan Edwards |
| 1991 | Burn This | Lanford Wilson | Anna | La Boite Theatre Company Director Jennifer Flowers |
| 1991 | Money and Friends | David Williamson | Vicki Calabresi | Queensland Theatre Company Director Aubrey Mellor |
| 1992 | Money and Friends | David Williamson | Vicki Calabresi | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 1992 | Money and Friends | David Williamson | Vicki Calabresi | Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 1992 | Money and Friends | David Williamson | Vicki Calabresi | State Theatre Company of South Australia |
| 1992 | Fuenteovejuna | Lope de Vega | Ensemble | Melbourne International Arts Festival Director Aubrey Mellor |
| 1993 | Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare | Lady Capulet | Queensland Theatre Company Director Aubrey Mellor |
| 1993 | Diving for Pearls | Katherine Thomson | Marg | Queensland Theatre Company Director David Berthold |
| 1994 | Dancing at Lughnasa | Brian Friel | Maggie | Queensland Theatre Company Director Jennifer Flowers |
| 1994 | The Servant of Two Masters | Carlo Goldoni | Ensemble | Queensland Performing Arts Centre Director Steven Gration |
| 1994 | Happy Birthday Tim | Sally McKenzie | Mum | Queensland Performing Arts Centre Director Sean Mee |
| 1997 | After the Ball | David Williamson | Maureen | Queensland Theatre Company Director Robyn Nevin |
| 1997 | After the Ball | David Williamson | Maureen | Theatre Royal, Hobart, Arts Centre Melbourne |
| 2000 | Top Dogs | Urs Widmer | Penelope McDonald | Queensland Theatre Company Director Jennifer Flowers |
| 2002 | Salt | Peta Murray | Meg | La Boite Theatre Company Director Michael Futcher |
| 2003 | A Conversation | David Williamson | Barbara Milson | Queensland Theatre Company Director Jean-Marc Russ |
| 2004 | The Cherry Orchard | Anton Chekhov | Lyubov Ranevskaya | Queensland Theatre Company Director Michael Gow |
| 2004 | Amigos | David Williamson | Hilary | La Boite Theatre Company Director Sean Mee |
| 2005 | The Memory of Water | Shelagh Stephenson | Vi | Queensland Theatre Company Director Leticia Cáceres |
| 2007 | Red Cap | Janis Balodis, Iain Grandage | Ensemble | La Boite Theatre Company Director Sean Mee |
| 2007 | The Wishing Well | Helen Howard, Michael Futcher | Ensemble | La Boite Theatre Company Director Michael Futcher |
| 2009 | The School of Arts | Bille Brown | Gwen Frawley | Queensland Theatre Company Playhouse Theatre, Brisbane. Director Michael Gow |
| 2009 | The School of Arts | Bille Brown | Gwen Frawley | Pilbeam Theatre, Rockhampton |
| 2012 | A Hoax | Rick Viede | Ronnie | La Boite Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre Company Director Lee Lewis |
| 2022 | Betty | Jules Allen | Rose | Theatre Works Director Iain Sinclair |
| 2023 | Way | Sally McKenzie | Lily, Lynne, Maysie, Zahra | La Mama Theatre (Melbourne) Director Sean Mee |
| 2024 | Way | Sally McKenzie | Lily, Lynne, Maysie, Zahra | fortyfivedownstairs Director Sean Mee |