Author's double life provides both sides of the story

Alumni

Want to become a writer? Try becoming a doctor first.

That's the advice from one of the University of Adelaide's medical graduates, who also happens to be a celebrated Australian author.

Dr Peter Goldsworthy graduated with a medical degree from the University of Adelaide in 1974. A general practitioner, Goldsworthy has successfully balanced a career as both doctor and author since his first novel, Maestro, was published in 1989.

He has now authored 16 books - including novels, poetry, collections of short stories and essays - as well as two operas and plays.

Two adaptations for the stage of his award-winning novels, Maestro and Three Dog Night, have been playing in Adelaide theatres during this year's Fringe season.

The first was adapted by Goldsworthy himself, co-written with daughter and University of Adelaide music graduate Anna Goldsworthy, a concert pianist and writer now based in Melbourne. Maestro received rave reviews and strong support from audiences during its run in Her Majesty's Theatre.

The second adaptation, Three Dog Night, opens on Tuesday 31 March and plays until Thursday 9 April at the Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. Adapted by Petra Kalive from Victorian-based theatre company Two Blue Cherries, Three Dog Night takes audiences on a journey into the vast expanse of the Australian outback, and deep within the human soul.

Goldsworthy, whose first adaptation for the stage was based on his bestselling novel Honk If You Are Jesus, said he was indebted to his wife Lisa for introducing him to the theatre about eight years ago.

"I hadn't gone to theatre much before," he said.
"It was Lisa who took me along to the theatre and rubbed my nose in it, and I'm grateful to her for that. I'd just written novels, and poetry and short stories, but getting out into that world, it has a really powerful immediacy. So I'm loving it."

While some might get precious about their original works being adapted, Goldsworthy has embraced the creative differences from the page to the stage.

"What makes a good novel is completely different to what makes a good play. Each can do things the other can't. It doesn't have to be the novel, it can be something new, something in its own right.

"One of the problems with all of my novels is that they're written as first-person narratives, so everything in the novels comes through the eyes of a central narrator, including the other characters - we only see the narrator's version of them. So when they have to stand up on stage, all of the characters have to be a bit more rounded.

"That's what's particularly good about Three Dog Night. Petra (Kalive) plays Lucy, who's the wife of the narrator. Although he loves her desperately, he really doesn't have a clue about her, so (in the novel) she's this idealised figure that we see through his eyes. On stage, that's not what we want to see - we want to see her as she is rather than who he thinks she is."
Goldsworthy said his life as both a doctor and an author had been "very complementary".

"I still do it (medicine) halftime, so I keep a foot in both. Writing's very lonely. The great Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel said: 'Solitude's a wonderful thing, as long as you can talk about it with someone afterwards.' So I write in the morning, and then I go and see my patients in the afternoon, which is more social - you need both.

"The other thing that's marvellous is the stories my patients tell me, they're real character studies, and it's high-stakes - those stories are made for a writer. Somerset Maugham, who was a medical graduate, said he couldn't imagine a better profession for a writer than medicine. Some people find the combination surprising, but I find that it's a very natural fit."

While many artists struggle to make a living, Goldsworthy said he considered himself to be "very lucky".

"Without medicine providing its own sort of literary fellowship... it would have been much, much more difficult, so I've been very privileged. I'd recommend medicine as a career to any would-be writer."

Tickets for Three Dog Night (31 March-9 April) can be purchased from BASS on 131 246 or online at www.bass.net.au.

University of Adelaide alumni can purchase tickets at the concession rate of $40. Simply quote the word "novel" when booking tickets in person or over the phone (sorry, not available to those who purchase online). There is also a student price of $25 per ticket.

Story by David Ellis