Barry Lowe

Barry Lowe is an oenly gay Australian playwright, short fiction writer, and journalist. In 1988 he wrote The Death of Peter Pan, a play exploring the relationships between J. M. Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies boys, and Michael's life after he falls for Rupert Buxton. His work deals heavily – but not exclusively – with homosexual themes, especially reenacting the lives of artists and entertainers, including artist and occultist Rosaleen Norton, actor Sal Mineo, broadcaster Tokyo Rose, vaudeville legend Mae West, playwrights Oscar Wilde and Joe Orton, porn stars Jon Vincent and Joey Stefano, and torch singers Ruth Etting, Helen Morgan, Lillian Roth, and Libby Holman.

Lowe was born May 16, 1947. He was editor of the Australian gay magazine Campaign from 1981–1987. He has written numerous reviews and conducted interviews with entertainers for various Australian publications. He plotted the erotic comic strip Bimbo Beach illustrated by John Dobie.

For a period of time he pursued stage management and acting, and managed a small theatre space in 1982–1983 but turned increasingly to writing for the stage. One of his early successes was Relative Merits, about a young man coming to grips with his older brother, an athlete he idolizes, being exposed as gay and as a person with AIDS. Another was Homme Fatale, about gay porn icon Joey Stefano, who had been infected with HIV and died of drug overdose. His other plays include Seeing Things, Rehearsing the Shower Scene from ‘Psycho’, and The Extraordinary Annual General Meeting of the Size-Queen Club.

He lives in the City of Sydney, Australia with Walter, his partner since 1972.