04/13/2002 "Gay martyr' play 30 years after his death"

Gay martyr' play 30 years after his death

A play commemorating the killing of university lecturer Dr George Duncan in Adelaide's River Torrens will be performed on the 30th anniversary of his death next month.

The play has been written by Ray Goodlass of the Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga.

Dr Duncan drowned after being thrown into the river.

The case remains unresolved.

Mr Goodlass says Dr Duncan has become the foremost gay martyr, as his death precipitated the first major homosexual law reform in Australia.

He says inspiration for the play came after seeing a play about the murder of an American teenager.

"I saw a play in Sydney at the beginning last year called the Laramy Project, about the Matthew Shepard bashing, the case in Wyoming in 1999," Mr Goodlass says.

"And I thought, why is it that no one has written a play about our greatest gay hero.

"And so that was my stimulus."