One of Flinders University’s most distinguished drama graduates has reflected on a career spanning Broadway, London’s West End and every State Theatre Company in Australia at the Dunstan Playhouse in Adelaide.

Gale Edwards, who counts Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh among her dramatic collaborators, is an internationally acclaimed director with a list of accolades which includes an Emmy Award, multiple Helpmann Awards, Greenroom Awards, Sydney Critic Circle Awards and a Centenary Medal for Outstanding Service to Australian Society through the Performing Arts.

Last night she spoke of how she remains deeply concerned about gender inequality in the arts, especially in Australia, and shared anecdotes and entertaining stories illustrating the ongoing struggle of women in the theatre.

Born in Adelaide, Ms Edward’s journey through the changing cultural landscape of the Australian performing arts is also the topic of a book she is currently writing about her pioneering role as the first (and still only) female director to blaze a trail across Australia and around the world.

She is well-known as the original creating director of The Boy from Oz, a landmark production in Australian cultural history, which opened the gates for other Australian musicals abroad.