“MFT pays tribute to one of its Life Members and founding members who died on 6 December 2012. Colin began with MFT in 1978 after I wrote to him in New Zealand prior to taking up the position of Professor of French at the Department of French in the University of Melbourne. Colin adapted a number of our plays to bilingual format, directed for MFT and lastly created the highly successful Les Liaisons Dangereuses into a stage play, commissioned by MFT in 2008, from the original exchange of letters.
As a fitting tribute with Lawrie Groom, I performed a piece Waiting for the Professor [a reference to Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett] by Godfrey Rust at his funeral on 14 December 2012 at St Carthage’s in Parkville.
In his memory MFT shall present a “Colin Duckworth actor encouragement” prize annually from 2013 at the end of each second play season.”
– Michael Bula
“Très triste nouvelle, j’ai eu le privilège de jouer Ubu en 1990 sous la direction de Colin et ce fut une expérience inoubliable. Son sens de l’humour sophistiqué, son savoir, sa générosité et sa gentillesse resteront toujours en ma mémoire. Il m’a appris beaucoup sur Beckett et sur le théâtre en général. Il est parti retrouver Godot.”
– Jean Papillon
