May Hollinworth graduated with a science degree, and worked in the chemistry department of the University of Sydney, before being appointed as director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society, a post she held from 1929 until 1943.
10 Facts About May Hollinworth
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May Hollinworth founded her own company the Metropolitan Theatre, which she directed from 1944 to 1950 in which she presented a range of dramatic works, from Shakespeare and other classics, to contemporary plays from Australia and around the world.
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May Hollinworth retired from the Metropolitan Theatre in 1950 due to illness, but was later invited to direct plays at the Independent Theatre and the Elizabethan Theatre in Sydney.
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In 1929, May Hollinworth was appointed director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society, a post she held for fourteen years.
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May Hollinworth formed the Leonardo Theatre Group in 1935, and with them she directed productions of Lucrece and Beggar on Horseback by George S Kaufman and Marc Connelly.
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May Hollinworth was the producer of The Thirty-Eight Theatre, an amateur group which formed in 1938, which gave play-readings as well as two stage productions, Dodie Smith's Bonnet Over the Windmill in May 1939, and Rosamond Lehmann's No More Music in August 1939.
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May Hollinworth directed pageants for mission societies, Christmas plays and performances by school associations, and, in 1930 and 1934, fundraising performances for what was then called the Sydney Industrial Blind Institution, including a production of Marguerite Dale's play Meet as Lovers.
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May Hollinworth became seriously ill during rehearsals for the Metropolitan Theatre's September 1950 production, Raymond, Lord of Milan.
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In 1957, May Hollinworth was invited by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust to direct the world premiere in Sydney of Richard Beynon's play The Shifting Heart, which had won the 1956 Journalists' Award in Australia, and third prize in the Observer play competition in London.
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May Hollinworth died in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, on 19 November 1968; her funeral, according to Anglican rites, was held at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium, Sydney.