Dr Borny is a Visiting Fellow and member of the Emeritus Faculty at the Australian National University, Canberra. He is a seasoned director, actor and academic.

His main research interests include Elizabethan and Jacobean staging and acting conventions. In 2006 he published a book entitled Interpreting Chekhov (ANU Press). Of particular note with regard to Shakespeare was his keynote address to the Drama Australia Conference in Canberra in 2004 – Scholarly Wankers and Directorial Rapists: Interpreting Shakespeare Today.

Dr Borny combines his academic distinction with rare talent as an actor and a director. His directing credits range from the Greeks to Coward, Tennessee Williams, Beckett and Pinter. Shakespearean plays he has directed include Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Othello and Twelfth Night.

Dr Borny’s acting credits include the roles of Dysart in Equus, Salieri in Amadeus, Pesiakoff in Breaking the Silence, The Father in Six Characters in Search of an Author, Chandebise/Poche in A Flea in Her Ear, Norman in The Dresser, Dr Willis in The Madness of King George, Gloucester in King Lear and an award-winning performance in the title role in Tartuffe.

He is currently in Malta to direct what is perhaps the most dramatic play by William Shakespeare – Macbeth for the MADC.

How old are you? Star sign and date of birth?

65. 17 July 1942. Cancer

What would you like to be doing in 10 years’ time?

Drinking wine in the south of France.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Sharing my life with my wife.

What is your favourite occupation?

Directing and acting in plays.

Significant other?

Gabrielle, my wife.

What is your greatest fear?

Claustrophobia.

What is it that you most value in your friends?

Honesty.

How would you like to die?

Quickly!

What is your greatest

extravagance?

Buying CDs for my collection.

What is your greatest regret?

Not becoming a professional actor.

What is your most treasured possession?

My 10,000 LP vinyl collection!

Which talent would you most like to have apart from the ones you already have?

I’d love to be able to play a musical instrument.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

The idea of my wife dying before me.

Where would you like to live?

Time divided between Australia and France.

What is your most marked characteristic?

Cheerfulness!

Who are your heroes/heroines in real life?

Archbishop Tutu and Dame Edna Everage.

What is it that you most

dislike?

Incompetence.

What is your motto?

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may…