Jim McNeil was a criminal. He was sent to Parramatta Prison after shooting a policeman. In the structured world of the prison, McNeil ironically began to build a different kind of life for himself. He joined a group of prisoners, called the Resurgents, who were encouraged to better themselves. The Resurgents were quite successful debaters, challenging other teams within the prison system and outside. Not satisfied with their standard, McNeil started writing ‘scripts’ for his fellow debaters.

He worked his scripts into stories about prison life, starting work on one play (The Old Familiar Juice) and then completing The Chocolate Frog. Word got out about the prisoner playwright and the Australia Council sent actor and director Malcolm Robertson to work with McNeil and the other Resurgents. Robertson recognised McNeil’s work as raw but brilliant. Inspired, McNeil went back to work on The Old Familiar Juice and began work on another play, How Does Your Garden Grow.

Robertson took McNeil’s work to the outside world and productions were put on at the MTC and Nimrod, to critical acclaim. McNeil was touted as Australia’s Eugene O’Neill – or even Chekhov – and quickly attracted other influential supporters, such as theatre critic Katherine Brisbane and journalist David Marr. After serving seven years, he was up for parole and his new supporters successfully lobbied for his release.

On release, Sydney’s cultural elite embraced McNeil, but despite his intelligence and charm, McNeil was a rough criminal and alcoholic. Totally self-absorbed, he didn’t know how to relate to people or to form a mature relationship. However, his dangerous charm was very attractive. Actress Robyn Nevin was cast in the first production of How Does Your Garden Grow. Robyn and McNeil were immediately attracted and married just four months after his release. The marriage soon disintegrated under the strain of McNeil’s drunken bouts of violence and his affairs with both men and women – most notably, film producer Margaret Fink. Outside the prison structure, McNeil couldn’t function, couldn’t write, and he died destitute and broken a few years later.

Ross Honeywill has constructed the story of Jim McNeil from interviews, McNeil’s correspondence and from his own friendship with McNeil. It’s an important story to tell and Honeywill tells it so very well. McNeil was a self-absorbed, almost psychopathic, figure who was able to use his charm and intelligence to his short-term advantage – but ultimately he destroyed himself and his promise.