It's difficult to say whether the Irish influence and strog Catholic background of his grandfather, Kyneton painter Richard Oliver, has fuelled Darren's cretive fercour, but for the past 10 years he has written, acted in, and directed his own plays.

His most recent achievement is the publication of seven-one-act plays in a book titled Performing The Goat.

It's an apt title. The main characters are all maddeningly silly, and their creator mostly wants them to make us laugh at ourselves and our vanities.

Anyone who knows a bloke who recokns he knows about women, but doesn't really, will enjoy the play The Mechanics, and another play, Champagne Ladies, is a lovely satire on snobbery.

The Scone Amateur Drama Society in NSW is about to stage The Mechanics to raise money for its local Old Court Theatre.

Darren has also recently finished a full-length play called Evangeline, based on the life of his great-grandmother, a welathy piano-playing Englishwoman living in Ireland, who had to flee during the Irish Uprising of 1916 and eventually came to Australia.

She arrived as a single mother with Darren's grandfather, Richard, and settled in Daylesford.

Darren has his own website, continues to write plays and would love to see country theatre groups perform his plays.

"They have small casts and simple settings, making them perfect for low-cost productions," he says.

Performing The Goat is published by Athena Press.