Marya Glyn-Daniel (nee Mcmahon), born Williamstown, Victoria January 4, 1941 – died Canberra, April 24, 2026.

Canberra theatre figure Marya Glyn-Daniel, a multi-talented author, costume designer, playwright and producer died peacefully at Clare Holland House on Friday after a battle with several aggressive tumours. Her sister Helen was by her side.

She was 85.

Marya spent her childhood across coastal south-west Victoria, inland rural areas, and Gippsland. She was educated at state schools and convents and would live her adult life in Sydney, Hong Kong, Macau, London, Melbourne, Jervis Bay, northern Queensland and Swan Hill.

Over the years, Marya worked across a wide range of fields, describing her career as spanning “the rag trade, the book trade, the advertising trade, the publishing trade, the restaurant trade and the newspaper trade.”

In 1968 she married Charles Glyn-Daniel, a historian at the Royal Australian Naval College, before settling in Canberra when Charles became Dean of History at UNSW Canberra at ADFA.

In Canberra, she became deeply involved in university and community life. She worked as manager of University Co-operative Bookshop and later served as a director on its board at the University of Canberra.

She also founded and produced The UC Players Company, which staged performances on campus for many years and for which Charles directed the Memory of Water in 1999.

Following Charles’s death in the same year, Marya continued to lead the company, collaborating with directors including Jason Savage and Liz Bradley. The group became known for its restaurant theatre productions inspired by popular shows such as ’Allo ’Allo, Fawlty Towers, and Absolutely Fabulous.

After closing The UC Players Company, Marya remained an active contributor to the Canberra theatre scene. She supported organisations including the Canberra Area Theatre Awards (CAT Awards), Canberra Repertory Society, SUPA Productions, Everyman Theatre, and Free-Rain Theatre. Her contributions ranged from costume design and prop-making to publicity and behind-the-scenes support.

Naturally gregarious, she made many friends in the theatre community, 30 of whom she invited to her own farewell party in her hospice room last week, telling them all that she was about to cross The River Styx, to the next world and hoped she could pay The Ferryman.

Marya was also a writer. Her publications include two plays, her memoir The Macau Grand Prix and My Part in the Cultural Revolution in China, her racy novel Hong Kong Lover, and Floating in Foyers: Coralie Wood Lashes Out (Ginninderra Press, 2006), a must-read work within Canberra’s theatre circles.

Remembering their time together on the book, Coralie Wood said: “I can’t stop thinking of the laughs we had together.”

Marya is survived by her sisters Helen McMahon, Thelma McMahon, and Kate Towner.

A memorial event will be held in the coming weeks, with details to be announced.

–Helen Musa