Original cast
- Margaret Roberts as the widow
- Owen Weingott as the captain
- Jerold Wells as the sergeant
- Derek Stanley as the lieutenant
| Naked Possum | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Barbara Vernon |
| Directed by | Noel Rubie |
| Date premiered | September 13, 1956 |
| Place premiered | Independent Theatre, Sydney |
| Original language | Australia |
| Subject | Malayan Emergency |
| Genre | drama |
| Setting | Malaya |
Naked Possum is a 1956 Australian play by Barbara Vernon. It was her first play performed in Sydney and is one of the few Australian plays to examine the Malayan Emergency. (There was also Strangers in the Land by Mona Brand.) [1] [2]
Leslie Rees described it as "something of a damp squib." [3]
The Sydney Morning Herald called it "ripe old melodrama" with "stale situations and limping cliches... The first act is merely dull and commonplace... But as soon as the distraught lady... arrives the atmosphere becomes clammy with potentialities." [4]
However The Bulletin said "it has a remarkably attractive set.. and a most impressive performance by Owen Weingott, while the plot has sufficient intricacy and suspense to keep one guessing." [5]
During the Malayan Emergency, Australian troops looking for Communists arrive at a temple in the jungle. They meet the widow of a murdered planter who tries to seduce the soldiers.