Sons of the Morning

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Sons of the Morning
Written by Catherine Duncan
Date premieredApril 1945 [1]
Place premieredNew Theatre, Melbourne
Original languageEnglish
SubjectWorld War Two
Genreverse drama [2]

Sons of the Morning is a 1945 verse drama Australian play by Catherine Duncan. [3] It was originally written for radio.

Contents

It won first prize in the 1945 Playwrights' Advisory Board competition [4] and was performed in Melbourne, Sydney, [5] Brisbane and Perth. [6]

The play was published in 1946, at a time when that was rare for Australian plays. [5] [7]

According to Leslie Rees, "the literary and imaginative tone of the play is high. The problem of reconciling poetry with dramatic tension and the workaday sense of reality is well handled. The parts are all actable... At one remarkable period there were two productions of Sons of the Morning in Sydney, each with a different last scene, each ending didactic, neither entirely satisfying." [8]

Adaptations

It was adapted for ABC radio in 1957. [9]

Premise

On Crete during World War Two, two Australian soldiers, Anson and David, seek refuge in a Cretan farmhouse occupied by a farmer and his daughter Christina. David and Christina fall in love. A German pilot crashes nearby and is captured but he is freed by Noulos, Christina's betrothed. [10]

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References

  1. ↑ ""Sons of the Morning" at National". The Herald . No. 21194. Victoria, Australia. 23 April 1945. p. 5. Retrieved 24 July 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ "The Doll and the Umbrella", The Bulletin, Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 78 (4056), 6 Nov 1957, nla.obj-697595417, retrieved 24 July 2023– via Trove
  3. ↑ ""Sons of the Morning"". The Sydney Morning Herald . No. 33, 542. New South Wales, Australia. 25 June 1945. p. 5. Retrieved 24 July 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "Theatre and Screen". The Age . No. 28081. Victoria, Australia. 23 April 1945. p. 6. Retrieved 24 July 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  5. 1 2 "Fine Play by Australian". The Courier-mail . No. 2809. Queensland, Australia. 22 November 1945. p. 5. Retrieved 25 July 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "Drama in Crete". The West Australian . Vol. 62, no. 18, 750. Western Australia. 17 August 1946. p. 4. Retrieved 25 July 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "In 3 Australian Plays This Year". The Mail (Adelaide) . Vol. 35, no. 1, 795. South Australia. 19 October 1946. p. 10. Retrieved 25 July 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards an Australian Drama. p. 147.
  9. ↑ "A.B.C. Radio plays for next week", ABC Weekly, Sydney, 19 (17), 27 April 1957, retrieved 25 July 2023– via Trove
  10. ↑ "Catherine Duncan Has Little Time On Her Hands". The Argus (Melbourne) . No. 30, 792. Victoria, Australia. 8 May 1945. p. 9. Retrieved 24 July 2023– via National Library of Australia.
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