The Drovers (play)

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The Drovers
Written by Louis Esson
Original languageEnglish
Genredrama

The Drovers is a 1921 Australian play by Louis Esson. According to Esson's obituary the play was his "finest piece... one scene, one simple incident; it was what he could do; be never did anything better; and no one else did, either." [1]

Contents

It was published in a collection of plays in 1920 [2] and 1945. The play was published before it had been performed.

Leslie Rees called The Drovers:

A play that will stand reading and rereading... Each character is dry-pointed, hardly more than a line-sketch in so brief a compass—... but definite and clear. The situation has some of the inevitability of a Greek tragedy. No play of ours more powerfully shows the grimness of a fate that broods over men who pit themselves against our vast inland wilderness. [3]

Radio adaptations

The play was adapted for radio in 1940, 1943 [4] and 1946. [5]

Premise

"The Play tells of Briglow Hill, the injured drover, left to die on the track because the parched cattle must be driven on to a distant waterhole at all costs." [6]

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References

  1. ↑ "Pioneer Playwright". The Sydney Morning Herald . No. 33, 852. New South Wales, Australia. 22 June 1946. p. 8. Retrieved 28 February 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ "SUNDRY SHOWS.", The Bulletin, Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 6 Jan 1921, nla.obj-672127224, retrieved 28 February 2024– via Trove
  3. ↑ Rees, Leslie (1987). Australian drama, 1970-1985 : a historical and critical survey. Angus & Robertson. p. 134. ISBN   978-0-207-15354-9.
  4. ↑ "Friday, Sept. 17", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 11 September 1943, nla.obj-1315921724, retrieved 28 February 2024– via Trove
  5. ↑ "MONDAY", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 26 January 1946, nla.obj-1353597165, retrieved 28 February 2024– via Trove
  6. ↑ "FRIDAY . . . . . MAR. 1", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, Sydney: Wireless Press, February 24, 1940, nla.obj-718401287, retrieved 28 February 2024– via Trove
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