The Fire on the Snow (1951 production)

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Fire on the Snow
Genreverse drama play
Running time60 mins (9:15 pm – 10:15 pm)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Language(s)English
Home stationBBC Home Service
SyndicatesBBC
StarringJohn Mills
Written by Douglas Stewart
Directed by Tyrone Guthrie
Recording studioSydney
Original releaseMay 28, 1951 (1951-05-28)

The Fire on the Snow is a 1951 British radio drama that aired on the BBC. It was based on the Australian verse drama The Fire on the Snow by Douglas Stewart about the Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica by Robert Falcon Scott. The production was the first time an Australian radio drama had received such a prestigious production at the BBC. It was directed by Tyrone Guthrie and featured two movie stars, John Mills and Peter Finch. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Stewart's play originally aired in Australia in 1941. Peter Finch was meant to appear in the original production but enlisted in the army. The play was much acclaimed in Australia and was performed several times. [4]

Tyrone Guthrie rarely produced for the BBC but was an admirer of the play and agreed to direct it. [5] [6] Two of the cast - Finch and Peter Bathurst - were Australian, and Mills had previously played Scott in the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic. [7] Guthrie said:

In my opinion this is one of the few important works of art which radio has so far produced. It is the more thrilling that it has come from Australia, a continent which has not —as yet— made very many or very notable contributions to the art and literature bf the human race. As yet, Australia is only beginning to grope towards a distinctively Australian way of seeing and hearing and then expressing things...Australia is just beginning to realise that dependence upon the culture of other communities is not healthy or satisfying. [8]

Reception

The Observer called the play "exceedingly interesting." [9] The Guardian called it "a moving and dramatic composition". [10]

The play received some criticism in Britain because of its historical depiction of Scott. [11]

Cast

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References

  1. ↑ "Peter Finch In BBC-Produced Australian Play". The Age . No. 29, 963. Victoria, Australia. 11 May 1951. p. 1 (THE AGE RADIO SUPPLEMENT). Retrieved 15 March 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards An Australian Drama. p. 136.
  3. ↑ Inglis, Kenneth Stanley (1983). This is the ABC : the Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1932-1983. p. 88.
  4. ↑ "NEWS and GOSSIP... "Cellist for London... Critic and Playwright Girl Trumpeter... Music Out-of-Doors", ABC weekly, 13 (40 (6 October 1951)), Sydney: ABC, nla.obj-1549770494, retrieved 15 March 2024– via Trove
  5. ↑ "Breaking into the London Theatre", ABC weekly, 13 (13 (31 March 1951)), Sydney: ABC, nla.obj-1503316894, retrieved 15 March 2024– via Trove
  6. ↑ "SHOW BUSINESS", ABC weekly, 13 (11 (17 March 1951)), Sydney: ABC, nla.obj-1442883274, retrieved 15 March 2024– via Trove
  7. ↑ Guthrie, Tyrone (27 May 1951). "An Australian Masterpiece". Radio Times. p. 6.
  8. ↑ "NEWS and GOSSIP... Aim of the Theatre... Radio Licences Geraldo... Organist's High Heels", ABC weekly, 14 (3 (19 January 1952)), Sydney: ABC, nla.obj-1661752624, retrieved 15 March 2024– via Trove
  9. ↑ "Radio". The Observer. 3 June 1951. p. 6.
  10. ↑ "Manchester University". The Guardian. 4 June 1951. p. 3.
  11. ↑ "Poet who lived in a packing case". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. XVI, no. 67. New South Wales, Australia. 9 June 1951. p. 11. Retrieved 15 March 2024– via National Library of Australia.
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