We're Going Through

Last updated
We're Going Through
Genreplay drama
Running time60 mins (10:00 pm – 11:00 pm)
Country of originAustralia
Language(s)English
Written by T. Inglis Moore
Directed byLawrence Cecil [1]
Original release27 May 1943

We're Going Through is a 1943 radio verse play by T. Inglis Moore about the Australian troops during the Malayan Campaign in World War Two, specifically the battle at Bakri and Parit Sulong. [2] [3]

It was one of a number of radio verse plays the ABC produced in the wake of the success of Fire on the Snow. [4] The ABC held a competition for verse plays and We're Going Through was commended by judges. [5] It was originally broadcast as one of a series of these verse plays in 1943. [6]

The play was performed again a number of times on radio, including in 1944. [7]

It was published in 1945 with a foreword by Gordon Bennett. [8] According to The Bulletin, "Moore has done well to set down this plain truth about Chris —and the nature of poets —that he is a man like other men. But there are also times when a poet is not a man like other men... A poet, as Inglis Moore should know, is interested in his poetry. And of this side of Chris’s character the play says nothing at all. We’re Going Through is not, then, a drama of character." [9]

Angry Penguins said "A radio verse play hamstrung by all the artificialities and stylisations of “radio technique”. Innumerable fade-ins and fade-outs lead from episodic drama to flash-back rhetoric. Not much characterisation. Mainly stock types. Sincere treatment." [10]

According to Leslie Rees, "although there is sensitive and vivid writing, the dominant character of the play is that of manliness, forthright feeling and mateship in face of deadly danger, a paean to the Diggers." [11]

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References

  1. ↑ "Thursday, May 27", ABC Weekly, Sydney, 5 (21), 22 May 1943, retrieved 3 November 2023– via Trove
  2. ↑ "RadioPlay". Western Mail (Western Australia) . Vol. 60, no. 3, 096. Western Australia. 13 July 1945. p. 22. Retrieved 2 September 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ Moore, T. Inglis (Tom Inglis,); Mant, Gilbert. Grim glory; Australia. Australian Army. Australian Imperial Force (1939-1945) (1945), We're going through : a radio verse play of the A.I.F., Angus and Robertson, retrieved 2 September 2023{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ Page 102 of Kenneth Stanley Inglis; Brazier, Jan (1983), This is the ABC the Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1932-1983, Carlton, Vic Melbourne University Press, ISBN   978-0-522-84258-6
  5. ↑ "Romantic Comedy In Verse", ABC Weekly, Sydney, 5 (4), 23 January 1943, retrieved 3 November 2023– via Trove
  6. ↑ "Ten new verse plays", ABC Weekly, Sydney, 5 (12), 20 March 1943, retrieved 3 November 2023– via Trove
  7. ↑ "No title", ABC Weekly, Sydney, 6 (4), 22 January 1944, retrieved 3 November 2023– via Trove
  8. ↑ "_ Verse Play On War In The Jungle". The Advertiser (Adelaide) . Vol. 88, no. 27070. South Australia. 7 July 1945. p. 4. Retrieved 2 September 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ "Play About Malaya", The Bulletin., Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 66 (3415), 25 Jul 1945, retrieved 3 November 2023– via Trove
  10. ↑ Harris, Max.; Reed, John.; Kerr, D. B.; University of Adelaide. Arts Association., "The Current Literary Scene", Angry Penguins, Adelaide University Arts Association (1945), retrieved 3 November 2023– via Trove
  11. ↑ "Drama Chronicle", Meanjin Papers, Brisbane: C. Christesen, 4 (3), Spring 1945, retrieved 2 September 2023– via Trove
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