When the Gravediggers Come

Last updated

When the Gravediggers Come
Written byRobert Amos
Date premiered27 March 1963 (1963-03-27)
Place premieredEmerald Hill Theatre, Melbourne
Original languageEnglish

When the Gravediggers Come is an Australian play by Robert Amos. It won the 1961 Australian Journalists Award for Best Play along with The Tower by Hal Porter. Amos had lived in China before arriving in Australia in 1949. [1]

Amos wrote several radio plays but this was his first stage play. The play made its debut at the Emerald Hill Theatre in Melbourne under Wal Cherry, during a season of Australian plays. This was very rare at the time. [2] [3]

Leslie Rees wrote "When I first read the script... it seemed to me a living document, full of atmosphere and vivid personalities, offering pungent comment on our changing times, with their questioning, hope and despair." Rees helped the play be produced but later thought "This play had universal elements, but its foreign remoteness of scene probably predisposed numbers of playgoers to ignore its searching analysis of the modern complex of life." [4]

Premise

In 1949, White Russian emigrants living in a town in China await the arrival of the Red Army.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Finch</span> English-Australian actor (1916–1977)

Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Blakemore</span> Australian actor (1928–2023)

Michael Howell Blakemore AO OBE was an Australian actor, writer and theatre director who also made a handful of films. A former Associate Director of the National Theatre, in 2000 he became the only individual to win Tony Awards for Best Director of a Play and Musical in the same year for Copenhagen and Kiss Me, Kate.

Ewen Leslie is an Australian stage, film and television actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Afford</span> Australian playwright and novelist (1906–1954)

Malcolm R. Afford known as Max Afford, was an Australian playwright and novelist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mona Brand</span> Australian playwright, poet and writer

Mona Brand was a twentieth-century Australian playwright, poet and freelance writer. She also wrote under the name Alexis Fox.

Independent Theatre, formerly known as The Independent Theatre Ltd., was an Australian dramatic society founded in 1930 by Dame Doris Fitton in Sydney, Australia. It is also the name given to the building it occupied from 1939, now owned by Wenona School, in North Sydney, cited as Sydney's oldest live theatre venue.

<i>The Fire on the Snow</i> Play written by Douglas Stewart

The Fire on the Snow is a 1941 Australian verse play by Douglas Stewart about the Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica by Robert Falcon Scott. It premiered on ABC radio on 6 June 1941 to great acclaim and inspired a series of Australian verse dramas on ABC radio.

<i>Lady in Danger</i> (play) 1942 play by Max Afford and 1959 television film directed by Colin Dean

Lady in Danger was a play by Australian writer Max Afford. It was one of the few Australian plays to be produced on Broadway. It was also adapted for radio and television.

Goodbye to the Music is a 1942 Australian stage play by Sumner Locke Elliott.

<i>The Multi-Coloured Umbrella</i> 1958 television film directed by Raymond Menmuir

The Multi-Coloured Umbrella is a 1957 Australian stage play written by Barbara Vernon. It was produced professionally, was adapted for television and radio, and inspired two prequels.

<i>Dark Enchantment</i> Play by Max Afford

Dark Enchantment is a 1949 Australian play by Max Afford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Rees (writer)</span> Australian writer

George Leslie Clarke Rees was an Australian writer for children who was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia.

"The Tower" is a 1964 TV play broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It aired on 2 December 1964 as a stand-alone in Melbourne and on 28 April 1965 as part of Wednesday Theatre in Sydney. It aired on 6 January 1965 in Brisbane. It was based on a play by Hal Porter and directed by Christopher Muir in the ABC's studios in Melbourne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coralie Clarke Rees</span> Australian writer

Coralie Clarke, later Coralie Clarke Rees BA was a Western Australian author.

Silo 15 is a 1969 Australian short feature. It was shot in 1969 and was produced by Grahame Jennings and directed by John Alaimo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May Hollinworth</span> Australian theatrical producer and director

May Hollinworth was an Australian theatre producer and director, former radio actress, and founder of the Metropolitan Theatre in Sydney. The daughter of a theatrical producer, she was introduced to the theatre at a young age. She graduated with a science degree, and worked in the chemistry department of the University of Sydney, before being appointed as director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society, a post she held from 1929 until 1943

J. C. Williamson's, formerly Williamson, Garner, & Musgrove and Williamson and Musgrove, was an Australian theatrical management company and theatre owner. With its beginnings in the theatrical productions of J. C. Williamson and his partners in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the company J. C. Williamson Limited was established in 1910. Colloquially known as The Firm or JCW, the company dominated Australian commercial theatre in the twentieth century and at one time was described as the largest theatrical firm in the world. It closed under financial pressure in 1976.

WillyRedstone was a French composer and conductor of light music who had a substantial career in England and Australia, where he became music editor for the ABC.

The Playwrights' Advisory Board was an Australian organisation established in 1938 to assist the cause of Australian playwriting. It was established by Leslie Rees, Rex Rienits and Doris Fitton. Its functions included negotiating productions with theatres, acting as an intermediary in the nomination and collection of royalties, advising theatres and playwrights on scripts, and holding script competitions. Members of the board included names such as Dymphna Cusack and Sumner Locke Elliott.

Pirates at the Barn is a 1948 Australian stage play for children. It made its debut in 1948 and was very popular, being performed at the Minerva Theatre in 1949. The cast for that production included Grant Taylor and John Meillion.

References

  1. "Joint Award in AJA play contest". The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 April 1962. p. 5.
  2. "News of the day". The Age. 23 March 1963. p. 2.
  3. "REVIEWS THEATRE Norman Blood and Russian Gore", 105 volumes : illustrations (chiefly coloured), portraits (chiefly coloured) ; 30-40 cm., The Bulletin, John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues)., 85 (4339), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 13 April 1963 [1880], ISSN   0007-4039, nla.obj-701249046, retrieved 20 August 2023 via Trove
  4. Rees, Leslie (1987). Australian drama, 1970-1985 : a historical and critical survey. p. 358.