Wilful Murder (play)

Last updated

Wilful Murder
Wilful Murder play.png
Written by Alfred Dampier
Garnet Walch
Based onDrama of London Life
by George Meredith
Directed byAlfred Dampier
Date premieredMarch 19, 1892 (1892-03-19) [1]
Place premieredAlexandra Theatre, Melbourne [2]
Original languageEnglish
Genremelodrama

Wilful Murder is a 1892 Australian play by Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch. The play adapted George Meredith's British play Drama of London Life, incorporating elements of the recent Windsor murder by Frederick Bailey Deeming. [3] [4]

Contents

The play was presented by Alfred Dampier. [5] [6] Alfred Harcourt, who was in the play, had a brief connection with Deeming. [7]

It ran for over six weeks in Melbourne. [8]

Reception

The Age observed " The temptation to tickle further the appetite of the public for the grim and ghastly was too powerful to resist." [9]

The Argus said " Apart from an unnecessary degree of attention being given to its more repulsive aspects the play is a fair one of its class, and was both well mounted and well played." [10]

Synopsis

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee palace</span> Type of residential hotel

A coffee palace was an often large and elaborate residential hotel that did not serve alcohol, most of which were built in Australia in the late 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballarat Football Club</span> Australian rules football club

The Ballarat Football Netball Club, nicknamed the Swans is an Australian rules football and netball club. The football squad currently competes in the Ballarat Football League in the Ballarat region of Victoria, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garnet Walch</span> Australian writer

Garnet Walch, was an Australian writer, dramatist, journalist and publisher. The youngest son of Major J. W. H. Walch, of H.M. 54th Regiment, he went on to become the most popular, and arguably the most successful, writer for the Australian stage during the 1870s and 1880s, While many of his works were localised and updated adaptations, it was his ability to tap into the public's mood and desires by expressing sentiments and making satirical allusions that made his works so popular. Walch wrote a wide array of genres and forms, including "serious" dramatic works, comedies, pantomimes, burlesques, melodrama, and comediettas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Dampier</span> Australian actor (circa 1843-1908)

Alfred Dampier was an English-born actor-manager and playwright, active in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Rolfe (director)</span> Australian stage and film director and actor

Alfred Rolfe, real name Alfred Roker, was an Australian stage and film director and actor, best known for being the son-in-law of the celebrated actor-manager Alfred Dampier, with whom he appeared frequently on stage, and for his prolific output as a director during Australia's silent era, including Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911), Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911) and The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915). Only one of his films as director survives today.

The MacMahon brothers were entrepreneurs in Australian show business. Chief among them were James MacMahon and Charles MacMahon, who together and separately toured a large number of stage shows. Their younger brothers, Joseph and William, were involved in many of those activities.

<i>Captain Midnight, the Bush King</i> 1911 film

Captain Midnight, the Bush King is a 1911 Australian silent Western film about the fictitious bushranger Captain Midnight. It was the directorial debut of actor Alfred Rolfe. The film is based on the play of same name by W. J. Lincoln and Alfred Dampier. Captain Midnight, the Bush King is now considered lost.

The Life of Rufus Dawes is a 1911 Australian silent film based on Alfred Dampier's stage adaptation of the 1874 novel For the Term of His Natural Life produced by Charles Cozens Spencer.

<i>The Squatters Son</i> 1911 film

The Squatter's Son is an Australian film completed in 1911 and directed by E. I. Cole. It was based on a play which Cole and his company had performed throughout Australia.

The Scout is a melodrama by Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch set in the American west.

Edmund Holloway was an Australian actor.

The Haymarket Theatre, or Royal Haymarket Theatre was a live theatre built by George Coppin in the Haymarket district of Melbourne, Australia in 1862 and was destroyed by fire in 1871.

Robbery Under Arms is a 1890 play by Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch based on the novel of the same name by Rolf Boldrewood.

George Benjamin William Lewis commonly referred to as G. B. W. Lewis, or G. B. Lewis, was an English circus performer, later a circus and theatre entrepreneur in Australia. He married in 1864 the actress and playwright Rose Edouin.

All for Gold, or Fifty Millions of Money is a 1877 Australian stage play by F. R. C. Hopkins written for Alfred Dampier. It was the first play of Australian origin to be licensed for performance in Australia.

Good For Evil is a 1876 Australian play by F. R. C. Hopkins. The play was "suggested" from a novel by Ouida.

For Love and Life is a 1890 Australian play by Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch about hypnotism, a topic then very fashionable in London.

Help One Another is a 1892 Australian stage play by Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch. It was produced starring Dampier. It was adapted from an Irish drama.

Thou Shalt Not Steal is a 1896 Australian stage play by Alfred Dampier. It enabled Lily Dampier to play a dual role.

Marvellous Melbourne is a 1889 Australian stage play by Alfred Dampier and J.H. Wrangham. It was hugely popular in Melbourne and is one of Dampier's most iconic plays.

References

  1. 1 2 "Advertising". The Age . No. 11565. Victoria, Australia. 19 March 1892. p. 10. Retrieved 8 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ "Advertising". The Lorgnette . No. 62. Victoria, Australia. 5 March 1892. p. 7. Retrieved 8 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "EXHIBITION THEATRE". Geelong Advertiser . No. 14, 160. Victoria, Australia. 16 July 1892. p. 2. Retrieved 7 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "Thae't & Thandon DRY IMPERIAL CHAMPAGNE Exqirsite POVERTY POINT", The Bulletin., Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 18 Aug 1921, nla.obj-634445380, retrieved 7 May 2024– via Trove
  5. ↑ "" WILFUL MURDER."". Melbourne Punch . Victoria, Australia. 7 April 1892. p. 4. Retrieved 7 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "THE ALEXANDRA". Chronicle, South Yarra Gazette, Toorak Times And Malvern Standard . Vol. 14, no. 643. Victoria, Australia. 19 March 1892. p. 12. Retrieved 7 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "THE WINDSOR MURDERER". The Argus (Melbourne) . No. 14, 280. Victoria, Australia. 1 April 1892. p. 6. Retrieved 8 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "TOWN TALK". Geelong Advertiser . No. 14, 153. Victoria, Australia. 8 July 1892. p. 2. Retrieved 8 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ "ALEXANDRA THEATRE.--WILFUL MURDER". The Age . No. 11566. Victoria, Australia. 21 March 1892. p. 7. Retrieved 7 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ "ALEXANDRA THEATRE". The Argus (Melbourne) . No. 14, 270. Victoria, Australia. 21 March 1892. p. 10. Retrieved 7 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ "Advertising". The Mercury . Vol. LX, no. 7, 012. Tasmania, Australia. 15 August 1892. p. 3. Retrieved 8 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
Comedy and tragedy masks.svg

This article on a play from the 1890s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.