Burst of Summer

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Burst of Summer
Written byOriel Gray
Date premiered2 Feb 1960
Place premieredLittle Theatre, South Yarra, Melbourne
Original languageEnglish
SubjectRace relations

Burst of Summer is a 1959 play by Oriel Gray. It won the 1959 J. C. Williamson's Little Theatre Guild Award, and was later adapted for radio and TV. It was Gray's last produced play.[1]

Plot

In 1955, racial tensions erupt in a small town after a young

Aboriginal
girl, Peggy, gains brief notability as a film actress. White townsfolk decide to build houses and move the Aboriginal residents of "The Flats" into them.

Background

Burst of Summer was written by Gray in 1959. The story is based on the story of

Ngarla Kunoth, who was cast in the lead of Charles Chauvel's film Jedda and was inspired by Gray's experiences living in Lismore in the 1940s.[2] It won £500 in the Little Theatre Competition. The prize included a try out at the Melburne Little Theatre.[3]

Original production

The play was first produced in 1960 at the Little Theatre in Melbourne. The cast included Morris Brown, Max Bruch and Marcella Burgoyne.[4][5]

The Bulletin said the production "received the usual treatment accorded Australian art. No mention from TV, or commercial radio, a review from the A.8.C., and the usual back-page notice in the dailies."[6]

In a review, the theatre critic from The Bulletin lamented that Grey "chose such stereotyped characters and situations as vehicles for her often stimulating thoughts on the problem of racial intolerance", but praised the play's "absence of dull moments, its perky good humor and wit and the author's efficient handling of dialogue."[7]

The play was submitted for production by the Melbourne Theatre Company but they rejected it.[8]

1960 radio adaptation

The play was performed on

ABC Radio National in Sydney in 1960.[9]

1961 TV adaptation

See Burst of Summer (television play)

Awards


References

  1. ^ Merilee p 107-110
  2. Sydney Morning Herald
  3. ^ "Women's letters MELBOURNE". The Bulletin. 21 October 1959. p. 56.
  4. ^ 1960 stage production at AusStage
  5. ^ "Women's Letters MELBOURNE". The Bulletin. 2 March 1960. p. 56.
  6. ^ "PLAIN ENGLISH From Jerquers to Deputies". The Bulletin. 2 March 1960. p. 7.
  7. ^ "Prize-winning Play". The Bulletin. 9 March 1960. p. 23.
  8. ^ Merilee p 118-119
  9. ^ 1960 radio version at AusStage

Notes

External links
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