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===Production===
===Production===
Robert Tudawali was flown from Darwin to Melbourne to make his first appearance in a live television drama. He had already been seen in the filmed series ''Whiplash''.<ref name="smh"/>
Robert Tudawali was flown from Darwin to Melbourne to make his first appearance in a live television drama. He had already been seen in the filmed series ''Whiplash''.<ref name="smh"/> He was one of three aboriginal actors in the production, the others being Georgia Lee and Candy Williams. This was in contrast to the radio version which had been done with an all white cast.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=MDQ-9Oe3GGUC&dat=19610803&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=Backyard Apartheid exposed in Australia|date=3 August 1961|page=12}}</ref>


===Reception===
===Reception===

Revision as of 11:32, 1 May 2020

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.

Background

Burst of Summer was written by Gray in 1959.[1] The story is based on the story of Ngarla Kunoth, who was cast in the lead of Charles Chauvel's film Jedda.[citation needed]

Plot

Racial tensions erupt in a small town when a young Aboriginal girl gains brief notability as a film actress. White townsfolk decide to build houses and move the Aboriginal residents of "The Flats" into them.

Original production

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

1960 radio adaptation

The play was performed on ABC Radio National in 1960.

1961 TV adaptation

Burst of Summer
Based onplay by Oriel Gray
Directed byWilliam Sterling
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time54 mins
Production companyABC
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 1961

The play was broadcast in 1961 by ABC TV. Filming took place at the ABC's Melbourne Studios in South Bank.[2]

Cast

Production

Robert Tudawali was flown from Darwin to Melbourne to make his first appearance in a live television drama. He had already been seen in the filmed series Whiplash.[3] He was one of three aboriginal actors in the production, the others being Georgia Lee and Candy Williams. This was in contrast to the radio version which had been done with an all white cast.[4]

Reception

The TV critic from the Sydney Morning Herald called it a "half-hearted stab" at writing a story on the problems of the aboriginal in a white society, despite some good acting from Georgia Lee and Edward Howell. He added, "One couldn't escape the feeling that the author had dashed it off after seeing too many American movies, rather than making a serious attempt to put the Australian colour problem into its own perspective. It's a pity this missed out, because there is a goldmine of material on the aboriginal waiting for a skilled, sensitive writer to tap it."[3]

The Bulletin called it "a depressingly incompetent technical exercise, and the characterisation was appalling."[5]

Awards

See also

References

  1. ^ Oriel Gray obituary at Sydney Morning Herald
  2. ^ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  3. ^ a b "TV Merry Go Round", Sydney Morning Herald, 8 October 1961 p 84
  4. ^ "Backyard Apartheid exposed in Australia". The Age. 3 August 1961. p. 12.
  5. ^ Harris, Max (28 October 1961). "REVIEWS TV A New Cultural Deal?". The Bulletin. p. 33.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Burst_of_Summer&oldid=954240919"