The Tragedy of Donohoe
| The Tragedy of Donohoe | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Bushrangers |
| Written by | Charles Harpur |
| Date premiered | 1835 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | verse drama |
The Tragedy of Donohoe (1835; retitled The Bushrangers, a Play in Five Acts in 1853, The Bush-Rangers in 1860 and Stalwart the Bushranger in 1867) is a play by Charles Harpur.
It was the first play published in Australia with an Australian setting. [1][2] However it appears the play was not actually performed in Australia.[3]
Origins and revisions[edit]
Harpur wrote The Tragedy of Donhoe while living in Sydney in the early 1830s. It was originally based on the life of Jack Donahue, a prominent bushranger who had murdered William Clements in 1828.[4]
Harpur continually revised the play, however, and in later versions he renamed the protagonist "Stalwart" and his victim "Abel".[5] By the time he died, Harpur had produced at least four distinct versions of the play.[5][6]
The play's complex textual history began in 1834, when Harpur presented a manuscript to Edward Smith Hall, the editor of The Sydney Monitor.[7] Hall was impressed with the play,[8] and published substantial extracts in the newspaper the following February.[7][9]
Harpur published the first complete version of the play in 1853, as part of his book The Bushrangers, a Play in Five Acts, and Other Poems. He produced two final versions of the play, The Bush-Rangers in 1860 and Stalwart the Bushranger 1867; these versions remained in manuscript at his death.[10][5]
Literary and dramatic significance[edit]
The Tragedy of Donohoe is considered an important example of Gothic literature, nineteenth-century melodrama and Romantic tragedy.[11][12]
According to Leslie Rees "at first glance, The Bushrangers (1853 version) is the usual studied attempt at a drama mainly in blank verse as conscientiously undertaken by any and every ambitious poet. But it is rather more important than that. It contains some good qualities of dramatic feeling."[1]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards an Australian Drama. p. 44.
- ^ "HLRALD SATURDAY MAGAZINE". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 35, 707. New South Wales, Australia. 31 May 1952. p. 6. Retrieved 11 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Australia's First Drama". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 35, 708. New South Wales, Australia. 2 June 1952. p. 2. Retrieved 11 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Perkins, Elizabeth (1987). "Introduction". In Perkins, Elizabeth (ed.). Stalwart the bushranger ; with, the tragedy of Donohoe. Sydney: Currency Press in association with Australasian Drama Studies, St. Lucia. pp. xxiii–xxix. ISBN 0-86819-184-1. OCLC 21294844.
- ^ a b c Ackland, Michael (1986). "Plot and Counter-Plot in Charles Harpur's 'The Bushrangers'". Australasian Drama Studies (8): 50–53.
- ^ Perkins, Elizabeth (1987). "Introduction". In Perkins, Elizabeth (ed.). Stalwart the bushranger ; with, the tragedy of Donohoe. Sydney: Currency Press in association with Australasian Drama Studies, St. Lucia. pp. xvii. ISBN 0-86819-184-1. OCLC 21294844.
- ^ a b Normington-Rawlilng, J (1962). Charles Harpur: An Australian. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. pp. 41–47.
- ^ Hall, Edward Smith (1834-05-10). "Australian Literature". Sydney Monitor. No. 688. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-11-20 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Australian Literature". The Sydney Monitor. Vol. VIII, , no. 688. New South Wales, Australia. 10 May 1834. p. 2 (MORNING). Retrieved 11 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ Perkins, Elizabeth (1987). "Introduction". In Perkins, Elizabeth (ed.). Stalwart the bushranger ; with, the tragedy of Donohoe. Sydney: Currency Press in association with Australasian Drama Studies, St. Lucia. pp. xlv–li. ISBN 0-86819-184-1. OCLC 21294844.
- ^ Falk, Michael (2020). "Sad Realities: The Romantic Tragedies of Charles Harpur" (PDF). Romantic Textualities: Literature and Print Culture, 1780–1840 (23): 200–217. doi:10.18573/romtext.65. ISSN 1748-0116. S2CID 226888997.
- ^ Kelly, Veronica. "The melodrama of defeat: Political patterns in some colonial and contemporary Australian plays". Southerly. 50 (2): 132–135.