Stormy Was the Weather
Genredrama play
Running time70 mins[1] (7:30 pm – 8:40 pm)
Country of originAustralia
Language(s)English
Written byRuth Park
Directed byFrank Harvey
Recording studioSydney
Original releaseJanuary 26, 1948 (1948-01-26)[2]

Stormy Was the Weather is a 1948 Australian radio play by Ruth Park about James Cook and his voyage to Botany Bay. It was produced again in 1953.[3] The latter was part of the ABC's 21st birthday celebrations.[4]

It was part of a series of historical radio plays by Park set at sea in Australia's past, the others including I'll Meet You in Botany Bay, Early in the Morning and Far from the Land. Leslie Rees later called them:

Eloquent and fine-tempered dossier of studies bearing on our past. They combine the presentation of factual incidents with a keen imaginative perception of character under stress, an ironical feeling for the tears and anguish and disillusionment of persons born to a place in history, an appreciation of pioneering courage balanced by a sense of the failure of life to fulfil its ultimate expectations. These plays have the salt tang of the sea, the roll and pitch of wooden ships breasting through uncharted waters, as well as vivid personal emotions.[5]

Reviewing the original 1948 production The Age said it "told a most interesting story.It pictured Cook as a rather dourman, whose life was his work. Certain sentimental scenes were thrown In by way of contrast, and, to coun ter the dourness... Rather too much was made of Sutherland's death at Botany Bay. Authors seem to love a death scene better than anything."[6]

Reviewing the 1953 production the Adelaide Advertiser said the piece "rightly belonged to the Schools' Broadcast Department or Features, but not to Radio Repertory... Captain Cook was played as a cross between Horatio Hornblower, Lord Nelson and Gregory Peck... I was not enthralled."[7] However the Adelaide Mail thought there "was a fine simpli city about it, a lack of histrionics that made the play magnificently real... the subject was handled as well as it could have been."[8]

Premise

The story of Captain James Cook and his trip on the HMS Endeavour. They arrive at Botany Bay, then go to Batavia, before arriving home where Cook discovers his daughter has died.

References

  1. ↑ Australian Broadcasting Commission. (1939), ABC weekly, Sydney: ABC, nla.obj-1456193545, retrieved 28 October 2023 – via Trove
  2. ↑ "A.B.C. FEATURES". Southern Cross. Vol. LX, no. 2996. South Australia. 23 January 1948. p. 11. Retrieved 28 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "Women's Interests On The Air She Educates The Parents". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 36, 046. New South Wales, Australia. 2 July 1953. p. 13 (Women's Section). Retrieved 28 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "Early Spring Fashions Previewed At District Model Quest". Illawarra Daily Mercury. New South Wales, Australia. 30 June 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 28 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards an Australian Drama. p. 125.
  6. ↑ "The Week in Wireless". The Age. No. 28944. Victoria, Australia. 31 January 1948. p. 7. Retrieved 28 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "Musical Serial Is A Hit". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 96, no. 29, 561. South Australia. 11 July 1953. p. 15. Retrieved 28 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "Gad, sir, major Keen is a cad sir!". The Mail (Adelaide). Vol. 43, no. 2, 144. South Australia. 11 July 1953. p. 51. Retrieved 28 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.