Mercury Theatre (Australia)
Encyclopedia
The Mercury Theatre was an Australian theatre company that was co-founded by Peter Finch
and existed from 1946-1954. It was named after the famous Orson Welles theatre company of the same name
.
The Mercury was founded in 1946 by Finch, Allan Ashbolt
, Sydney John Kay
, Colin Scrimgeour
and John Wiltshire
. The driving force for much of the company's time was Kay.
The Mercury is best known for it's production of The Imaginary Invalid starring Finch on the floor of O'Brien's Glass Factory in Sydney in 1948; this was seen by Laurence Olivier
and Vivien Leigh
who were so impressed they invited Finch to come to London. From 1952 to 1954 the company was based as St James Hall in Sydney. Among those who acted in Mercury shows over the years included Rod Taylor, Ruth Cracknell
and Lloyd Berrell
.
Peter Finch
Peter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
and existed from 1946-1954. It was named after the famous Orson Welles theatre company of the same name
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...
.
The Mercury was founded in 1946 by Finch, Allan Ashbolt
Allan Ashbolt
Allan Campbell Ashbolt was an Australian journalist and television broadcaster.He was born in Melbourne and attended Caulfield Grammar School, and served with the Australian Imperial Force in World War II...
, Sydney John Kay
Sydney John Kay
Kurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
, Colin Scrimgeour
Colin Scrimgeour
Rev. Colin Graham Scrimgeour, known as Uncle Scrim or Scrim was a New Zealand Methodist Minister and Broadcaster....
and John Wiltshire
John Wiltshire
John Wiltshire was an Australian actor and producer who worked extensively in stage, radio and television, notably at the ABC. He produced some of Noel Coward's shows in Australia in 1940, helped establish the Mercury Theatre with Peter Finch and produced a number of films with Cecil Holmes...
. The driving force for much of the company's time was Kay.
The Mercury is best known for it's production of The Imaginary Invalid starring Finch on the floor of O'Brien's Glass Factory in Sydney in 1948; this was seen by Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
and Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
who were so impressed they invited Finch to come to London. From 1952 to 1954 the company was based as St James Hall in Sydney. Among those who acted in Mercury shows over the years included Rod Taylor, Ruth Cracknell
Ruth Cracknell
Ruth Cracknell AM was an Australian theatre and television character actress who appeared in many comedy roles. She was known variously as "Crackers", "Dame Crackers" and "Dame Ruth" throughout a career spanning 56 years....
and Lloyd Berrell
Lloyd Berrell
Lloyd Berrell was a New Zealand actor who played Roo in the original Sydney production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. He worked extensively in Australian radio and theatre, and appeared in a large portion of the few films being shot locally at the time...
.
Original Shows
- Three one-act plays at NSW State Conservatorium of Music, 16-17 July 1946:
- Diamond Cuts Diamond by Nikolai GogolNikolai GogolNikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
- Directed by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
; starring Peter Bathurst, Peter FinchPeter FinchPeter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
, Dennis Glenny, June Wimble - The Pastrybaker by Lope de Vega Carpio - Directed by Peter FinchPeter FinchPeter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
; starring Jerome Levy, Alan Poolman - The Broken Pitcher by Heinrich von Kleist - Directed by John WiltshireJohn WiltshireJohn Wiltshire was an Australian actor and producer who worked extensively in stage, radio and television, notably at the ABC. He produced some of Noel Coward's shows in Australia in 1940, helped establish the Mercury Theatre with Peter Finch and produced a number of films with Cecil Holmes...
; starring Peter FinchPeter FinchPeter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
, Tom Lake, June Wimble Costumes and sets: William ConstableWilliam ConstableSir William Constable, 1st Baronet was and English soldier and politician and regicide, who supported the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War and interregnum.-Life:...
; painted sets: Margaret OlleyMargaret OlleyMargaret Hannah Olley AC was an Australian painter. She was the subject of more than 90 solo exhibitions.Margaret Olley was born in Lismore, New South Wales. She attended Somerville House in Brisbane during her high school years...
; music by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
- Diamond Cuts Diamond by Nikolai Gogol
- Midsummer Night by Lajos BiroLajos BiróLajos Bíró was a Hungarian novelist, playwright, and screenwriter who wrote many films from the early 1920s through the late 1940s. He was born in Nagyvárad, Austria-Hungary and eventually moved to the United Kingdom where he worked as a scenario chief for London Film Productions run by...
- Anatole's Wedding by Arthur SchnitzlerArthur SchnitzlerDr. Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist.- Biography :Arthur Schnitzler, son of a prominent Hungarian-Jewish laryngologist Johann Schnitzler and Luise Markbreiter , was born in Praterstraße 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian...
- The Imaginary Invalid by MoliereMolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
, adapted by Creswick JenkinsonCreswick JenkinsonCreswick Jenkinson was an Australian writer, producer and director. As a screenwriter, he wrote the film Captain Thunderbolt as well as episodes of the TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Autumn Affair and Motel....
- August 18, 1948 (O'Brien's Glass Factory) & Sept 20, 1948 (Sydney Town Hall) - directed by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
, starring Allan AshboltAllan AshboltAllan Campbell Ashbolt was an Australian journalist and television broadcaster.He was born in Melbourne and attended Caulfield Grammar School, and served with the Australian Imperial Force in World War II...
, John Brunskill, Elsie Dayne, John Faassen, Peter FinchPeter FinchPeter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
, Franz Folmer, Patricia Harrison, Arthur Husband, Tom Lake, Al Thomas, June Wimble - French Without Tears by Terence RattiganTerence RattiganSir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
- A Pickwick Story based on a The Pickwick PapersThe Pickwick PapersThe Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is the first novel by Charles Dickens. After the publication, the widow of the illustrator Robert Seymour claimed that the idea for the novel was originally her husband's; however, in his preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens strenuously denied any...
by Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
adapted by Creswick JenkinsonCreswick JenkinsonCreswick Jenkinson was an Australian writer, producer and director. As a screenwriter, he wrote the film Captain Thunderbolt as well as episodes of the TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Autumn Affair and Motel....
- November 1948 - starring Lloyd BerrellLloyd BerrellLloyd Berrell was a New Zealand actor who played Roo in the original Sydney production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. He worked extensively in Australian radio and theatre, and appeared in a large portion of the few films being shot locally at the time...
, John Brunskill, Denys Burrows, Elsie Dayne, Betty Duncan, Zelle Gordon, John Hoskin, Norton Howarth, Margo Lee, Reginald Lye, David Magoffin, Peter Richards, Al Thomas, Edgar Veitch, Alan White, June Wimble - The Typewriter by Jean CocteauJean CocteauJean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
adapted by Donald Duncan - July 1950 radio show - Directed by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
starring Lenore Blackwood, John Brunskill, Shirley Cameron, John Hoskin, Sheila Macafee, John Unicomb
St James Hall Productions
- Double bill in February 1952
- The TwinsMenaechmiMenaechmi, a Latin-language play, is often considered Plautus' greatest play. The title is sometimes translated as The Brothers Menaechmus or The Two Menaechmuses....
by PlautusPlautusTitus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
- Directed by Hans von Alderstein; starring Lloyd BerrellLloyd BerrellLloyd Berrell was a New Zealand actor who played Roo in the original Sydney production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. He worked extensively in Australian radio and theatre, and appeared in a large portion of the few films being shot locally at the time...
, John Barnard, Rod Taylor, Walter Sullivan, Ruth CracknellRuth CracknellRuth Cracknell AM was an Australian theatre and television character actress who appeared in many comedy roles. She was known variously as "Crackers", "Dame Crackers" and "Dame Ruth" throughout a career spanning 56 years....
; costumes and music by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:... - Comedy of ErrorsComedy Of ErrorsComedy Of Errors was a Glasgow-based progressive rock band formed in January 1984. Their first recording was a demo called "Ever be the Prize", and was recorded at a studio in Blanefield in 1985, and followed by a mini album in 1986....
by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- Directed by Sydney John Kay; starring John Dease, Ken McCarron, Rod Taylor, John EwartJohn EwartJohn Ewart was an Australian Film Institute award winning actor.-Career:Ewart was born in Melbourne. He began his acting career when he was cast at the age of four in a radio production of Snow White...
, John Barnard, Walter Sullivan, Ruth CracknellRuth CracknellRuth Cracknell AM was an Australian theatre and television character actress who appeared in many comedy roles. She was known variously as "Crackers", "Dame Crackers" and "Dame Ruth" throughout a career spanning 56 years....
; sets by Robin Lovejoy
- The Twins
- Point of DeparturePoint of DeparturePoint of Departure is an album by jazz pianist and composer Andrew Hill, released on the Blue Note label. The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek calls the album "a stellar date, essential for any representative jazz collection, and a record that, in the 21st century, still points the way to the future...
by Jean AnouilhJean AnouilhJean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's...
adapted by Kitty Black - March 1952 - Directed by Norman Cull; starring Alan White, John Brunskill, Alexander Archdale, Gloria Payten - The Imaginary Invalid by MoliereMolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
adapted by Creswick Johnson - March 1952 Directed by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
; starring Alan White, June Wimble, Marcia Hathaway - Phoenix Too Frequent by Christopher FryChristopher FryChristopher Fry was an English playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, notably The Lady's Not for Burning, which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:...
- March 1952 - Directed by Alexander Archdale; starring Dinah Shearing, Audrey Teesdale, Bruce Stewart - The Father by August StrindbergAugust StrindbergJohan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
- April 1952 - Directed by Alexander Archdale - Arms and the ManArms and the ManArms and the Man is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw, whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil's Aeneid in Latin:"Arma virumque cano" ....
by George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
- May 1952 - Directed by Lesley Lindsay; starring David Nettheim - French Without Tears by Terence RattiganTerence RattiganSir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
- July 1952 - Directed by Ron Patten and Sydney John Kay; starring Barrie Cookson, Frank Lisle, Diana Davidson, Keith Walshe, June Wimble, Gustl Korner, John Gaundry - On Borrowed TimeOn Borrowed TimeOn Borrowed Time is a 1939 film about the role death plays in life, and how humanity cannot live without it. It is adapted from Paul Osborn's 1938 Broadway hit play. The play, based on a novel by Lawrence Edward Watkin, has been revived twice on Broadway since its original run.Set in small-town...
by Paul OsbornePaul OsbornePaul Osborne is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, administrator and politician. He played first-grade rugby league for the St George Dragons and Canberra Raiders before serving as a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from 1995 until 2001...
- August 1952 - Directed by Winifred Hindle; starring Camilla Moxham, John Brunskill, Thora Small, John Barnard, Hazel Phillips, Marcia Hathaway, Dom Scott, Reginald Lyle; sets designed by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:... - The Witch by John MasefieldJohn MasefieldJohn Edward Masefield, OM, was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1930 until his death in 1967...
- August 1952 - Producer Norman Cull; starring Rod Taylor, Barbara Brunton, Roger ClimpsonRoger ClimpsonRoger Climpson OAM MBE is a British-born Australian newsreader, best known for his time at Seven News in the 1980s and 1990s and for his hosting duties on various shows from 1977 until 1998.- Early life :... - Love in Albania by Eric LinklaterEric LinklaterEric Robert Russell Linklater was a British writer, known for more than 20 novels, as well as short stories, travel writing and autobiography, and military history.-Life:...
- October 1952 - They Knew What They WantedThey Knew What They WantedThey Knew What They Wanted is a 1940 film with Carole Lombard, Charles Laughton, William Gargan, Harry Carey, and Karl Malden , directed by Garson Kanin. It is based on a 1924 Pulitzer Prize winning play with the same name by Sidney Howard; the screenplay is by Robert Ardrey. This marked the only...
by Sidney HowardSidney HowardSidney Coe Howard was an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 and a posthumous Academy Award in 1940 for the screenplay for Gone with the Wind.-Early life:...
- November 1952 - Directed by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
; starring Rod Taylor, Henry Gilbert, Marg Christensen - Emil and the DetectivesEmil and the DetectivesEmil and the Detectives is a 1929 novel for children set mainly in Berlin, by the German writer Erich Kästner. It was Kästner's first major success, the only one of his pre-1945 works to escape Nazi censorship, and remains his best-known work, and has been translated into at least 59 languages...
- November 1952 - Directed by Leila Blake; starring Minnie Love, John Weiner. - The GuardsmanThe GuardsmanThe Guardsman is a 1931 film based on the play Testőr by Ferenc Molnár. It stars Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Roland Young and ZaSu Pitts...
by Ferenc MolnarFerenc MolnárLanguageFerenc Molnár was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. His Americanized name was Franz Molnar...
- December 1952 - Directed by Nigel Lovell; starring Alan White, Muriel SteinbeckMuriel SteinbeckMuriel Steibeck was an Australian actor who worked extensively in film, theatre, radio and television. She is best known for her performance as the wife of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in Smithy and for playing the lead in Autumn Affair , Australia's first television serial.-Selected Filmography:*...
, David Nettheim, Minnie Love, Joan Landor, Evelyn Cartwright, John Weiner - WintersetWintersetWinterset can refer to:* Winterset, Iowa, a city in Madison County, Iowa* Winterset , a play by Maxwell Anderson* Winterset , a 1936 film adapatation of the play* Winterset City Park, a public, city-owned park in Winterset, Iowa...
by Maxwell AndersonMaxwell AndersonJames Maxwell Anderson was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist and lyricist.-Early years:Anderson was born in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to William Lincoln "Link" Anderson, a Baptist minister, and Charlotte Perrimela Stephenson, both of Scots and Irish descent...
- December 1952 - Directed by Robin Lovejoy; starring Paul McNaughten, Harp McGuire, Gloria Payten, Ivon Vander, John Weiner - Happily Ever After, 'an informal musical topicality' by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
with additional material from Fred Parsons, Ray Mathew, Kenneth Levison - December 1952 - Directed by Leila Blake; starring Moira Redmond, Frank Lisle, Patricia Martin, Minnie Love, Owen Weingott, Mark Roberts, Yvonne Louise, Valerie Newstead, Mark Roberts, Sonia Dowling. Sets by Peter Summerton and Francois Chollot - As You Like ItAs You Like ItAs You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- February 1953 - Directed by Leila Blake; starring Roger ClimpsonRoger ClimpsonRoger Climpson OAM MBE is a British-born Australian newsreader, best known for his time at Seven News in the 1980s and 1990s and for his hosting duties on various shows from 1977 until 1998.- Early life :...
, Charles Tasman, Mark Roberts, Rosamund Waring, Ken HannamKen HannamKen Hannam was an Australian film and television director.-Career:Born in Melbourne, the eldest of three boys, Hannam lived in his youth in Sydney and was educated at Wollaroi College in New South Wales. He worked in Australian radio and television, then moved in 1968 to England... - Don Juan in Hell by George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
- a reading only - Starring Lloyd BerrellLloyd BerrellLloyd Berrell was a New Zealand actor who played Roo in the original Sydney production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. He worked extensively in Australian radio and theatre, and appeared in a large portion of the few films being shot locally at the time...
, Kevin Brennan, Brenda Dunrich, Charles TingwellCharles TingwellIn 1941, aged 18, he volunteered for war service overseas with the Royal Australian Air Force. Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, personnel from Commonwealth air forces were part of a joint training and assignment system. Consequently, Tingwell trained as a pilot in Canada during 1942...
, Reg Goldsworthy. - Charley's AuntCharley's AuntCharley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....
by Brandon ThomasBrandon ThomasWalter Brandon Thomas was an English actor, playwright and song writer, best known as the author of the farce Charley's Aunt....
- March 1953 - Directed by Alexander Archdale; starring Richard Ashley, Alexander Archdale, Mark Roberts, John MeillonJohn MeillonJohn Meillon was an Australian actor, most widely known outside Australia for his role as Walter Reilly in the films "Crocodile" Dundee and "Crocodile" Dundee II. He also voiced Victoria Bitter beer commercials until his death.-Biography:Meillon was born in Mosman, Sydney... - Ring Round the MoonRing Round the MoonRing Round the Moon is a 1950 adaptation by the English dramatist Christopher Fry of Jean Anouilh's Invitation to the Castle . Peter Brook commissioned Fry to adapt the play and the first production of Ring Round the Moon was given at the Globe Theatre...
by Jean AnouilhJean AnouilhJean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's...
adapted by Christopher FryChristopher FryChristopher Fry was an English playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, notably The Lady's Not for Burning, which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:...
- April 1953 - Starring Dennis Glenny, Barrie Cookson, Diana Davidson, Patricia Martin, John Barnard, Lyndall Barbour. Sets and costume designed by Robin Lovejoy - The Man with a Load of Mischief by Ashley Dukes - May 1953
- The Happy TimeThe Happy TimeThe Happy Time is a 1952 movie directed by the award-winning director Richard Fleischer, based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Robert Fontaine, which Samuel A. Taylor turned it into a hit play. A boy, played by Bobby Driscoll, comes of age in a close-knit French-Canadian family. The film...
by Samuel TaylorSamuel TaylorSamuel Taylor may refer to:* Sam Taylor , British author* Sam Taylor , US musician* Sam Taylor , US film director and screenwriter...
- June 1953 - Directed by Leila Blake; starring Lloyd BerrellLloyd BerrellLloyd Berrell was a New Zealand actor who played Roo in the original Sydney production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. He worked extensively in Australian radio and theatre, and appeared in a large portion of the few films being shot locally at the time...
, Rodney TaylorRodney TaylorVice Admiral Rodney Graham Taylor AO was a senior officer in the Royal Australian Navy, serving as Chief of Navy from 1994 to 1997. Born in Queensland, Taylor joined the Royal Australian Naval College at the age of thirteen. Graduating as dux of his year in 1957, he later specialised in navigation...
, Owen Weingott, Jean Anderson, Gustl Korner, Rosemund Waring - The Reluctant Dragon/Circus - June 1953
- The Voice of the TurtleThe Voice of the TurtleThe Voice of the Turtle is a comedy film starring Ronald Reagan, Eleanor Parker, Eve Arden, and Wayne Morris, directed by Irving Rapper, and based on the long-running 1943 play of the same name by John Van Druten....
by John van Druten - July 1953 - Directed by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
; starring Joan Landor, Kerry Norton, Harp McGuire - Three one act plays in August 1953
- The Tenor by Frank WedekindFrank WedekindBenjamin Franklin Wedekind , usually known as Frank Wedekind, was a German playwright...
- August 1953 - Directed by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
; starring Paul Herlinger, Jon Ewing, Kenneth Warren, Jocelyn Hernfield, Gustl Korner, Penelope Muller, Edith Schreiber - The ProposalA Marriage ProposalA Marriage Proposal is a one-act farce by Anton Chekhov, written in 1888-1889 and first performed in 1890...
by ChekhovChekhov- People :* Alexander Chekhov, older brother of Anton Chekhov* Anton Chekhov , Russian writer** Chekhov Gymnasium, school, and now museum in Taganrog** Chekhov Library, public library in Taganrog** Anton Chekhov class motorship...
- Directed by Owen Weingott; starring Gustl Korner, Gloria Payten, Denys Burrows - Fumed OakFumed OakFumed Oak is a short play in two scenes by Noël Coward, one of ten that make up Tonight at 8:30, a cycle written to be performed across three evenings. Coward billed the work as an "unpleasant comedy in two scenes"...
by Noel CowardNoël CowardSir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
- Directed by Leila Blake; starring Ken HannamKen HannamKen Hannam was an Australian film and television director.-Career:Born in Melbourne, the eldest of three boys, Hannam lived in his youth in Sydney and was educated at Wollaroi College in New South Wales. He worked in Australian radio and television, then moved in 1968 to England...
, Zelle Gordon, Beryl Marshall, Jean Anderson
- The Tenor by Frank Wedekind
- The Biggest Thief in Town by Dalton TrumboDalton TrumboJames Dalton Trumbo was an American screenwriter and novelist, and one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of film professionals who refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry...
- August 1953 - Directed by Joe Scully - Tovarich by Jacques Deval adapted by Robert E. SherwoodRobert E. SherwoodRobert Emmet Sherwood was an American playwright, editor, and screenwriter.-Biography:Born in New Rochelle, New York, he was a son of Arthur Murray Sherwood, a rich stockbroker, and his wife, the former Rosina Emmet, a well-known illustrator and portrait painter known as Rosina E. Sherwood...
September 1953 - directed by Leila Blake; starring Owen Weingott, Gloria Payten, Edith Schreiber, Paul Herlinger, Ken HannamKen HannamKen Hannam was an Australian film and television director.-Career:Born in Melbourne, the eldest of three boys, Hannam lived in his youth in Sydney and was educated at Wollaroi College in New South Wales. He worked in Australian radio and television, then moved in 1968 to England...
; sets designed and executed by Sydney John KaySydney John KayKurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
and Ken HannamKen HannamKen Hannam was an Australian film and television director.-Career:Born in Melbourne, the eldest of three boys, Hannam lived in his youth in Sydney and was educated at Wollaroi College in New South Wales. He worked in Australian radio and television, then moved in 1968 to England... - The Day's Mischief by Leslie Stone - Directed by John Appleton starring Peter Houston, Wendy Blacklock, Brenda Senders
- The Servant of Two Masters by Goldoni