Rusty Bugles
Encyclopedia
Rusty Bugles was a controversial Australia
n play written by Sumner Locke Elliott
that toured extensively throughout Australia between 1948–1949 and achieved the notoriety of being closed down by the Chief Secretary
's Office for obscenity.
It was first produced by Doris Fitton
and Sydney's Independent Theatre
company on 14 Oct 1948, and advertised as an "army comedy documentary". The announcement of its ban was made J. M. Baddeley, Chief Secretary and acting Premier of New South Wales
, on 22 October but after initially defying the ban, Doris Fitton avoided a forced closure by commissioning a rewrite from the author. The Independent Theatre took the play, after an unprecedented 20-week run in New South Wales, to reopen The King's Theatre, Melbourne
. Meanwhile, another company was playing "Rusty Bugles" at Killara, so it was the first Australian play to run simultaneously in two States. The words which were the subject of the ban gradually reappeared; no legal action was ever taken, though rewrites were demanded in different States. At the end of its record 6-month run in Melbourne, the production transferred to Adelaide, then returned to Sydney at the Tatler. But now critics were writing that it was being played for laughs, with the swearing self-conscious rather than part of the patois
.
The publisher of the play, Currency Press
, quotes Elliott as saying that Rusty Bugles was 'a documentary... Not strictly a play... it has no plot in the accepted sense'. Locke Elliott did not foresee that shortly after this, the genre of the theatre of the absurd
would be established as 'legitimate' a dramatic form where plot and the delineation of character are less important than the insight offered into the implicit drama of most human interactions.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n play written by Sumner Locke Elliott
Sumner Locke Elliott
Sumner Locke Elliott was an Australian novelist.-Biography:Elliott was born in Sydney to the writer Helena Sumner Locke and the journalist Henry Logan Elliott. His mother died of eclampsia one day after his birth...
that toured extensively throughout Australia between 1948–1949 and achieved the notoriety of being closed down by the Chief Secretary
Chief Secretary
The Chief Secretary is the title of a senior civil servant in members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and, historically, in the British Empire. Prior to the dissolution of the colonies, the Chief Secretary was the second most important official in a colony of the British Empire after the...
's Office for obscenity.
It was first produced by Doris Fitton
Doris Fitton
Doris Alice Fitton Mason, DBE was an Australian actress and theatrical director who founded and for 35 years headed Sydney's Independent Theatre, staging a diverse range of local and international dramas, many for the first time in Australia, including Sumner Locke-Elliott's wartime comedy, Rusty...
and Sydney's Independent Theatre
Independent Theatre
The Independent Theatre was a dramatic society founded in 1930 by Doris Fitton , and was also the name given to the building it occupied from 1938. It was named for London's Independent Theatre Society founded by J. T...
company on 14 Oct 1948, and advertised as an "army comedy documentary". The announcement of its ban was made J. M. Baddeley, Chief Secretary and acting Premier of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, on 22 October but after initially defying the ban, Doris Fitton avoided a forced closure by commissioning a rewrite from the author. The Independent Theatre took the play, after an unprecedented 20-week run in New South Wales, to reopen The King's Theatre, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. Meanwhile, another company was playing "Rusty Bugles" at Killara, so it was the first Australian play to run simultaneously in two States. The words which were the subject of the ban gradually reappeared; no legal action was ever taken, though rewrites were demanded in different States. At the end of its record 6-month run in Melbourne, the production transferred to Adelaide, then returned to Sydney at the Tatler. But now critics were writing that it was being played for laughs, with the swearing self-conscious rather than part of the patois
Patois
Patois is any language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. It can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects, and other forms of native or local speech, but not commonly to jargon or slang, which are vocabulary-based forms of cant...
.
The publisher of the play, Currency Press
Currency Press
Currency Press is Australia's only specialist performing arts publisher and its oldest independent publisher still active. Their list includes plays and screenplays, professional handbooks, biographies, cultural histories, critical studies and reference works....
, quotes Elliott as saying that Rusty Bugles was 'a documentary... Not strictly a play... it has no plot in the accepted sense'. Locke Elliott did not foresee that shortly after this, the genre of the theatre of the absurd
Theatre of the Absurd
The Theatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work...
would be established as 'legitimate' a dramatic form where plot and the delineation of character are less important than the insight offered into the implicit drama of most human interactions.
The Cast of Rusty Bugles (1948)
- Des Nolan ("Gig") - John KingsmillJohn KingsmillJohn Kingsmill is an Australian author, one time actor and public speaker, and amateur social historian. He was born in Sydney in 1920 and educated at Sydney Boys High School. He was on active service in WW2, after which he completed his accountancy studies and was in practice for some years...
- Vic Richards - Ivor Bromley-Smith
- Sergeant Brooks - Sidney Chambers
- Rod Carsen - Ronald Frazer
- Andy Edwards ("The Little Corporal") - Robert Crome
- Otford ("Ot") - Alistair Roberts
- Mac - Frank O'Donnell
- Ollie - John Unicomb
- Chris - Kevin Healy
- "Darky" McClure - 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...
- "Keghead" Stephens - Ralph Peterson
- Corporal - doubled
- Ken Falcon ("Dean Maitland") - Michael Barnes
- First Private - Jack Wilkinson
- Second Private - James Lyons
- Bill Hendry (YMCAYMCAThe Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
Sergeant) - Frank Curtain - Private - Peter Hartland
- Jack Turner (Sigs Corporal) - doubled
- Sigs Private - doubled
- Sammy Kuhn - Kenneth Colbert