Burke's Company
The Age 13 May 1968
Written byBill Reed
Date premiered18 September 1966 (reading)
Place premieredEmerald Theatre, Melbourne
Original languageEnglish
SubjectBurke and Wills expedition
Genrehistorical drama

Burke's Company is a 1966 Australia stage play by Bill Reed about the Burke and Wills expedition.

It was given a reading at the Emerald Theatre under Wal Cherry and was later produced by the Melbourne Theatre Company for a production starting 7 May 1968.[1][2]

An early production was sponsored by the Elizabethan Theatre Trust. It was adapted for ABC radio in 1969.

The play was published in book form in 1969.[3]

It was revived in 1985 and also performed in London in 1971.[4]

Reception

The Age called it "a haunting fusion of poetry and mime, captured by George Ogilvie's imaginative production."[5]

Historian Peter Fitzpatrick called it "the most achieved of Reed’s plays. It juxtaposes the events of the trek itself with the agonizings of Brahe, the man left in charge of the stockade to wait for the return of Burke, Wills and King. Brahe’s decision to give up the wait and go back, his discovery later with King’s return that Burke might still he out there and later still that he decamped just nine hours too soon, and the proceedings of the court of enquiry, all slip in unchronologically. Reed draws on a number of telling non-naturalistic devices to mime the horrors of Burke’s return, and to counterpoint Brahe’s anguish."[6]

According to Gabrielle Wolf, the play "had a significant impact on the local theatre scene. Members of the La Mama Company learned from and were inspired by it."[7]

Radio Adaptation

The play was adapted for radio in 1969 with George Whaley as Burke, Brian James as Wills and Frederick Parslow as King.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Playwright try out". The Age. 4 May 1968. p. 8.
  2. ↑ Radic, Leonard (10 March 1986). "Leading stage director dies in the US". The Age. p. 11.
  3. ↑ Radic, Leonard (26 July 1969). "Our tragedy, written in small script". The Age. p. 9.
  4. ↑ "Theatres". The Observer. 6 June 1971. p. 24.
  5. ↑ Hutton, Geoffrey (28 December 1968). "Ballet on the frontline". The Age. p. 13.
  6. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Peter (1979). After "The doll" : Australian drama since 1955. p. 165.
  7. ↑ Wolf, Gabrielle (2008). Make it Australian : the Australian Performing Group, the Pram Factory and new wave theatre. Currency Press. p. 24.
  8. ↑ "Radio plays this week". The Age. 23 January 1969. p. 30.
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