The Swagman

The Swagman is a 1965 Australian television play.[4] It aired as part of Wednesday Theatre.

For the defunct restaurant formerly located in Melbourne, Australia, see Swagman Restaurant.
"The Swagman"
Wednesday Theatre episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 13
Directed byHenri Safran
Teleplay byIan Stuart Black
Featured musicAndy Sundstrom
Original air date31 March 1965 (Sydney, Melbourne)[1][2]
Running time60 mins[3]

Despite being set in Australia, it was written by a British writer.[5]

A copy of the production is held at the National Archives of Australia.[6]

Plot

Jack and Jane Bell are a married couple who live on a small sheep farm. Jane is a young Englishwoman who cannot adjust to the isolation of the outback.

Jane becomes attracted to the hired hand, a young Australian-born Italian, Tony. Jane and Tony arrange to be alone on the farm for one night, but their romantic plans are spoiled by the arrival of a swagman .

Cast
  • June Thody – Jane Bell
  • Vincent Gil – Tony
  • Don Reid – Jack Bell
  • Edward Hepple – The Swagman
  • Brenda Sender

Production

The play was written by English author Ian Stuart Black who had never visited Australia. It was selected for production by Henri Safran.[7] It was the world premiere of the play.[8]

The play was shot in ABC's studios in Gore Hill, Sydney. The swagman was played by Edward Hepple, an English-born actor who had moved to Australia a number of years previously.[9]

Reception

The TV critic for The Sydney Morning Herald said Safran "avoided the common fault of accentuating the Australian features" of the play. "An Australian production which does not stamp 'this is Australia' on any local subject matter may be said to make great strides in maturity and competence and there was promising evidence of this in excellent acting, capable camera work and fluency of treatment."[10]

Another critic from the same paper said that although the play "had... some holes in its... story big enough to sink the entire cast and author combined, it came off as one of the finest bits of Australian drama from the A.B.C.'s Sydney studios... an absorbing bit of stuff. It plunged straight into the centre of the story with a minimum of preamble, the cast all turned in workmanlike performances, and action and suspense (even with those implausible holes) was sustained to the last."[11]

A critic from The Canberra Times said the pay "opens tautly with not a moment wasted in creating the setting for a night of adultery" but that the writer was "unable to sustain this idea in the same vein. Overt blackmail by the tramp becomes the means of this progressive intrusion rather than the more subtle action of the couple's own guilt and fear. Paradoxically, the dramatic inevitability and tension arc shattered.[7]

The Age TV critic said "it offended Australian women by implying bush wives are as hard as nails to swagmen... it made repeated and I think unnecessary, disparaging references to Italian migrants... painted a false picture of the swagman... the producer's quest for 'realism' provided early embarrassment with protracted scenes of passion on the bed which left nothing to the imagination... [the ABC] should have warned viewers of the 'torrid' scenes in store. One hesitates to slam the ABC so hard for presenting a drama with an Australian theme. But the viewer has the right to expect dramas selected by the national network to have merit, and not to be produced on the strength of the title alone, which seems to have been the case here."[12]

Another column in The Age used the play to discuss the uncertainty of Australian censorship laws and called it "unquestionably a well-designed, well-presented, well-acted play. But why the ABC has to concentrate so much on raw meat and the unwholesome passeth all understanding."[13]

Controversy

The screening of the program prompted letters of complaint from viewers.[14][15][16][17][18][19]

One letter called it a "sordid ugly spectacle of a married woman being outraged."[20] This led to a series of correspondence.[21][22][23][24]

The Canberra Times called it among the best locally produced television dramas of 1965.[25]

Radio version

The play was adapted for radio and broadcast by the ABC on 30 May 1965.[26][27]

See also
  • List of live television plays broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1950s)

References
  1. "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 30 March 1965. p. 16.
  2. "TV Guide". The Age. 25 March 1965. p. 27.
  3. "WEDNESDAY". The Canberra Times. 39 (11, 116). 29 March 1965. p. 18. Retrieved 20 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "U.K. playwright, long range view". The Canberra Times. 2 April 1965. p. 15. Retrieved 23 June 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  6. The Swagman at National Archives of Australia
  7. "U.K. playwright, long range view". The Canberra Times. 39 (11, 120). 2 April 1965. p. 15. Retrieved 28 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. Marshall, Valda (2 May 1965). "Cilla Black to head names in spectacular". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 96.
  9. "Play set on a farm". Sydney Morning Herald. 23 March 1965. p. 14.
  10. "Play on ABN". Sydney Morning Herald. 1 April 1965. p. 10.
  11. Marshall, Valda (4 April 1965). "TV round up". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 92.
  12. The Televiewer (9–15 April 1965). "Teletopics". The Age TV-Radio Guide.
  13. Monitor (10 April 1965). "Are we ready for colour TV?". The Age. p. 23.
  14. "Seeing filth on A.B.C. TV". The Canberra Times. 39 (11, 120). 2 April 1965. p. 2. Retrieved 28 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "ABC play not sordid". The Canberra Times. 39 (11, 121). 3 April 1965. p. 2. Retrieved 28 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. "Letters to the Editor". The Canberra Times. 39 (11, 122). 5 April 1965. p. 2. Retrieved 28 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. "ABC play only a symptom". The Canberra Times. 39 (11, 123). 6 April 1965. p. 2. Retrieved 28 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. "The healthy disciplined life". The Canberra Times. 39 (11, 124). 7 April 1965. p. 2. Retrieved 28 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. "THE SOUTHERN TABLELAND NATIVE GOES WALKABOUT TO ORANGE Feeding the idiot box". The Canberra Times. 6 September 1965. p. 2. Retrieved 23 June 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. "Realism overdone in TV play". The Age. 7 April 1965. p. 2.
  21. "TV play with message". The Age. 13 April 1965. p. 2.
  22. "Realism in entertainment". The Age. 17 April 1965. p. 2.
  23. "Play's theme of adaptation". The Age. 19 April 1965. p. 2.
  24. "Avoiding the swagman". The Age. 21 April 1965. p. 2.
  25. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105880447
  26. The Swagman at AusStage
  27. "Radio Guide". The Age. 27 May 1965. p. 32.

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