form y separately published work icon A Breach in the Wall single work   film/TV  
Issue Details: First known date: 1967... 1967 A Breach in the Wall
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'On December 29, 1170, a "turbulent priest" named Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was martyred in his own cathedral. For nearly three-and-a-half centuries his tomb behind the High Altar was the goal of countless pilgrims (including of course Chaucer's), seeking the Saint's blessing and hoping for cures. Then came the Reformation; and Thomas' coffin with the vast treasure which pilgrims had helped around it disappeared. In A Breach In The Wall, tonight's play, the Australian playwright Ray Lawler suggests what might be the consequences if the Saint's body were ever to come to light again.

'A Breach In The Wall is set some time in the near future. The parish church of the Kentish village of Valham is undergoing long-overdue restoration - restoration largely made possible by the fund-raising efforts of the able and radical young incumbent, Lewis Patterson. A walled-in chamber is discovered and within it is a coffin sealed with the crest of Becket. The excitement which follows is used by Mr Lawler to examine the state of the Churches, and Faith itself, today. Would the discovery help to breach the wall between the Anglican and Roman Churches? If the body again became an object of pilgrimage, would it cause an embarrassing revival of "superstition"?'

Source: Radio Times, 23 March 1967.

Notes

  • Television play.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) ,
      1967 .
      Extent: 70min.p.
      Series: form y separately published work icon The Wednesday Play BBC TV (publisher), London : BBC TV , 1964-1970 Z1649155 1964 series - publisher film/TV

      A British television series of one-off plays made by the BBC. The series gave breaks to a wide range of writers and directors in the late 1960s, including Dennis Potter, Ken Loach, David Mercer, and John Hopkins. Australia's Alan Seymour also had two of his plays produced in 1965 - The Trial and Torture of Sir John Rampayne and Auto-Stop. Some of the more famous productions include Up the Junction; Cathy Come Home; Stand Up Nigel Barton; Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton; On the Eve of Publication; and Son of Man. The series often addressed controversial issues such as homelessness and abortion.

      Number in series: 88
      1968 .
      Note/s:
      • Re-broadcast as part of the ABC's anthology series, Wednesday Theatre, on 22 May 1968.
      Series: y separately published work icon Wednesday Theatre Australia : Australian Broadcasting Commission , 1965-1969 7118326 1965 series - publisher

      An ABC anthology television series that played single-episode television programs from overseas, but also produced and promoted new Australian works.

      The individual works had no explicit thematic connection to one another, and the term 'theatre' was applied loosely: some instalments were adaptations of stage plays, but many appear to have been written directly as 'television plays'. The series also semi-regularly aired operas.

      In some instances, the productions were imported wholesale from other countries: 'Collect Your Hand Luggage' (aired 20 October 1965), for example, is a re-titled broadcast of ITV Television Playhouse episode 'Collect Your Hand Baggage' (originally aired in 1963).

      In other instances, the episodes are Australian productions of international works: 'Tartuffe' (aired 13 October 1965), for example, is an Australian production of the Moliere play, produced Henri Safran and with an Australian cast. These productions are only indexed individually on AustLit if there is a discernible Australian script-writer and/or localisation of the production.

      Wednesday Theatre followed a common pattern for anthology series on early Australian television, in that the Australian content rapidly dropped away and the series became primarily re-screenings of British productions: see also Stuart Wagstaff's World Playhouse.

      For a full listing of episodes and airdates, see under Film Details.

      Number in series: 4.21
Last amended 26 Nov 2014 14:52:49
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X