Cirrus@Austlit

Recreates the fraught relationship between Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine at the end of the nineteenth century.

Deals with the interactions of a 'xenophobic tramp and an English wife (June Thody) on a lonely sheep station, faced with temptation in the form of a handsome young Australian-born Italian labourer. Apart from the inclusion of an irrelevant character, the play opens tautly with not a moment wasted in creating the setting for a night of adultery. The arrival of the swagman (portrayed brilliantly by Edward Hepple) introduces a Pinteresque situation in which he slowly insinuates himself further and further, disrupting the couple's hoped-for night of solitary domesticity.'

Source: 'U.K. Playwright, Long Range View' (see Works About).

A country doctor at the end of the nineteenth century enters a closed community (The Community), whose members are forbidden contact with the outside world, to treat a dying girl and finds himself in conflict with their elder.

A faithful adaptation of Hal Porter's The Tower. 

Synopsis of the original play:

"The Tower takes place in 1850s Hobart, in the mansion of wealthy Sir Rodney de Havilland. Members of Sir Rodney’s household include his spinster sister Hester, his wheelchair-bound step-daughter Amy, his new 19 year-old-wife Selina, and creepy 14 year old son Edwin. Amy falls off the new tower being built on top of the house and signs point to it not being an accident. Was it suicide? Was she pushed? There are lots of twists and memorable characters (including a hunky ex-convict and dodgy maid), and the house is a wonderfully creepy setting in the style of Thornfield Hall or Manderley."

Source

A modern version of the Apollo and Daphne story, adapted by Australian script-writer John Warwick from the play by Scottish dramatist James Bridie.

'Rural comedy about two brothers, one of whom decides to find a wife by correspondence. The lady turns up, but isn't quite what the two inexperienced brothers expect.'

Source:

[Television guide], The canberra Times, 12 July 1965, p.16.

'Digger Smith comes back from World War II to his wife Shirl and baby daughter Betty and his modest house. Dig is a happy, uncomplicated man until the wave of prosperity catches up with him.'

Source:

[Television guide], The Canberra Times, 28 July 1965, p.19.

A contemporary newspaper report offers the following synopsis: 'The story deals with a crew which deserts a ship to find a fortune on the NSW goldfields of the 1850s and the efforts of the captain to lure them back on board.'

Source: '"Combat" Private in a Ballad', Canberra Times, 2 August 1965, p.1.

'Based Balzac's novel [sic] — Eugenie Grandet — a study of greed and the distorting effects on human beings whom it involves.'

Source:

[Television guide], The Canberra Times, 25 October 1965, p.18.

Described in contemporary television guides as 'A fast-moving comedy thriller set in present-day Australia' (Canberra Times, 2 May 1966, p.23).

No other information is currently available.

According to contemporary news reports, 'The story [was] built around the military occupation of an uneasy middle east country and a modern version of the Resurrection'.

Source:

Hay, John. 'Sanders' Spring Twitch', The Canberra Times, 26 August 1966, p.13.

An aspiring politician sees a UFO one night: when the news leaks, the political party from which he has just earnt pre-selection is furious, and tells him to keep silent on the subject for the sake of the party's image.

'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.

After a bridge collapse in Bali kills four adults and twenty-two children, the British and Australian construction and transport companies involved struggle to avoid the blame for the accident.