The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife single work   drama   - One act
Issue Details: First known date: 1922... 1922 The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Set on a stretch of rocky beach on an island off the north-west coast of Australia this one-act has two characters.

Mrs Boake, alone on an island lighthouse, recalls the death of her daughters as an Act of God. In the maudlin, sentimental simplicity of a mentally low old lady, she sings 'Abide With Me' as she reminisces. Her husband is gone to the mainland with two small pearls they have found. Parkson, a criminal, comes to frighten her into disclosing where the hoard is hidden, having heard of the pearls before Boake, inebriated, is knocked down and killed on the mainland. Her simplicity is her strength and Parkson cannot pierce her armour. She steadfastly holds to her assertion that there are no other pearls. She is shocked when he tells her of her husband's death, but refuses to leave the island with him and as he rows away she is heard singing 'Abide With Me'.

Abstract adapted fromThe Campbell Howard Annotated Index of Australian Plays 1920-1955.

Production Details

  • First produced by the Mermaid Play Society at the Playhouse, Melbourne, April 1922. Also produced at the Drama Theatre, Monash University, Melbourne, 28 September - 2nd October 1995.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Works about this Work

Five Plays by Women Thérèse Radic , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 179 1996; (p. 52-53)
— Review of The Gap Anna Broinowski , 1995 single work drama ; Feet of Clay Betty Roland , 1928 single work drama ; The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife Mary E. Wilkinson , 1922 single work drama ; Delphiniums Catherine Shepherd , 1943 single work drama ; Playing the Past : Three Plays by Australian Women Catherine Shepherd , Mary E. Wilkinson , Betty Roland , 1995 selected work drama ; The History of Water Noëlle Janaczewska , 1995 single work drama
Repertory Theatre in Australia : Introduction to Playing the Past : Three Plays by Australian Women Kerry Kilner , 1995 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Playing the Past : Three Plays by Australian Women 1995; (p. v-xvii)
The Drama E. C. Davidson , 1922 single work review
— Appears in: Corroboree : The Journal of the Australian Literature Society , May vol. 1 no. 8 1922; (p. 7)
Five Plays by Women Thérèse Radic , 1996 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 179 1996; (p. 52-53)
— Review of The Gap Anna Broinowski , 1995 single work drama ; Feet of Clay Betty Roland , 1928 single work drama ; The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife Mary E. Wilkinson , 1922 single work drama ; Delphiniums Catherine Shepherd , 1943 single work drama ; Playing the Past : Three Plays by Australian Women Catherine Shepherd , Mary E. Wilkinson , Betty Roland , 1995 selected work drama ; The History of Water Noëlle Janaczewska , 1995 single work drama
The Drama E. C. Davidson , 1922 single work review
— Appears in: Corroboree : The Journal of the Australian Literature Society , May vol. 1 no. 8 1922; (p. 7)
Repertory Theatre in Australia : Introduction to Playing the Past : Three Plays by Australian Women Kerry Kilner , 1995 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Playing the Past : Three Plays by Australian Women 1995; (p. v-xvii)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (3)
Last amended 29 Aug 2022 15:32:38
Subjects:
  • Western Australia,
Settings:
  • North Western Australia, Western Australia,
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