'A minister's ten year old son disappears, and a headless and mutilated body is found in the Thames. A partly obliterated birth mark—a star on the chest—convinces the minister that his brilliant and motherless son, to whom he was devotedly attached, has been foully murdered. He secures the position of hangman in the hope of one day executing his son's destroyer. The play opens with the newspaper reporters trying to play cards and taking brandy to screw their nerves up to witness an execution, which the hangman gloats over. After it is finished, the prison chaplain tells the hangman that the poor creature was more sinned against than sinning. "He told me yesterday that his father was a clergyman, and they were everything to each other. At the age of 10 he had a severe shock, and lost his memory. Years later he recovered, to find himself in league with a gang of criminals. He failed to find any trace of his father, who would have recognised him by a peculiar birthmark—a star—on his chest." With a gasp of horror the stricken father realises that he has just executed his own son!'
Source:
Kooee, 'City Jottings', Kapunda Herald, 30 October 1931, p.3.
The manuscript held in The Hanger Collection of Australian Manuscripts in the Fryer Library at the University of Queensland contains the following character notes:
Characters
MR. JENNINGS of the “Daily Mail.”
MR. WILSON of the “Morning Herald.”
MR. EATON of the “Evening Telegraph”
A YOUNG REPORTER
MR. JAMES TIBEY executioner of Greycliffe Prison.
THE REVERANT AMBROSE PIERCE Chaplain of the prison.
WARDERS, GUARDS, ASSISTANT EXECUTIONERS, ETC.
The Flail of God
Australia
:
Australian Broadcasting Commission
,
1932
8638415
1932
single work
radio play
'A minister's ten year old son disappears, and a headless and mutilated body is found in the Thames. A partly obliterated birth mark—a star on the chest—convinces the minister that his brilliant and motherless son, to whom he was devotedly attached, has been foully murdered. He secures the position of hangman in the hope of one day executing his son's destroyer. The play opens with the newspaper reporters trying to play cards and taking brandy to screw their nerves up to witness an execution, which the hangman gloats over. After it is finished, the prison chaplain tells the hangman that the poor creature was more sinned against than sinning. "He told me yesterday that his father was a clergyman, and they were everything to each other. At the age of 10 he had a severe shock, and lost his memory. Years later he recovered, to find himself in league with a gang of criminals. He failed to find any trace of his father, who would have recognised him by a peculiar birthmark—a star—on his chest." With a gasp of horror the stricken father realises that he has just executed his own son!'
Source:
Kooee, 'City Jottings', Kapunda Herald, 30 October 1931, p.3.
(Synopsis based on the original repertory theatre production.)
Said to have been based on Max Afford's own short story 'The Flail' ('The play is a dramatisation of the author's short story, 'The Flail,' by special permission of Smith's Newspapers Limited'), but this short story has not yet been traced.
Source:
'Repertory Play', Mail, 3 October 1931, p.22.
First produced on 7 October 1931, as one of four short plays by Australian authors at the Adelaide Repertory Theatre.
Producer: Frank Part.
Cast members included Frank Part (the Rev. Mr Tibey); Joseph Williams, Cyril Riley, Hedley Jones, and Ronald Peterson (the reporters); and Anthony Young (the prison chaplain).
