form y separately published work icon The Devil's Playground single work   film/TV  
Issue Details: First known date: 1976... 1976 The Devil's Playground
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

Set in a Catholic seminary outside Melbourne in 1953, an era in which aspiring priests would begin training in their early teens for their eventual vocation, The Devil's Playground is a study not only of life in a religious school but also of its effects on the students' lives, morals, and mental states. The protagonist, thirteen-year-old Tom Allen, is constantly getting in trouble for his behaviour, which includes wetting his bed, showering in the nude, and always being late. Although he spends many hours in the chapel praying for guidance, his impure thoughts terrify him. The priests and brothers who teach him also struggle with their own desires, while at the same time arguing for greater discipline. Indeed, most of the order - postulates and priests alike - have doubts about their vocation. Through the loneliness, fear, and shame, Tom begins to ponder his future.


[Source: Australian Screen]

Notes

  • The film is essentially based on Fred Schepisi's own experiences as a postulate in a Catholic seminary college.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

The Spoken and Unspoken Nature of Child Abuse in the Miniseries Devil's Playground : The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, The Catholic Church and Television Drama in Australia Terrie Waddell , Timothy W. Jones , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Media International Australia , vol. 159 no. 1 2016; (p. 83-93)

'In a departure from Fred Schepisi’s film The Devil’s Playground, the television sequel Devil’s Playground focuses on the cultural impact of priest child abuse. It will be argued that the prolific mainstream media coverage of these crimes before the series was made, and anticipated during its screening, lent a form of permission to green light the production. In focusing on Case 28 of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, this article will draw attention to the problematic nature of dramatising priest abuse in mainstream Australian television. While victims have willingly voiced graphic details of the sexual violence they experienced as children, after decades of silence, it is as if networks and producers are only now awkwardly grappling with these uncomfortable realities. In the process of sanitising such abusive behaviour, they reduce the degree of cruelty that survivors are intent on communicating.'

Source: Sage Publishing.

Great Australian Directorial Debuts Erin Free , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 14 March 2016;
'Strong Actor' : Nick Tate Anne Pender , 2016 single work biography
— Appears in: Players : Australian Actors on Stage, Television and Film 2016;
'After more than fifty years as an actor Nick Tate recalls the opening night of Don's Party at the Old Tote Theatre in Sydney on 20 September 1972 as ‘thrilling’ and ‘extraordinary’. Standing on stage at the curtain call alongside Pat Bishop, Wendy Blacklock, John Ewart and the other cast members, Tate felt a sense of pure pride and satisfaction ‘to be involved with an Australian production of that quality… It was a huge landmark in my life’ Tate recalls. The success of the production was gratifying, particularly as he had very nearly given away the chance of playing Don, and had so many misgivings initially. Tate was thirty years of age when he appeared in the Williamsonplay. From that day on he did not question his future.' (Introduction)
The Devil’s Playground Rewatched – Confronting Take on Catholic Repression Luke Buckmaster , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 27 February 2015;

— Review of The Devil's Playground Fred Schepisi , 1976 single work film/TV
Devilish Program is Set to Rise Again Penelope Debelle , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 17 July 2014; (p. 17)
Iconic Moments in Cinema : Australia, Part 1 : [The Devil’s Playground] Scott Murray , 2008-2009 single work review
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , no. 49 2008-2009;

— Review of The Devil's Playground Fred Schepisi , 1976 single work film/TV
The Devil’s Playground Rewatched – Confronting Take on Catholic Repression Luke Buckmaster , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 27 February 2015;

— Review of The Devil's Playground Fred Schepisi , 1976 single work film/TV
y separately published work icon The Devil's Playground Christos Tsiolkas , Strawberry Hills Canberra : Currency Press ScreenSound Australia , 2002 Z1046714 2002 single work criticism 'Christos Tsiolkas invites you into his twenty-five year journey of viewing, reviewing and re-imagining the film [The Devil's Playground]. He remembers his first illicit experience of the film at age thirteen and describes how his views of it changed in later years. As he chronicles the impact of The Devil's Playground on the development of his love of cinema, he also explores the film in terms of sexuality, politics, history and aesthetics.' -- Currency Press website (http://www.currency.com.au/film_index.htm)
Insistent Bodies Versus the Rule : Male Sexualities and Gender Identities in the Devil's Playground Josephine May , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies , January vol. 10 no. 1 2006; (p. 107-123)
form y separately published work icon Fred Schepisi : Writer, Producer, Director Australian Film Television and Radio School , Chatswood : Australian Film Television and Radio School , 1984 Z1620879 1984 single work film/TV Fred Schepisi talks about his career from its beginnings in advertising through his first Australian features, The Devil's Playground and The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, to his Hollywood productions, Barbarosa and Iceman. His basic message is that 'you must make pictures that you feel'.
The Young and the Desperate Lynden Barber , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 4 November 2009; (p. 19)
form y separately published work icon Right Said Fred Right Said Fred: Fred Schepisi - Film Director Steve Warne , ( dir. Don Featherstone ) South Melbourne : Featherstone Productions , 1993 Z1669029 1993 single work film/TV

Right Said Fred tracks director Fred Schepisi's career from his days as an advertising man through to his latest film project, Six Degrees of Separation. Illustrated with extracts from his movies, it also includes lengthy sequences from in-depth interviews recorded over the years; scenes of Fred at work in the cutting room and at a sound mixing session; and interviews with actors and colleagues, including Donald Sutherland and Meryl Streep.

Awards

Last amended 24 Oct 2011 11:12:12
X