Triad Drama Competition
Subcategory of Awards Australian Awards
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History

The Triad Drama Competition was hosted by Triad, the literary magazine.The competition called for Australian three-act plays. The winning plays were also produced in Australian capital cities. (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37942080)

Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 1931

winner y separately published work icon The Forerunners (in the Reign of Victoria) : A Historical Play E. C. Davidson , 1925 (Manuscript version)x400501 Z852347 1925 single work drama

Year: 1927

winner y separately published work icon Brumby Innes : A Play in Three Acts Katharine Susannah Prichard , 1927 (Manuscript version)8304401 8304396 1927 single work drama (taught in 4 units)

Brumby Innes 'begins with a corroboree and, like Coonardoo, attempts to engage with a portrayal of Aboriginal life. Its central character, Brumby Innes, is a swaggering drunk who exploits the black workers on his station and abuses the women; he bears a close resemblance to Sam Geary in Coonardoo. Yet, Brumby Innes provides the central energy of the drama, and the celebration of that energy in the play conflicts with the dramatic critique of his sexism and racism. Brumby Innes's character exemplifies the ambivalent attitude in Prichard's work toward this type of male hero. Portrayed as stereotypically masculine, such characters are admired for their energetic, vital sexuality; yet, the extreme limitations of such maleness are also acknowledged.'

Source: Bird, Delys. 'Katharine Susannah Prichard.' Australian Writers, 1915-1950. Ed. Selina Samuels. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 260.

Works About this Award

Brumby Innes : Australian Drama 1927 single work column
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 27 November 1927; (p. 1)

'Under the auspices of J. and N. Tait, a search was instituted some months ago for an Australian playwright, whose work would be worthy of production in the capital cities. To-day the judges came to a unanimous decision, after reading 107 plays which came from entrants in all States.

'The winner was Katherine [sic] Susannah Prichard, of Greenmount, Western Australia. Under the pen name of Meroo, Miss Prichard entered a three-act drama entitled Brumby Innes. According to Gregan M'Mahon, who probably will be its producer, Brumby Innes is comparable with the best work of Eugene O'Neill, the greatest of all present-day American dramatists.'

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