A Spring Song
Performances: add details
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==Performances== |
==Performances== |
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===Australian productions=== |
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The play was given a reading by the [[Elizabethan Theatre Trust]] in 1957. [[The Age]] called the script "moving".{{cite news|first=Bruce|last=Grant|newspaper=The Age|date=31 August 1957|page= 19|title=A source of great richness}} It played at Gowrie Hall in Brisbane, followed by the Sydney Pocket Theatre in 1958 and the [[The Sydney Morning Herald|Sydney Morning Herald]] said it was "not a success".{{cite news|title=New play by Ray Mathew|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=8 August 1958|page= 4}} It was performed at Willard Hall in Adelaide in 1963. |
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Mathew's play ''[[The Life of the Party (play)|The Life of the Party]]'' had recently been a finalist in [[The Observer Plays|a play competiton]]. ''A Spring Song'' was given a reading by the [[Elizabethan Theatre Trust]] in 1957. [[The Age]] called the script "immature, pretentious and unskilled" but "moving in a way not often encountered in our country."{{cite news|first=Bruce|last=Grant|newspaper=The Age|date=31 August 1957|page= 19|title=A source of great richness}} |
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It played at Gowrie Hall in Brisbane, followed by the Sydney Pocket Theatre in 1958 and the [[The Sydney Morning Herald|Sydney Morning Herald]] said it was "not a success... but there is enough thoughtfulness and originality to suggest that his [Mathews'] future will contain plays of solid importance".{{cite news|first=Lindsay|last=Browne|title=New play by Ray Mathew|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=8 August 1958|page= 4}} It was the financially the most successfulplay at the Pocket theatre for 1958.{{cite news|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=5 February 1959|page=22|title=Women to help with Moby Dick}} |
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| ⚫ | The play was successfully presented at the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe|Edinburgh Festival]] in 1964{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48565767 |title=Spring Song of Outback in London |newspaper=[[The Australian Women's Weekly]] |volume=32 |issue=25 |location=Australia, Australia |date=18 November 1964 |accessdate=26 July 2023 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}} and transferred to the West End that year.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131751879 |title=Sydney Playwright's London Opening – A spring song fell with a thud |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=39 |issue=10,964 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=30 September 1964 |accessdate=26 July 2023 |page=21 |via=National Library of Australia}} |
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It was performed at Willard Hall in Adelaide in 1963. |
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Since then, the play has been presented in various Australian locations, including The Playhouse, Broken Hill (1967), Taylor Street, Brisbane (1980), [[Stables Theatre, Sydney]] (1983), Studio Theatre, Melbourne (1985), [[Cremorne Theatre|Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane]] (1988) [[New Theatre, Sydney|Newtown Theatre, Sydney]] (1993) and Acton Street Theatre, Canberra (1994). A 1977 [[National Institute of Dramatic Art|NIDA]] production starred [[Annie Byron]], [[Wayne Jarratt]] and [[Debra Lawrance]] and was directed by [[Robert Menzies (actor)|Robert Menzies]].{{cite web|url= https://ausstage.edu.au/pages/work/1678 |title= ''A Spring Song'' |publisher= [[AusStage]]}} |
Since then, the play has been presented in various Australian locations, including The Playhouse, Broken Hill (1967), Taylor Street, Brisbane (1980), [[Stables Theatre, Sydney]] (1983), Studio Theatre, Melbourne (1985), [[Cremorne Theatre|Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane]] (1988) [[New Theatre, Sydney|Newtown Theatre, Sydney]] (1993) and Acton Street Theatre, Canberra (1994). A 1977 [[National Institute of Dramatic Art|NIDA]] production starred [[Annie Byron]], [[Wayne Jarratt]] and [[Debra Lawrance]] and was directed by [[Robert Menzies (actor)|Robert Menzies]].{{cite web|url= https://ausstage.edu.au/pages/work/1678 |title= ''A Spring Song'' |publisher= [[AusStage]]}} |
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Leslie Rees called it an "underdeveloped drama" with "hints of poetic insight, of pathos and the pain of living.{{cite book|page=317|title= The Making of Australian drama|last=Rees|first= Leslie|year=1987 |publisher=Angus & Robertson Publishers }} |
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===British productions=== |
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| ⚫ | The play was successfully presented at the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe|Edinburgh Festival]] in 1964{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48565767 |title=Spring Song of Outback in London |newspaper=[[The Australian Women's Weekly]] |volume=32 |issue=25 |location=Australia, Australia |date=18 November 1964 |accessdate=26 July 2023 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}} and transferred to the West End that year.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131751879 |title=Sydney Playwright's London Opening – A spring song fell with a thud |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=39 |issue=10,964 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=30 September 1964 |accessdate=26 July 2023 |page=21 |via=National Library of Australia}} |
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[[Evening Standard|The Evening Standard]] called it a "mellow, sentimental melodrama".{{cite news|newspaper=Evening Standard|date=29 September 1964|page= 4|title=This may bring a tear in Sydney}} |
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==Television adaptation== |
==Television adaptation== |
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