Written by Oriel Gray Original language English First performance 2 February 1960 | Date premiered 2 Feb 1960 Subject race relations Playwright Oriel Gray | |
Place premiered Little Theatre, South Yarra, Melbourne | ||
Burst of Summer is a 1959 play by Oriel Gray.
Contents
Plot
Racial tensions that erupt in a small town when a young Aboriginal girl gains brief notability as a film actress. White townsfolk decide to build houses and move the Indigenous residents of the 'The Flats' into them.
Background
The story story is based on the story of Ngarla Kunoth who was cast in the lead of Charles Chauvel's film Jedda.
Original Production
The play was first produced in 1960.
Cast
1960 Radio Adaptation
The play was performed on ABC radio in 1960.
1961 TV Adaptation
The play was broadcast in 1961 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Filming took place at the ABC's Melbourne Studios in South Bank.
Cast
Production
Robert Tudawali was flown from Darwin to Melbourne to make his first appearance in a live television drama. He had already been seen in the filmed series Whiplash.
Reception
The TV critic from the Sydney Morning Herald called it a "half-hearted stab" at writing a story on the problems of the aboriginal in a white society, despite some good acting from Georgia Lee and Edward Howell. He added, "One couldn't escape the feeling that the author had dashed it off after seeing too many American movies, rather than making a serious attempt to put the Australian colour problem into its own perspective. It's a pity this missed out, because there is a goldmine of material on the aboriginal waiting for a skilled, sensitive writer to tap it."