Ned Kelly (play)

Ned Kelly is a 1942 radio play by Douglas Stewart about the outlaw Ned Kelly. It was later adapted into a stage play which was in turn adapted for television.[1]

Ned Kelly
Genreverse drama
Country of originAustralia
Language(s)English
Written byDouglas Stewart
Original releaseJune 21, 1942 (1942-06-21)

The play was first produced as a radio play on the ABC, 21 June 1942. It was originally written for stage then adapted into radio but was broadcast on radio first.[2]

Stewart wanted to follow The Fire on the Snow "with a play that would be its reverse —a study of the heroic will perverted. Looking for a character who would thus be a kind of Miltonic Satan, a hero yet thoroughly bad, I thought about doing a celebrated New Zealand murderer, but decided he was too repulsive a figure to put on the stage. Then I thought of Ned Kelly.” He said he wanted his play to be “a study of the fascinating mixture of good and bad in Ned’s character —the boisterous good humor that made him popular, the arrogance that made him hated; the murderous impulses that could lead him to attempt to wreck a train; the amazing courage he showed when his plans went wrong; the laughter of the man and the loneliness of the outlaw; the pride that sustained him, and the pride that led to his destruction.” [3]

The play was published in book form in 1943.[4]

Later Productions

The play was produced again on ABC radio in 1945,[5] 1947 (called "the finest Australian radio play of the year"[6] and 1951.[7]

Syd Conbere and Wynn Roberts had performed the play on radio in March 1959.[8][9]

Stage play

See Ned Kelly (stage play)

1959 television version

The play was adapted for television in 1959.

References
  1. Vagg, Stephen (15 January 2022). "Forgotten Australian Television Plays: A Tale of Two Kellys". Filmink.
  2. "Verse Play Is Study of Ned Kelly", The wireless weekly : the hundred per cent Australian radio journal, Sydney: Wireless Press (Vol. 37 No. 24 (June 20, 1942)), nla.obj-726271728, retrieved 22 October 2023 – via Trove
  3. "Play on the Air Ned Kelly-a Hero yet thoroughly Bad", ABC weekly, Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Commission (Vol. 4 No. 25 (20 June 1942)), 1939, nla.obj-1331671196, retrieved 22 October 2023 – via Trove
  4. "Kelly in a Poet's Hands". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 32, 833. New South Wales, Australia. 20 March 1943. p. 6. Retrieved 22 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. Australian Broadcasting Commission. (1939), "This week's A.B.C. PLAYS on the National programmes", ABC weekly, Sydney: ABC (Vol. 7 No. 22 (2 June 1945)), nla.obj-1327011260, retrieved 22 October 2023 – via Trove
  6. ""Ned Kelly" -- The Radio Play Of The Year". Smith's Weekly. Vol. XXIX, no. 30. New South Wales, Australia. 20 September 1947. p. 20. Retrieved 22 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Kelly Story from LO". The Age. No. 29, 880. Victoria, Australia. 2 February 1951. p. 1 (THE AGE RADIO SUPPLEMENT). Retrieved 22 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "A.B.C. radio plays for the week". ABC Weekly. 11 March 1959. p. 12.
  9. "No title identifier". ABC Weekly. 11 March 1959. p. 13.
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