Nellie Lacey and the Bushranger

Nellie Lacey and the Bushranger is an Australian stage play by Charles Porter.

Nellie Lacey and the Bushranger
Genredrama play
Running time30 mins (9:00 pm – 9:30 pm)
Country of originAustralia
Language(s)English
SyndicatesABC
StarringPatricia Kennedy
Written byCharles Porter
Directed byJohn Cairns
Recording studioMelbourne
Original releaseMarch 13, 1943 (1943-03-13)

It was published in a 1944 collection of plays Six Australian one-act plays by Louis Esson [and others] by Mulga Publications.[1] The Bulletin said the play "(it would surely be better without its prologue and epilogue) has one nice moment of irony when the weakling settler, mistakenly believing that fifty guineas given by Midnight to his wife is a payment for her infidelity, “forgives” her for the sake of the money."[2]

The ABC originally produced it for radio in 1943, repeated it later that year, and produced it again in 1945[3] and once more in Brisbane in 1950.[4]

It is arguably the best known play from Porter, who Leslie Rees said "has an unusually precise ear for sound, and some psychological understanding, though critics have objected that his plays are fragmentary." Rees called the play "An engaging period trifle."[5]

Premise

A man and his wife are visited by the bushranger Captain Midnight.

References
  1. "From The "Scribe's" Book Case". The Mercury. Vol. CLX, no. 23, 018. Tasmania, Australia. 9 September 1944. p. 10. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. "Six One-acters.", The Bulletin, John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues)., Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald (Vol. 65 No. 3374 (11 Oct 1944)), 1880, ISSN 0007-4039, nla.obj-539542801, retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Trove
  3. "Programme Hightlights – What's on This Week", ABC weekly, Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Commission (Vol. 7 No. 33 (18 August 1945)), 1939, nla.obj-1401641705, retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Trove
  4. "The Week's Plays Over the A.B.C.", ABC weekly, Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Commission (Vol. 12 No. 16 (22 April 1950)), 1939, nla.obj-1692537043, retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Trove
  5. Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards An Australian Drama. p. 102.
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