Out of This Nettle

Out of This Nettle is a 1952 Australian radio play by Max Afford. It is a drama set in the sugar cane region of Queensland.[1]

Out of this Nettle
Genredrama
Running time60 mins
Country of originAustralia
Language(s)English
Home stationABC
Written byMax Afford
Directed byJohn Cairns
Original release1952

The play was one of Afford's most acclaimed works.[2] The Australian setting was relatively rare at the time. Afford researched it in on a trip to Queensland.[3]

The ABC produced the play twice in 1952, in Sydney and Melbourne. The Sydney production was directed by Frank Harvey, one of the last radio plays he directed before his retirement.[4]

A critic from The Age said the play "had possibilities rather offset 'by too much dissertation on sugar, farming and the dragging in of taipans and pythons. It was the old Australian habit of insisting on Australia to the detriment of all else."[5] The same critic listened to another production of the play and liked it more saying "There is undoubtedly much good writing in it and a sense of theatre, which is almost completely . lacking in most of our aspiring playwrights."[6]

Leslie Rees said "Terse, vivid dialogue and economical shaping of plot are the play’s main merits."[7]

A copy of the script is at the University of Queensland's Fryer Library.[8]

Premise

David Noble, the son of a cane farmer, returns to his home in Queensland with an English wife, Vinnie. They struggle to adjust.[9]

Cast
  • Robert Peach as David Noble
  • Mary Disney as Vinnie Noble
  • Ruby May
  • Margaret Mouchemore
  • Kenrick Hudson

References
  1. "SATURDAY PLAYBILL "Out of This Nettle"". South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus. Vol. LII, no. 6. New South Wales, Australia. 21 January 1952. p. 2 (South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus feature section). Retrieved 26 August 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. Michael J. Tolley, 'Afford, Malcolm (Max) (1906–1954)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/afford-malcolm-max-9315/text16349, published first in hardcopy 1993, accessed online 26 August 2023.
  3. "Play writer was a visitor here". The Evening Advocate. Queensland, Australia. 5 February 1952. p. 5. Retrieved 26 August 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. Philp, Peter (2016). Drama in Silent Rooms. Eureka Media Communications. p. 391.
  5. "THE WEEK IN WIRELESS ". The Age. No. 30191. Victoria, Australia. 2 February 1952. p. 10. Retrieved 26 August 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "THE WEEK IN WIRELESS--". The Age. No. 30292. Victoria, Australia. 31 May 1952. p. 12. Retrieved 26 August 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards An Australian Drama. p. 107.
  8. Out of this Nettle at UQ
  9. Australian Broadcasting Commission. (1939), "RADIO PLAYS A.B.C.", ABC weekly, Sydney: ABC (Vol. 14 No. 21 (24 May 1952)), nla.obj-1663888215, retrieved 26 August 2023 – via Trove
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