The Earthquake Shakes the Land

The Earthquake Shakes the Land is an Australian radio play in verse by Douglas Stewart. It concerns the Invasion of the Waikato in the New Zealand Wars.[1] It was a companion piece to Stewart's The Golden Lover.[2]

The Earthquake Shakes the Land
Genreverse drama play
Running time90 mins (8:00 pm – 9:30 pm)
Country of originAustralia
Language(s)English
SyndicatesABC
Written byDouglas Stewart
Directed byFrank Cewlow
Original releaseAugust 22, 1944 (1944-08-22)

The play was well regarded. The ABC produced it again in 1948.[3]

The Bulletin reviewed it saying the play was"something too big for an hour and a half of radio. It is right that it should be played fast, but haste is different ; and the impression is that this is being hastily done."[4] Leslie Rees wrote "it had only a half-success when heard on the A.B.C. air."[5] Unlike Stewart's other verse plays performed on radio, The Fire in the Snow, Ned Kelly, Shipwrecked, Fisher's Ghost and The Golden Lover, it was not published in book form.[6]

Premise

During the New Zealand Wars, a Maori woman, Ngaere, had to choose between two lovers, one a Scottish settler, the other, a Maori.

References
  1. "Official Programmes – Maori play by Douglas Stewart", ABC weekly, Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Commission (Vol. 6 No. 34 (19 August 1944)), 1939, nla.obj-1338231174, retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Trove
  2. "Poet who lived in a packing case". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. XVI, no. 67. New South Wales, Australia. 9 June 1951. p. 11. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "Plays of the Week – Maori Heroine of Douglas Stewart Verse-Drama", ABC weekly, Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Commission (Vol. 10 No. 46 (13 November 1948)), 1939, nla.obj-1432539326, retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Trove
  4. "The Red Page – A Broadcast Play", The Bulletin, John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues)., Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald (Vol. 65 No. 3369 (6 Sep 1944)), 1880, ISSN 0007-4039, nla.obj-679364241, retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Trove
  5. Rees, Leslie (1987). Australian drama, 1970-1985 : a historical and critical survey. p. 227.
  6. Semmler, Clement (1975). Douglas Stewart. p. 60.
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