Plays of the 50s, Vol. 2

The exhilaration caused by the success in 1955 of Ray Lawler's 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' galvanised a host of new playwrights. Among them was Barbara Vernon, whose 'The Multi-Coloured Umbrella' (1957), a drama of the racetrack, exploits the novelty of an irredeemably Australian way of life. Peter Kenna in his comedy-drama 'The Slaughter of Saint Teresa's Day' (1959), introduces the first of his Irish-Australian matriarchs, Oola Maguire. In 'Image in the Clay' (1960) David Ireland blends realism and poetry in his stark portrait of a rural Aboriginal family. And, most radically, Ray Matthew in 'The Life of the Party' (1960) draws a desperate portrait of post-war sophisticates trapped in the shadow of the Cold War. Exploring a new theatre distances from European realism, these plays mark a journey towards a recognisably Australian rhythmic form and a more poetic, visceral drama characteristic of the theatre later in the century.Brisbane, Katharine is the author of 'Plays of the 50s, Vol. 2', published 2004 under ISBN 9780868196954 and ISBN 0868196959.