AustLit

At the time Eunice Hanger was writing, realism dominated the Australian theatre scene (Pfisterer, xx). This is reflected in a number of her plays, particularly The Frogs. Even her experimental plays such as Ring the Changelings tended to use fairly realistic dialogue. As her colleague Nicholas Tarling commented, Hanger's plays "sought to capture contemporary Australian idiom" (Tarling xi). Characters in Eunice Hanger's plays speak with the uniquely Australian vernacular used in Queensland during her lifetime.

However, Hanger's academic interest in Shakespeare, Jacobean drama, and Greek tragedy also influenced her work. Hanger incorporates many Shakespearean techniques into her plays, having characters perform monologues, or speak in asides to the audience. Her one act play Upstage is peopled entirely by Shakespearean heroines. She even experimented with verse plays, Flood being the most successful. Flood also contains a chorus, a common feature of Greek drama. While some critics had reservations about this technique, Flood was ultimately Hanger's most critically acclaimed play (Pfisterer, xx).

Flood is a family drama set in a small southern Queensland town during a flood. Janie, the play’s heroine, is a strong-willed feminist character known for causing trouble by speaking inconvenient truths. Interestingly, although Janie is a feminist character she is still thrust into a more passive role. Unable to help with sandbagging the town in preparation for the flood, Janie must stay home with the other women and concentrate on providing shelter to those coming from low-lying areas.

Flood was written in blank verse, which was highly unusual, as most plays of the era favored realistic dialogue. This stylistic choice reflects Hanger’s academic interests in Shakespeare and Jacobean drama. Her use of a Greek style chorus likewise reveals her interest in Greek tragedy. Both techniques serve to give the play a distinctive, heightened feel.

The work was first performed in Brisbane on the 19th of October 1955, at the Twelfth Night theatre. In the same year Flood received a commendation from the Playwrights Advisory Board Competition. In addition the play was adapted for radio by Catherine Shepherd and broadcast on ABC radio in March 1956. Later that year, the play was performed live in Hobart. The play’s most recent performance took place in September 2012. Flood was performed as part of the Rock Surfers Theatre Company’s performance series Pub Plays. According to their event page “Pub Plays is series of script-in-hand readings, where we will be dusting off a hand picked batch of Australia’s most important and iconic plays, some of which haven’t seen the light of day for thirty years or more.” The fact that Flood is still considered an “important and iconic play” by contemporary theatre-makers demonstrates Eunice Hanger’s prowess as a playwright.

Upstage is the only one of Eunice Hanger play's that was published during her lifetime. Upstage gained success in the little theatre movement, as discussed in a later chapter.

The dialogue used in Upstage is realistic, although the play’s dramatis personae are comprised of famous Shakespearean heroines. The well-known women have been gathered together to compete in a ‘Miss Shakespeare’ pageant. The play appears to have been initially written for educational purposes, as it was first performed in conjunction with Hanger’s lecture on ‘Some of Shakespeare’s Women’ at a Brisbane Shakespeare Society Meeting (Courier Mail, 1952).