AustLit

This exhibition is the result of undergraduate research for the Practices of Performance course (DRAM2210) at The University of Queensland.

The performance history of Dorothy Blewett’s Australian plays The First Joanna and Quiet Night (pub.1944) is short, with productions spanning throughout Australia from 1941 to 1961. Both plays were praised by critics and Blewett herself was awarded for her playwriting. By researching when and where the productions were produced, and the professional level of the productions, we are able to determine the overall response to Blewett’s plays.

Looking at when and where Blewett’s plays were produced describes the level of professionalism of the production. The AustLit and AusStage databases allow us to see the full list of Blewett’s productions. The First Joanna was first produced in Sydney Metropolitan Theatre from 1946 – 1948. It was then produced at Hobart’s Theatre Royal and Adelaide’s Tivoli Theatre in August of 1948. Finally, it was produced in Sydenham’s Rechabite Hall in December of 1949. All of these stage productions were done by repertory (or amateur) theatre companies. AustLit has written a timeline of the performance histories here on 'Timetable of "The First Joanna" Performance History' to give details on the performances and detailed original images (Martinz). There were also adaptations by ABC Radio in Sydney (1948) and the television film adaptation in 1961 ('The First Joanna', June 2016). This evidence demonstrates that though produced by amateur theatre companies, Blewett’s play The First Joanna was widely held in acclaim.

Similarly, Blewett’s play Quiet Night was first produced in Victoria’s South Yarra Little Theatre, in March 1941 ('AusStage') by an amateur theatre company. However, unlike The First Joanna, Quiet Night wasn’t produced again until March 1950 in Townsville and then in Killara, New South Wales, in April of the same year, both with unknown and small companies ('Ausstage'). AusStage’s production list demonstrates the previous lack of knowledge on both plays' productions, with the database having the theatre company's name and no other description. AustLit has created a production list to accommodate for the previous lack of knowledge on these productions, giving further descriptions to a once lost play.

The response to both plays over the years is shown within articles from local newspapers of the times. Research into the National Library of Australia (or Trove database) gave clippings from the 1940s – 1960s period when Blewett’s plays were being produced and causing conversations. Clippings can also be found here under the new Dorothy Blewett exhibition The First Joanna written by Nikita Martinz. When looking at the overall response to her plays, it is clear that most critics were positive about the repertory companies and Blewett’s texts.

The First Joanna had various articles written in newspapers with the reports being identical in praise. When it was being produced in Perth, the West Australian ran the same article on 2 and 3 December 1948 about the Perth Repertory Theatre season, describing the success of the vineyard set play (the West Australian). In Sydney’s Truth and Melbourne’s Age newspapers, both reminded their readers about the anticipated radio drama adaptation ('The First Joanna', June 2016) of The First Joanna being broadcast in January (Truth, 1948; Truth, 1951; Age, 1949). The Beaudesert Times, Balonne Beacon and Muswellbrook Chronicle all ran the same article at different times, describing the star Jane Barrett, who would be on air speaking for the broadcast of The First Joanna. The articles described Barrett as a well-accomplished presenter with her 'in nearly two thousand broadcasts covering all departments' (Muswellbrook Chronicle, 1948; Beaudesert Times, 1949; Balonne Beacon, 1950). This allowed readers to assume that the broadcast would have a prominent casting. AustLit have a list of the broadcasting productions with a second radio series done in April 1948, this time with Patricia Kennedy as the first Joanna ('The First Joanna', June 2016). After two broadcasts in a year of the same play, it is evident that The First Joanna was a popular and easily adaptable piece.

Quiet Night was perceived in a similar complimentary manner with newspaper articles with accounts on the overall production from an audience perspective. Fidelio from the Advocate in Tasmania gives a personal interpretation of the Burnie Little Theatre’s production of the play stating that 'the programme was an excellent production, quite unique, and very original'. Fidelio was surprised at the standard. There were faults, of course, but these were mainly small ones', further commenting on the stage's outstanding setting and overall atmosphere, writing that 'one could almost smell the anaesthetic and antiseptics which, permeate all hospitals' (Fidelio). Another account of a production by the Age in 1947 dubs it a 'clever' Australian play, explaining that the play 'achieves true reality' with dialogue, comic relief and characterisation. The Repertory Company were congratulated for their 'well acted' production of this Australian play (Age).

Blewett’s Quiet Night in 1941 won the West Australian Drama Festival's competition. An article in The West Australian wrote that of the 40 entries 'the judges unanimously pronounced [Quiet Night] the best entry submitted', with 'appealing characterisation' and 'pleasingly presented' (the West Australian). Then, continuing all through August, newspaper articles by the West Australian reminded readers that Blewett had won.

Then in 1947 she won a stage play competition for The First Joanna. The Sydney Morning Herald wrote in December 1947 that Blewett was awarded 75 pounds. Further quoted that of the '60 entries no other prize money was awarded'. The Herald quoted Leslie Rees, chairman of the Playwrights' Advisory Board, describing the play as 'professional competence that could be given on any stage' (Sydney Morning Herald). Rees believed that this play was important 'not only because it is a good packed story, with a rich seam of character and narrative material, but because, like so few Australian plays, it bears trenchantly and pointedly on our life today. It tells us how a family tradition can become established…' (Leslie Rees). Further praise for her win can be found a few days later in Melbourne’s newspaper The Age, stating that the 'winning play will be produced in Sydney'. Then again, in January the next year in Perth and Adelaide, small articles explained to the public that Blewett had won the cash prize competition. Though these articles mirror one another, it allowed the Australian public the knowledge of the plays and the playwright's true value to the Australian stage.

The Age praised Blewett in an article in 1961 quoting her belief on historical truths, how 'many Australians are proud of the wrong things in their heritage. [That] We should face up to the truths of our beginnings…'. The article goes on to conclude with the comparison of her play The First Joanna to this statement. Though both Australian plays The First Joanna and Quiet Night had short repertory productions from 1941 to 1961, the overall response to the plays and Blewett herself by critics was commendable, and the plays had local recognition.