AustLit

'ANCIENT Greece, in that heroic age when action and speech encouraged high principles (even among the slaves), is the setting. This is the story of one of those slaves who in fulfilling the whimsical and drunken wager of his master, to prove his loyalty, imperils his own life. In fact, the message he is requested to take to a bloodthirsty general, a great distance away, will mean his immediate doom once it is delivered.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 2 June 1951, p.13.

Pumelo is promised by her father in marriage to the evil Lord Ku, but her heart belongs to a lowly insect peddlar, Kung, who visits every day. Chi Lin is the marriage broker responsible for arranging the match, but he knows of Lord Ku's character, and when he discovers Pumelo's and Kung's plan to elope he offers them his service instead. Kung then reveals to Pumelo that he is fact the famous artist Wang Yo Sen, and the two make their escape with the aid of Chi Lin. Lord Ku, finding his plans thwarted, invokes the evil Fox Goddess to curse Wang Yo Sen's art.

Chi Lin and Susu, Pumelo's faithful servant, follow the couple to their house in the mountains. Unbeknownst to them all, the house is in fact the home of a Fox Woman and has been picked out for them by Lord Ku. In the presence of that evil house, Wang Yo Sen's painting becomes corrupted by the image of the Fox Woman; an image that eventually comes to life and summons the artist away in the grips of madness. Pumelo is left distraught.

A year passes and Pumelo, Susu and Chi Lin have been searching all of China for Wang Yo Sen without success. Lord Ku attempts to entice Pumelo back to him, but she refuses to give up hope of finding her husband. She sets out once again, and after many more years of journeying, Pumelo arrives as a wraith-like traveller at a distant Inn. She is joined there by Susu and Chi, who have followed her secretly as her guardians, with Lord Ku fast on their tail. While Susu, on the subtle suggestion of the Inn maid, leaves to seek out the local hermit, Chi Lin duels and finally vanquishes Lord Ku. Susu returns with the hermit, Wang Yo Sen himself, whose sanity was returned to him upon the death of Lord Ku. Wang Yo Sen and Pumelo are happily reunited.

Characters

SHEN LO – A merchant

LORD KU – Who seeks to marry Shen Lo's daughter

ESCORT – To Lord Ku

KUNG – The insect peddlar, who is also Wang Yo Sen, the artist

CHI LIN – Friend and neighbour of Shen Lo

PUMELO – Shen Lo's daughter

SUSU – A maid in Shen Lo's house

THE FOX WOMAN – An evil person

THE FOX GODDESS – Can be played by the same person as the Fox Woman

INN KEEPER

INN MAID

Kathleen's brother Fenway owns a sheep station that has never produced a good season, and his last ray of hope lies in an old school friend Perry who has come to view the property's prospects and potentially make an offer. When her friends get word of the situation they hatch a plan to pose as potential buyers and scare Perry into offering a decent sum of money to outdo the competition. Calling on the local psychic, widowed Mrs Trelawney, to make up the numbers, the group arrives at the station just in time to welcome Perry. A combination of slippery tongues and poor Argentinian accents quickly set to work ensnaring Perry's interest. The con is finally cemented by none other than Mrs Trelawney, whom it turns out has a romantic history with Perry and so has no trouble securing his trust.

As the old passion between Perry and Mrs Trelawney is reignited Mrs Trelawney requests to back out of the con, but her friends induce her to continue playing along for the sake of their own reputations. Meanwhile, the romantic tension is growing between Fenway and Kathleen's friend Ilma, but neither believes the other to have serious intentions. Harsh words result, and Ilma sets out into the dangerously stormy night to take the next train home. On this same night Mrs Trelawney, who believes the station's bad luck to be the influence of a haunting spirit, takes it upon herself to exorcise the spirit. Mrs Trelawney is convinced of her success by Ilma's cousin Dennis, and pleads with Perry to buy the station in honest expectation of it thriving henceforth. While Fenway has gone in pursuit of Ilma, an auction takes place between Perry and the two fake buyers, resulting in Perry pledging 80 000 pounds for the station – well in excess of its worth. To everyone's surprise, Fenway refuses the offer upon his return with Ilma. The play closes as Fenway confesses to Ilma that she has become the hope and incentive he needed to hold on to it.

Characters

ILMA WRIGHT

DENNIS FROWLEY – Her cousin

GAVIN COURTNEY

KATHLEEN RAWLINS

HELEN FABER

MRS PHOEBE TRELAWNEY – A psychic woman

FENWAY RAWLINS – Kathleen's brother

MR ALEC PERRY

JACKY – An aboriginal rouseabout

Mr and Mrs Elder arrive at their newly purchased home, Stormont Station, only to find the previous tenant, Jerome Keddle, threatening them off the premises under the mad supposition that they're after his gold. Wright, the local police sergeant, arrives to confront Jerome about a number of other complaints he has received about his behaviour. Through a violent temper, deranged distrust and eerie habit of howling into the night, Jerome makes himself the subject of manifold murderous intentions over the course of the evening. That same night he is murdered.

Wright is summoned back and proceeds to interrogate all of those who had an appearance at Stormont Station in the preceding hours. He unveils multiple planned or threatened murders, but no confessions of the crime itself. All the while the investigation goes on, the dead man's voice is intermittently heard wailing out in the night. Pressure builds and the murderer strikes again, this time slipping the poison that had been meant for Jerome into the policemen's and witness's coffee. Fortunately the substance is discovered before anyone is harmed. At this point Esma, Jerome's wife, points out that the voice has been nearing closer each time. The characters gather in the hall in trepidation and, just as it seems that Jerome (or his ghost) might burst through the door, Strom, the Keddle's neighbour and Esma's lover, confesses his guilt. The disembodied voice is revealed as a device employed by Esma to draw out the murderer, and Strom admits he acted to give Esma an escape from her abusive relationship with her husband.

Characters

ESMA KEDDLE

JIM ELDER

ENID – Jim's wife

CRISBY – Esma's nephew

SGT. WRIGHT – a police sergeant

MRS MAXWELL

JEROME KEDDLE

DAYNE STROM

EDDY QUILTON

TROOPER GORDON