AustLit logo
The Martyrdom of Nurse Cavell single work   drama  
Issue Details: First known date: 1916... 1916 The Martyrdom of Nurse Cavell
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Who has not read the history of the vilest deed ever perpetrated in the annals of Christianity; a deed that has even made the country at whose instigation it was carried out tremble in fear, not at the consequences, but at the frightfulness and dastardliness of the Act' (advertisement, Goulburn Evening Penny Post 23 December 1916, p.3).

Notes

  • Never performed in a capital city, Fitzgerald's theatrical portrayal of the events leading up to the execution of Nurse Cavell by the Germans in the First World War was staged for a week in Newcastle in 1916 by his own company, the Clifton-Vane Dramatic Company. It was then toured around the Hunter Valley district for several weeks.

Production Details

  • Thanks to Robert Columb for the Goulburn production details.

  • 1916: Newcastle, NSW; no details.

    1916: Majestic Theatre, Goulburn, NSW; 26-27 December.

    Cast incl. Gladys Thomas (Nurse Cavell), Augustus Neville (Captain Conrad, a brutal German), Felix Blande (Henri Reynam, a Belgium Lieutenant), S. A. Fitzgerald (Mr Lockwhite, American Ambassador), John Bruce (Count Von Bissing, German Governor of Belgium), Violet Darcy (Adeline, a Belgium girl in love with Henri Roynam), Barney Fagan (Johannson, a Dutch soldier), Gilbert Emery (Cries, the German spy), Leslie Thompson (Rev. John Graham), Clifton Stephen (Mons Reynam), Patty Holt (Madomoiselle Reynam, Henri's sister)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Australian Theatre During World War One Susan Diana Cullen , 1990 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , October no. 17 1990; (p. 157-181)
Australian Theatre During World War One Susan Diana Cullen , 1990 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , October no. 17 1990; (p. 157-181)
Last amended 21 Jan 2014 18:15:53
X