Dark Under the Sun

Dark Under the Sun is a 1960 Australian TV play. It was written by Brisbane author, Chris Gardner, who also wrote The House of Mancello (1962) and A Private Island (1964). Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time. The play concerned an interracial romance which led Filmink magazine to think it was "an indication that Australian television was willing to confront some of the nation’s trickier social issues head on."[2] Other Australian TV plays to deal with racial issues included Burst of Summer.[3] However the Aboriginal character is played by a white actor in blackface.[4]

Dark Under the Sun
Ad from the Age 23 Mar 1960
Written byChris Gardner
Directed byWilliam Sterling
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time60 mins
Production companyABC
Release
Original networkABC
Original release23 March 1960 (Melbourne)[1]
27 April 1960 (Sydney)

It was aired on ABC and ran for an hour on Wednesday 27 April 1960 at 8.30pm. It was produced in Melbourne.[5]

Plot

In the town of Nombora, a university-educated half-aboriginal man, Jim Robertson, falls for a white woman, his childhood playmate, Julie Handford. Social and family problems begin when they decide to get married. The play is set at a homestead near a Queensland banana plantation.

Beryl Parker is a scheming friend who causes trouble. Julie winds up rejecting Jim.

Cast
  • Edward Brayshaw as Jim Robertson
  • Elizabeth Goodman as Julie Handford
  • Moira Carleton as Grannie Hill
  • James Lynch as Les Holland
  • Berys Marsh as Beryl Parker
  • John Norman as Dave Handford
  • Joyce Turner as Mr Handford

Production

Early Australian TV drama production was dominated by using imported scripts but in 1960 the ABC was undertaking what has been described as "an Australiana drive" of producing local stories.[6] In January 1960 the ABC announced the play would be one of several new TV plays from Australian writers. The others included Eye of the Night, The Turning Point and The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day.[7]

The play was written by Chris Gardner, a Queensland author. She had moved from England to Australia eight years previously was living in Woody Point. She started writing when briefly bed-ridden due to a slipped disc then became more serious about it when she joined a Brisbane radio group in 1956. Dark Under the Sun was her first TV play.[8]

Director William Sterling said the play was written in the style of Paddy Chayevsky or Ted Willis - "a familiar social situation being shown in a simple, believable story with recognisable characters appearing in realistic situations and arguing their point of view forcefully without being mere mouthpieces for a particular opinion."[1]

Advertising called it "a dramatic live play by Chris Gardner on the problem of social assimilation in a Queensland community."[9]

Reception

The Age TV reviewer called it "excellent... struck such a telling blow for Australian produced and written drama that it is regrettable that not more than a handful of viewers watched this one hour production." He added Brayshaw "at times his acting was quite brilliant" and thought Goodman "also performed excellently... the drama flowed smoothly and well."[10]

The same paper, when it reviewed the year in Australian television, again called the production "outstanding".[11]

References
  1. "Untitled". The Age. 17 March 1960. p. 13.
  2. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  3. Vagg, Stephen (25 May 2020). "The A to Z of Non-White Aussie Movies and TV in White Australia". Filmink.
  4. Vagg, Stephen (15 November 2020). "The Flawed Landmark: Burst of Summer". Filmink.
  5. "Drama on Racial Problem". Sydney Morning Herald. 25 April 1960. p. 15.
  6. Vagg, Stephen (19 October 2020). "Forgotten Australian TV Plays – The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day". Filmink.
  7. "TV Merry Go Round". Sydney Morning Herald. 31 January 1960. p. 80.
  8. "Q'land housewife writes TV drama". TV Times. 4 February 1960. p. 5.
  9. "Advertisement". The Age. 23 March 1960. p. 11.
  10. Janus (1 April 1960). "Excellent Drama Lacked Viewers". The Age. p. 31.
  11. Janus (29 December 1960). "Year ABC Gave Us a Heart Attack - and Remedy". The Age. p. 9.


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