Anonymous (Australian Playhouse)
| "Anonymous" | |
|---|---|
| Australian Playhouse episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 11 |
| Teleplay by | Pat Flower |
| Original air date | 27 June 1966 |
| Running time | 30 mins |
Anonymous is a 1966 television play broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was by Pat Flower and was part of Australian Playhouse.[1] Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[2]
Plot
In a moment of tragic irony, a harassed and henpecked businessman, Walter, faces death alone when he has a heart attack.[3]
Cast
- Peter O'Shaugnessy as Walter[4]
- Shirley O'Shaughnessy
- Elspeth Ballantyne
- Gerard Kennedy
- Helen Harper
Reception
The Sydney Morning Herald critic said that "Despite the occasional relevance of Miss Flower's observations, ironic or start... my natural inclination would have been to switch off as soon as I discovered that the play was in fact saying nothing remarkable, while seemingly seeking by every means to produce alarming discomfort for its own sake. Echo chambers, stills, superimposed wavering images, muffled heart throbs, crooked angled shots, the satanic voice of the narrator, were all piled on thickly enough to produce a severe malaise in the viewer, heavily underlining Peter O'Shaugnessy's virtuoso job with protracted death agonies. Again like so many of the snippets of Playhouse, a worthwhile subject for sensitive treatment went astray with verbose dialogue and over stated production."[5]
The Age critic said "it was probably the worst play I have ever seen. It is thin, wretched and witless. Artistically, dramatically and aesthetically it had nothing to commend it. More than all else, it was just unspeakably revolting."[6]
The Sunday Sydney Morning Herald called it "chilling" where "Flower consolidated her position as the TV playwright of the year... [a] winner... O'Shaugnessy pulls out all stops."[7]
See also
References
- ^ "Advice to Writers". The Age. 21 July 1966. p. 14.
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
- ^ "MONDAY". The Canberra Times. Vol. 40, no. 11, 505. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 27 June 1966. p. 19. Retrieved 26 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "leisure — the arts POP CULT A BRAVE VENTURE IN LOCAL MUSIC". The Canberra Times. Vol. 40, no. 11, 504. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 25 June 1966. p. 12. Retrieved 26 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Snippet of playhouse". Sydney Morning Herald. 28 June 1966. p. 11.
- ^ Monitor (2 June 1966). "Reckoning without One's Host". The Age. p. 25.
- ^ Marshall, Valda. "TV Writer of the year". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 94.
External links
 | This article related to an Australian made-for-TV movie is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |