''Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts'' is a significant Australian play written by Kenneth G. Ross, centred on the court-martial and the last days of Lieutenant Harry "Breaker" Morant (1864–1902) of the Bushveldt Carbineers (BVC), that was first performed at the Athenaeum Theatre, in

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropo ...

, on Thursday, 2 February 1978, by the

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre compa ...

. Described at the time as an "interesting, though underwritten biographical study",Living Out: Theatre: 'Breaker' Morant", ''The Age Weekender'', (Friday, 23 February 1978), p.7.
/ref> the first performance of the play was directed and designed by John Sumner, the founding director of the Melbourne Theatre Company.

First performance

The cast of the first performance of the play, directed and designed by John Sumner, on 2 February 1978 were: * Lieutenant Harry (Breaker) Morant — Terence Donovan * Lieutenant George Witton — Gary Day * Lieutenant Peter Handcock — John Stanton * First Interrogator; President of the Court-Martial; Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Cuthbert Denny (1858-?) — Barry Hill * Second Interrogator; Dr. Johnson; Officer — Edward Hepple * Third Interrogator; Mr. Robinson; Officer; Colonel Hamilton — Anthony Hawkins * Major James Francis Thomas —

Jonathan Hardy Jonathan Hardy (20 September 1940 – 30 July 2012) was a New Zealand-Australian film and television actor, writer and director, he worked also in Australia. Early career Hardy was born in New Zealand in Wellington and began his training ...

* Major Bolton —

Gerard Maguire Gerard Maguire (born 25 September 1945) also credited as Gerard McGuire, is an Australian actor, producer and screenwriter best known for his role in ''Prisoner'' as Deputy Governor, ''Jim Fletcher''. Often appearing on Australian television pol ...

* Lord Kitchener —

Simon Chilvers Simon Chilvers is an Australian actor. He won for the 1986 AFI Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Mini Series for his role in '' The Dunera Boys''. He was nominated for the same award in 1988 for '' True Believers'' and for th ...

* Sgt-Major Drummitt; Sergeant — Rob Harrison * Trooper; Trooper Botha; Trooper — Gary Down * Corporal; Captain Taylor; Corporal — Michael Edgar * Trooper; Corporal Sharp; Trooper — Roy Baldwin * Trooper; Van Rooyan; Trooper — Ian Suddards * Trooper; Officer; Trooper — Peter Dunn * Officer — Detlef Bauer * Trooper — Michael Morrell

Review of first performance

Conversion to a movie

The script of Ross's play was almost immediately converted into the screenplay for

Bruce Beresford Bruce Beresford (; born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States. Beresford's notable films he has directed include ''Br ...

's 1980 film ''

Breaker Morant Harry "The Breaker" Harbord Morant (born Edwin Henry Murrant, 9 December 1864 – 27 February 1902), more popularly known as Breaker Morant, was an Anglo-Australian drover, horseman, bush poet, military officer, and war criminal who was co ...

''. The screenplay of the film, to which Ross had made a considerable contribution as a writer (i.e., in addition to his stage play having been the inspiration and basis for the screenplay), was nominated for the 1981 Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Notes

References

* Ross, Kenneth, ''Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts'', Edward Arnold, (Melbourne), 1979. * Jillett, N. (ed), "Arts/Entertainment: Briefly: Plays for Stage and Screen", ''The Age'', 28 June 1978, p. 2., col.F. (Refers to Ross waiting to hear of the outcome of two definite offers: a Broadway production of his play "Don't Piddle Against the Wind", and the conversion of his play into a film either for cinema or for television.) * Childs, K. (ed), "Weekender: Living Out: Theatre: ‘Breaker Morant’ ", ''The Age'', 24 February 1978, p. 7., col.C; 3 March 1978, p. 9., col.D. *'Villains or Victims' in Australian War Memorial, ''Wartime'', Issue No. 18, 2002, pp. 12–16. *Wilcox, Craig. 'Ned Kelly in Khaki', in ''The Weekend Australian Magazine'', 23-24 Feb, 2002, pp. 20–22.

External links

Australians at War: Major Thomas Defended Breaker Morant

* ttp://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4858625 Fox, Frank, "The Bushveldt Carbineers: Letter to the Editor", ''The (Adelaide) Advertiser'', (Wednesday, 2 July 1902), p.6, Col.I.
"The Court-Martialled Australians: How Morant and Handcock Died: Letter From Their Warder", ''The Argus'', (Thursday, 3 April 1902), p.5, col.C.

Rawson, R., "Fine acting, set make strong defense against 'Breaker's' flaws", ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', (Wednesday, 13 November 2002), p.E-4.
* Ross, Kenneth
"The truth about Harry", ''The Age'', 26 February 2002.
(Written on the hundredth anniversary of Morant's execution and the twenty-fourth anniversary of the first performance of his play, the same article appeared in the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' of 26 February 2002 in almost identical form)

* [http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/soldiers-on-stage-bring-a-touch-of-realism-to-breaker-tale-20120409-1wkx5.html Fulton, A., "Soldiers on stage bring a touch of realism to Breaker tale", ''Sydney Morning Herald'', Tuesday, 10 April 2012.] {{DEFAULTSORT:Breaker Morant (play) 1978 plays Australian plays adapted into films Courts-martial in fiction

First performance

Review of first performance

Conversion to a movie

See also

Notes

References

External links