''Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts'' is an 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 language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, 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 com ...

. 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 Edward Hepple (4 June 1914 – 3 September 2005) billed variously as Eddie Hepple and Ted Hepple, was an Australian actor, voice artist, producer, director, playwright and television scriptwriter, known for his roles in theatre, television seri ...

* Third Interrogator; Mr. Robinson; Officer; Colonel Hamilton —

Anthony Hawkins Anthony Hawkins (30 September 1932 – 23 September 2013), was an English-born, Australian-based television actor. He was best known for his roles as Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Smith in the police procedural ''Special Squad (1984)'' and Fr ...

* 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. Early career Hardy was born in Wellington and began his training at the New Zealand Players' Drama School. He tr ...

* 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 p ...

* Lord Kitchener —

Simon Chilvers Simon Chilvers (born 5 April 1939) is an English-born, Australia-based television actor. Early life Chilvers was born in London in 1939, and discovered art as a young child, drawing images of planes flying overhead during World War II. He att ...

* Sgt-Major Drummitt; Sergeant — Rob Harrison * Trooper; Trooper Botha; Trooper —

Gary Down Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;United States *Gary (Tampa), Florida *Gary, Ind ...

* 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, opera director, screenwriter, and producer. He began his career during the Australian New Wave, and has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally ...

's 1980 film ''

Breaker Morant Harry Harbord "Breaker" Morant (born Edwin Henry Murrant, 9 December 1864 – 27 February 1902) was an English horseman, bush balladist, military officer, and war criminal who was convicted and executed for murdering nine prisoners-of-war ...

''. 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 Fiction about courts-martial

First performance

Review of first performance

Conversion to a movie

See also

Notes

References

External links