DRAMA AND FEATURES
A.B.C. drama, in radio and television, offered the public a very wide range of plays from the classics to plays written in Australia. Since the beginning of its TV service, the A.B.C. has been anxious to encourage Australian authors to write For the new medium and this, year was able to present a consecutive season of six local plays, representing about a quarter of the total TV drama output. These plays, each of approximately one hour, were an encouraging result of the work that has been done to interest local writers in TV.
There is increasing overseas interest in A.B.C. plays. In addition to several A.B.C. productions accepted by C.B.S. in the U.S.A., telececordings of two plays were used by Associated Rediffusion in the U.K..
The popularity of the Australian historical serials telecast in the past two, years led to the commissioning of a third serial, The, Patriots, dealing with the early days of William Charles Wentworth, his conflict with Governor Darling and the emergence of demands for democratic rights and freedoms. This serial in ten episodes was written by the Australian, Phillip Grenville Mann, and its production acquired the co-operative effort of many people, in planning and research as well as in the studio.
While the classics are expensive in TV, the presentation of Sheridan's The Rivals in Melbourne and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice in Sydney were well worthwhile, not only artistically and as entertainment, but as aids to thousands of students for whom these plays were examination texts.
Of special interest, too, was the televising of the mediaeval drama, The Play of Daniel, from the crypt of St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.
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