Australian TV Plays: AP#1.30 - The Paradise Shanty (7 Nov 1966)

It was the last Australian Playhouse for 1966 .

Premise

A lone horseman called the Boundary Rider arrives in town. He has a drink with others in the pub, including Riley, and gets sick. The others keep drinking. Riley organises a drinking competition.

A man sings a song throughout.

The Boundary Rider goes to a room and dies.

Cast

Syd Conabere as Riley
Frank Rich as publican
Dennis Miller as the Boundary Rider
David Turnbull, John Godfrey, George Mallaby, John Prescott, Evan Dunstan, Telford Jackson, Bill Bennett, Lloyd Cunnington, Paul Eddy, Bill Tyrrell, Terry Belleville, Don Skelton, Gareth Forbes, Barry McLaine, Doug Owen.

Production

It was written by Kevin McGrath and directed in Melbourne by Patrick Barton.

McGrath was a tenor with the Elizabethan Opera Company in the 1960s. In 1975 he wrote an ABC drama on Bernard Heinze - see here. In 1971 he was senior dramaproducer at the features department of the ABC and directed a stage production of The Cherry Pickers - see here. He wrote a 1975 play called Wentworthville see here.

It was based on McGrath's play Little Topar which had won first prize at the 1966 Cairns Drama Festival. According to Ausstage it was performed in Cairns and at the Avalon Theatre in Brisbane. See here.

A copy of the TV script is at the Hangar Collection. It was adapted for radio. The radio version aired in 1973.

Frank Rich was a dancer and singer regularly seen on In Melbourne Tonight.

It was shot on 26 September 1966 according to ABC records.

Designer - Alan Clarke. (No directing credit given!)

Reception

The critic from the Sydney Morning Herald called it "one of the best of the year's output, being a sceptical look at the old mateship tradition and contrasting pathos with crudity and crassness. The story of a lonely ill fated lad was played out among a crude little plot of unfeeling men. A moving show."

The critic added that Australian Playhouse "has disappointed everyone who hoped for a long line of quality TV plays. It has rudely shown us that we can supply studios, crews and players, but we have a depressing shortage of writers. Also, the Playhouse badly needs a more skilled and creative editor-in-chief for 1967. All that said, Playhouse consistently drew audiences by the tens of thousands which means it had more impact on potential drama lovers than any stage theatre in the land."