The Bastard Country is a 1959 Australian play by Anthony Coburn. It was also known as Fire on the Wind.
It was performed by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust. It was adapted for radio in 1960 but not filmed by the ABC even though they filmed a lot of Trust plays (eg Ned Kelly, The Shifting Heart).
Plot
John Willy is a violent man who owns a farm in northern Victoria and has a mistress, Connie. He is visited by Greek Nick Diargos, who intends to kill John for raping and murdering Nick’s wife in Greece when John was a soldier.
However Nick falls for John’s daughter Mary.
Original cast
* Neva Carr Glyn as Connie Naismith
* Patricia Conolly as May Willy
* Neil Fitzpatrick as Possum Willy
* Ron Haddrick as Doctor Gorman
* Rodney Milgate as Billy Willy
* Desmond Rolfe as Jim Richards
* Grant Taylor as Nick Diargos
* Frank Waters as John Willy
Production
It was announced in February 1959 as part of a series of plays at the Trust. It was one of two Australian plays being done by the Trust for that season the other being The Slaughter of St Teresa's Day.
A brochure from the Trust is here.
Reception
The Sydney Tribune said the 1959 production featured “one of the finest performances that this reviewer has seen on the Elizabethan stage— that of Grant Taylor’s portrayal of Nick Diargos, the. vengeance-seeking Greek. He invests Diargos with an awe-inspiring strength and yet with gentleness and dignity and his performance is one of the main reasons for the play’s great impact on the audience."
The production then toured.
Other adaptations
It was adapted for ABC radio as The Fire and the Wind in 1960.
A list of other productions is here via Aussstage.
A review of a 1963 Melbourne production is here.
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SMH 7 Jan 1960
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