An old medieval play.
Premise
A pilgrim introduces the story. Death comes to summon Everyman, and Everyman is afraid to go on the journey alone. He tries to negotiate with Death. Death's only concession is to allow Everyman a short stay in which to find someone to accompany him on his journey and speak for him at the end of it.
Everyman appeals to Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin, Good Deeds, Knowledge, Beauty, discretion, Strength and Five Wits. It
He realises that except for his Good Deeds, he must face Death alone.
Cast
- Kevin Colson as Everyman
- Wynn Roberts as Death
- Norman Kaye as Discretion
- Patricia Kennedy as Knowledge
- Beverly Dunn as Good Deeds
- Peter Aanensen as Fellowship
- James Lynch as Strength
- Anne Charleston as Beauty
- Gerda Nicholson as Cousin
- Stewart Weller as Goods
- Bruce Barry as Kindred
- Syd Conabere as Confession
- Laurence Beck as Five Wits
- Rex Holdsworth as a pilgrim (messenger)
- Maria Morgan, Trisha Watson, Marea Letho, Dzintars Veide, Ray Angel & Karl Lukk as banquet guests
Original play
The Somonyng of Everyman (The Summoning of Everyman), usually referred to simply as Everyman, is a late 15th-century morality play. It uses allegorical characters to examine the question of Christian salvation and what Man must do to attain it.
A link to it is here.
The author is unknown. It is thought to be a Dutch work.
The play was often performed in Cathedrals
Other productions
The play was reasonably popular in amateur theatre circles. For example this one in 1960 or this one in 1957.
It was done on ABC radio in 1955. Well, they played the BBC version.
Production
It was part of the ABC's Christmas programming
Kevin Colson appeared by courtesy of Union Theatre Repertory Company.
Muir said "Colson has developed tremendously as an actor. He proved his ability to handle verse - which he will use again in Everyman - when he played Hamlet, at the Union. Also I wanted a big man for the part. It calls for a wide, emotional range. After all, the play presents man in his toughest situation - facing a lonely death."
Muir himself adapted the play.
Music composed by John Antil. Make up - Marjorie Reid. Designer - Cas Van Puffelen. Lighting - Peter Simondson. Technical producer - Robert Forster. Producer - Christopher Muir.
 |
| The Age TV Guide 17 Dec 1964 p 1 |
 |
| The Age TV Guide 17 Dec 1964 p 1 |
 |
| SMH 20 Dec 1964 p 72 |
 |
| SMH TV Guide 21 Dec 1964 |
 |
| The Age 17 Dec 1964 TV Guide |
 |
| The Age 19 Dec 1964 p11 |
 |
| The Age 23 Dec 1964 p 16 |
 |
| SMH 23 Dec 1964 p 11 |
 |
| The Age 14 Dec 1964 p 2 |
 |
| TV Times Qld |
Forgotten Australian TV plays: Everyman
by Stephen Vagg
October 16, 2021
Stephen Vagg’s series on forgotten Australian television plays gets medieval with a look at a Melbourne shot-version of the morality play, Everyman (1964).
In the early days of Australian TV drama, the ABC were not afraid to go “old school” with its productions – as in “ye olde school”, like, really going back. They did small-screen productions of plays like The Rivals (first performed 1775), The Recruiting Officer (1706), Tartuffe (1664), and Volpone (1606), as well as Shakespeare (approximately 1589 to 1613). Going even further back, the ABC adapted Sophocles’ Antigone (circa 441 BC) as well as two medieval plays, The Play of Daniel (circa 1230) and Everyman (circa 15th century). Today, I’m writing about the 1964 ABC production of Everyman.
When I think of the words “medieval theatre”, my mind usually conjures up words like “court jester”, “plague” and “disapproving priests”. Yet, there was a theatre scene – I guess entertainment options were limited at the time – and it was quite rich and varied, albeit tending to focus on one subject, i.e. God. My knowledge of this period is limited to five minutes of googling, but from what I gather, “medieval theatre” covers the one thousand year period between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the dawn of the Renaissance. During this time, stage entertainment was originally considered a Bad Thing by the Powers That Be, but over time, it was allowed as long as it promoted Christianity. There’s more to it than that, of course, but that background will do for now.
Everyman, a.k.a. The Somonyng of Everyman was a late 15th century morality play – a drama sub-genre where some protagonist who represents humanity (an “everyman” if you will) struggles between good and evil. That’s basically the plot of Everyman – Death comes to summon Everyman, and Everyman doesn’t want to go. Everyman tries to bribe Death, who won’t take the cash but will let Everyman bring a friend if he can find someone to go with him. Everyman eventually realises that, except for his Good Deeds, he must face Death alone. So, give money to the Church, audience! (I made up that last bit, but it is kind of implied.)
No one knows exactly who wrote Everyman, but it’s probably the most popular morality play. It leapt back into the public consciousness when it was performed in London in 1901 – this led to a production on Broadway of all places, followed by an American tour and a silent film version. In the 20th century it was quite popular in Australian amateur theatre circles, often being performed in cathedrals.
In 1961, the ABC had made a film of another medieval play from an unknown author, The Play of Daniel. This production, set entirely to music and filmed in the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, was directed by Colin Dean, who later said it was one of the best things he’d ever done. Unfortunately, no copy of this (to my knowledge) survives – Dean told Graham Shirley in an NFSA oral history that Paul O’Loughlin, the then acting head of drama at the ABC, ordered all the tapes to be wiped, which happened all too often at the time.
In 1964, the ABC decided to go back to the crypt, as it were, and do a version of Everyman as part of their Christmas programming (it aired on 23 December). Some scenes were shot at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, with the rest filmed at Ripponlea Studios. Chris Muir directed a very strong cast including Kevin Colson (Everyman), Wynn Roberts (Death), Norman Kaye (Discretion), Patricia Kennedy (Knowledge), Beverly Dunn (Good Deeds), Peter Aanensen (Fellowship), James Lynch (strength) and Ann Charleston (Beauty). John Antill, best known as the author of the ballet Corroboree (1946), composed the music.
Morality plays aren’t really something I tend to seek out, I only watched this because it was Australian, but it’s a very good production, beautifully shot, staged and well acted.
The author would like to thank Simon Drake of the NFSA for his assistance with this article. All opinions are my own.
 |
| Vic TV Times |
 |
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment