Hamlet (17 June 1959)

 A big deal for the ABC. It and Anthony and Cleopatra were the first two productions of Shakespeare by the ABC.

This went for two hours and had a budget of 2,500 pounds. Royston Morley directed.

Premise

Too well known to repeat. 

Cast

• William Job as Hamlet,
• Henry Gilbert as the King,
• Georgie Sterling as the Queen,
• Owen Weingott as Laertes,
• Delia Williams as Ophelia
• Gordon Glenwright as the gravedigger
• James Lynch as Bernado
• Grahame Webb as Francisco
• Frank Taylor as Horatio
• Vaughan Tracey as Marcellus
• Charles McCallum as Voltemand
• Geoffrey King as Polonius
• John Fegan as Ghost
• Maurice Travers as Rosencrantz
• James Elliott as Guildenstern
• Lou Vernon as the Player King
• Dennis Carroll as Player Queen
• John Hurrell as Lucianus
• Tony Arpino as Norwegian Captain
• Geoffrey Hill as Fortinbras
• Douglas Hayes as Gravedigger
• Charles McCallum as Priest
• John Hurrell as Osric
• Ria Sohier as attendant
• Anne Kelly as attendant
• Evelyn Kopfer as attendant
• John Brock as attendant
• David Bryant as attendant
• Kevin Williams as attendant
• Graham Webb as attendant
• Gary Deacon as attendant

Other adaptations

The play had been performed many times in Australia. It was adapted by Douglas Stewart for ABC radio in 1952.

The BBC filmed it for TV in 1949.

Production

Royston Morley was experienced with Shakespeare on TV. He did apparently the first TV Shakespeare - a 1937 production of Romeo and Juliet. Michael Redgrave starred as Romeo.

Morley felt Shakespeare was suitable for television, arguing "for one thing, the audience is closer to the actor giving a soliloquy" although he recognised casts needed to be trimmed.  He also argued that TV enabled continual action. "Apart from a short interval half way through the play the movement will be uninterrupted. There will be no lowering the curtain as there is on stage. This will help bring us closer to the play as Shakespeare wrote it."

William Job had played Hamlet on stage in Adelaide in 1952. The success of this performance enabled him to raise money to go to England.

He then went to England and Canada and had only recently returned to Australia, appearing in a TV production of The Seagull. 

It was Georgie Sterling's third TV appearance after The Multi-Coloured Umbrella and Sorry Wrong Number.

The show used some basic special effects to create the ghosts. There was also a cobweb-producing machine.

Owen Weingott helped choreograph the fight scene.

William Sterling said the play was shortened but included "two famous speeches of Hamlet which are seldom performed in the theatre versions. These are, 'What's Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba?' and 'How do all occasions do inform against me.'"

There were 78 hours of rehearsal. Some of these were observed by an especially formed TV advisory committee of community people.

The production had a ten-minute intermission.

The Australian Woman's Weekly ran a piece on it by Nan Musgrove:

For Mr. Morley’s “lure” opening, A.B.C. technicians have come up with a cobweb producing machine. This wonderful thing blows out a rubber solution that covers anything required with wonderful plastic-like cobwebs.

“It was different in 1937,” Mr. Morley said. “We couldn’t none  plan so firmly; no one knew what would happen next. One just tried. We had very little time, very little money.” 

Time and money are on Mr. Morley’s mind now. His budget for the two-hour production is £2500. The £2500 pays actors’ fees, costumes, decor, furniture, properties, armor, swords, “and all that sort of thing,” and any filming needed. Wigs, beards, and moustaches are included in “all that sort of thing.” Mr. Morley told me, however, that most of these would be made up by the A.B.C.’s make-up department.

I inquired about poor Yorick’s skull. “I got a whole skeleton for Spike Milligan’s ‘Gladys Show,’” Mr. Morley said. “I don’t think we’ll have any bother getting a skull or two.” 

Actors’ fees in the £2500 budget don’t only cover the two-hour performance at 8.30 on June 17 but also the 78 hours’ rehearsal time regarded as the minimum for the play.  Main members of the cast are William Job as Hamlet, Henry Gilbert as the King, Georgie Sterling as the Queen, Owen Weingott as Laertes, Delia William as Ophelia...

At the rehearsals more than the actual play is rehearsed. Camera scripts are worked out, experimented with, and decided upon. But at present problems of lighting, costumes, and decor are concerning Mr. Morley and A.B.C.-TVs senior engineer, John Hicks, who will supervise the technical side. Mr. Hicks even has a say on costume materials, and with Mr. Morley is busy examining swatches of materials. 

The TV audience will see nothing of the gorgeous color and brilliance of the costumes, but they will see its effect, for it gives much better contrast and interest to the black-and- white image on their screen. “Color gives a much better, more varied black-and-white picture,” Mr. Morley said. “We will use many quit dark, rich colors that have a sheen and reflect some of the light. Taffetas photograph well, particularly patterned ones.” Some of the costumes for “Hamlet” will be hired. Those that are specially made for the occasion will be carefully stored in the ever-growing wardrobe department at the A.B.C.-TV studios and used over and over again, for they don’t date...

Talking to Mr. Morley gave me a frightening picture of the magnitude of the task of producing a smooth-running live production under the eye of the TV camera. I asked him whether he wouldn’t rather put the whole thing on film. I did this rather hesitantly, as many producers and actors are horrified at the idea. They tell me, indeed, that it is a vile suggestion, and carry on at length about a certain spontaneity and warmth which they say are achieved only in a live production. Mr. Morley surprised me by saying he would like to put “Hamlet” on film very much. “But it costs so very much more,” he said. “I don’t subscribe to the opinion that you lose spontaneity on film. “You want live TV for big national events, big sporting events, when you never know what may happen or is coming next.”

Personally, I can take a bit of Shakespeare now and again on TV. One piece I would dearly like to see is Mr Morley’s present ambition—“King Lear” with Peter Ustinov. Morley has known Ustinov for years; in fact, since Ustinov was 17. He told me he and Ustinov had often talked of a production of “King Lear” with Ustinov as Lear. He’s hoping to persuade him to do the play live when he visits Australia later this year to star in the film “The Sundowners,” with Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum.

David Twilby later recalled:

Behind each drama was a mini drama being played out in the studio. “Hamlet” was directed by Royston Morley, who had previously produced a version in England in 1936. Three days studio rehearsal was allocated, but this proved inadequate. When we stopped rehearsing a few hours before on air we had only got half way through the play. The result was not the disaster it might have been, but it seemed to go on forever. Half way through there was an intermission and a young pianist played for about 15 minutes in studio 23.

Tom Jeffrey was floor manager. He recalled to the NFSA:

Delia Williams played Ophelia.  Um oh God Henry Gilbert played Claudius and who played Mum, who played Mum and anyway Hamlet was played by Bill Jobe.  And Bill was a had Bill had come from South Australia and he was regarded as one of Australia’s brightest rising young actors and indeed he was he was very good and soon after, soon after Hamlet, our production of Hamlet I think it was that year, maybe the following year, he went to England and I kind of lost track of his career.  So um but he was good, he was good to work with.  And then any number of people like Richard Meikle and ah oh I can’t remember any of the others but um I’ll have to think of who played Mum, I can see her, but I can’t remember her name.  Anyway Bill Job was the important one of course because he was Hamlet.  But yeah it was a nice production.  Henry Gilbert was a funny chap, big blustery sort of chap and ah he used to bludge cigarettes and ah I was a heavy smoker in those days even at that age and always had a packet of cigarettes and he used to come over and say ‘dear boy’ you know  ‘have you got a cigarette’ and ah after several days with him in rehearsal I realised what his trick was.  And ah so I used to carry around a packet, a spare packet, an empty packet of cigarettes but I used to leave one in there and he’d come over and say ‘dear boy have you got a cigarette for an old fellow’ and I’d say ‘oh yes I think so Henry’ get out my packet of cigarettes, open it up and so there’d be one there and I’d say ‘oh have that’ he’d say ‘oh no no no I couldn’t take your last one’ and off he’d go.  But poor old Henry was ah terrible with his lines and I was often pressing that button with him. 

Crew

Technical producer - John Hicks.  Designer - Douglas Smith. Fight arranged - Owen Weingott. Floor manager - Tom Jeffrey.

Reception

It aired in Sydney the same night as Anthony and Cleopatra aired in Melbourne. 

It showed in Melbourne on 22 July.

The production was well received. 

The Australian Woman's Weekly said:

 “HAMLET,” ABC-TV’s first live presentation of Shakespeare, was two hours of engrossing TV. I’m no culture vulture. A Shakespeare play, live or any other way, brought back to the smell of a schoolroom, and the laborious paraphrasing of “good metaphors” for exams; it didn’t mean pleasure. So it was duty, laced with curiosity, that made me watch. After the first 10 minutes or so there was no duty. It was just pleasure and wonderful entertainment. Even if you didn’t like Shakespeare, any televiewer would appreciate the notable production and camera work. 

My favorite characters were William Job’s Hamlet, Geofrey King’s Polonius, Frank Taylor’s Horatio, and Delia Williams’ Ophelia, after she went mad. She was a hard and unsympathetic Ophelia when she was sane. I also liked Georgie Sterling’s Queen Gertrude, about which I’ve heard many arguments. Owen Weingott’s Laertes was good, but my special praise for him is for the fight, one that looked real and sounded real, too. It was so real that he even got a credit line for arranging it. It was a most satisfying night of TV. And no one can say the ABC isn’t thoughtful — they even provided a 10-
minute coffee-break.

A critic from the Sunday Sydney Morning Herald said that 

ABN 2’s production of Hamlet on Wednesday night proved that Shakespeare can be successfully translated to television. For Shakespeare wrote his plays originally for a close personal audience, and that is exactly the kind that TV provides. Much of the credit for Hamlet’s success must go to producer Royston Morley. le kept the field of action small, relying on closeups to intensify the drama. I also thought that William Job’s portrayal of the young and tragic Dane was outstanding, with a nice blend of passion, youthful impetuosity, and bitterness. All in all, 1 was a night to remember. 

The Sydney Morning Herald gave it a mixed review. This review prompted a letter of complaint.

The critic from The Age thought it was much better than Anthony and Cleopatra. (see full review below). The Age review was criticised in a letter of complaint.

The Bulletin said:

Last Wednesday night the A.B.C. in Sydney and Melbourne gave Australia its first taste of Shakspeare on “live” television. The small screen, and the knowledge that the audience will be watching from the intimate surroundings of lounge-rooms among the family photos, the indoor plants and the heaters (some viewers, perhaps, like this writer, in their pyjamas)— must make the presentation of Shakspeare’s huge tragic in sights very difficult for the TV-director.

Unless the cameras can be placed and co-ordinated so as to convey something of Shakespeare’s breadth and sweep, much of the impact is lost. The great men and women get trapped as in a glass tank; their great passions’ are squeezed down into domesticity ; the bigness of their speech is too often contradicted by their necessary closeness to each other; or their voices are turned down to drawing room intimacy—in short, the nobility goes completely out of them.

That, more or less, is what happened in Royston Morley’s production of “Hamlet” for ABN-2 (Sydney). Denmark’s royal court became the Hamlet family; their tragedy shrank to middle-class size; Hamlet was a G.P.S. boy angry and hurt by what had been going on at home during term; Polonius was the family solicitor and his daughter the girl next-door. Still, within these severe limits, the production was sound enough—even, in places, admirable. Pacing and scene changing were neat (though too much of Hamlet’s uncertainty got into the lighting); and Douglas Smith’s costumes —which attacked the black and-white barrier by replacing richness of color with richness of texture —and set-designs were fitting ; and now and then the cameras did look deeply and closely at the mounting evidence of tragedy.

Most of the players were careful with the poetry and drew their characters cautiously along the lines of the school text notes, leaving you with a version that would probably be helpful to students, would not put people off Shakespeare and might even make a few converts.

 William Job’s Hamlet, Henry Gilbert’s Claudius and Owen Weingott’s Laertes came nearest to struggling out of the domestic net and into the sea of troubles. Geoffrey King, as Polonius, and Georgie Sterling, as the Queen, seemed well content to swim tamely about in side. Delia Williams seldom over came the handicap of looking more like a jolly nice girl than the delicate and gentle Ophelia. 

Repeat

It was repeated in 1961 and 1964. That is rare.

The fame of it lingered. It was remembered in a 1966 book review of a novel by Morley. Nothing similar seems to have happened with Antony and Cleopatra.

In February 1960 Royston Morley was working in Canada - he got William Job to leave Australia and go there. Thanks, Royston! 

To be fair, you can't blame Job. Why stay in Australia in the 1960s if you were a serious actor? The 70s were a different story.

SMH 18 June 1959 p 8

The Bulletin24 June 1959 p 26

Australian Woman's Weekly 27 May 1959 p 50

The Age Supplement 16 July 1959 p 1

The Age Supplement 16 July 1959 p 1

AWW 1 July 1959 p 50

The Age 22 July 1959 p 3

 

The Age 16 July 1959 p 35

SMH 17 June 1959 p 10

SMH 15 June 1959 p 18

SMH 21 June 1959 p 97

SMH 22 June 1959 p 2

SMH 22 June 1959 p 15

The Age 2 July 1959 p 24

The Age 30 July 1959 p 25

The Age 30 July 1959 p 2

SMH 15 June1959 p 17

The Age 18 June 1959 p 3

SMH 15 June 1959 p 17

TV Times Vic 21 Sept 1961

TV Times 1961

Forgotten Australian Television Plays: A Tale of Two Hamlets
by Stephen Vagg
September 28, 2021
Stephen Vagg’s series on forgotten Australian television plays looks at two different versions of Hamlet made by the ABC, one in 1959 and the other in 1974.

Back in the day, the ABC felt that if a play was worth doing on television, it was worth doing twice. Hence, we had the national broadcaster making two small-screen versions of Chekov’s The Proposal, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Chris Fry’s A Phoenix Too Frequent, Philip Johnson’s Dark Brown, Shaw’s Man of Destiny, Fy’s A Sleep of Prisoners, Sumner Locke Elliot’s Rusty Bugles, Priestley’s The Rose and Crown… and Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

I recently saw the first half of the 1959 Hamlet and the second half of the 1974 one. To my knowledge, no complete copy of either exists (though one never knows) but both are worth discussing, even in partial form.

The 1959 production was directed by Royston Morley, an old BBC hand who came out to Australia in the 1950s to teach the colonials how television was done. Morley was one of those exotic renaissance man figures that Britain seems to specialise in – charismatic, quick-witted, intelligent, fond of calling people “darling”. He started directing television very early – for instance, doing a version of Romeo and Juliet on the BBC back in 1937 – as well as writing plays, scripts, journalism and novels on the side.

Storry Walton once told me that, at first, the older ABC program heads found Morley’s presence a bit confronting, and his manner very distracting. But once they realised that he knew his stuff, Morley came to be regarded with a lot of affection and respect here. In turn, Morley seems to have developed a genuine affection for Australia: he married a local girl – Jan Bain, the sister of director Bill Bain – and after Morley returned to England in 1960 he was involved in making several Australian-themed plays for British TV (Flag Fall, Weekend at Willaburra), as well as writing an Australian-set novel, Cool Change Moving North (1966), which is a fascinating outsider’s look at our culture in the late ‘50s.

When Morley was in Australia, he wrote and directed for television in addition to his training duties. His productions included Point of Return (1958), Chance of a Ghost (1958) (based on a script by American writers then in Australia), Sixty Point Bold (1958) (from a script by Morley, which I think he wrote while living here, making it technically an Australian script), Enemy of the People (1958) (Ibsen relocated to Queensland), The Seagull (1959), Hamlet (1959) and Crime Passionel (1959). The ABC also made local versions of a number of plays Morley had directed for BBC television (eg. As You Are, The Importance of Being Earnest, Richard II, The Trial of Madeleine Smith); presumably he had a role in recommending them. He was one of the most influential figures in 1950s Australian television drama.

Hamlet was the first Shakespeare play that the ABC adapted for TV. Or, rather, the equal first – it was shot in Sydney, and so Melbournians didn’t get upset, the ABC arranged for Antony and Cleopatra to be filmed live from its Ripponlea studios on the same night (17 June 1959). Each production was recorded, then shown in other cities. Hamlet was given a budget of 2500 pounds and the cast had 78 hours of rehearsal for a two hour running time.

For those unfamiliar with the story, Hamlet tells of the most famous whinger in literature, Hamlet the Crown Prince of Denmark, who returns home on the death of his father, to discover mum Gertrude has married his uncle. Hamster suspects something is rotten, as the saying goes, in the state of Denmark, leading to him pretending to be mad and join a theatre company so he can figure out what’s going on and pretty much everyone ending up (SPOILERS) dead by final curtain.

The role of Hamlet was played by Adelaide actor William Job, who emigrated to England not long after this and had a decent career over there. Other key cast members included Georgie Sterling (Gertrude), Delia Williams (Ophelia), Henry Gilbert (the King) and Owen Weingott (Laertes).

(Sidebar – Delia Williams was one of my favourite actors from this period: a Welsh actor/model with a twinkle in her eye, she swept into Australia in 1957, nabbed the bulk of plumb roles going for young female actors on TV at the time – Ophelia in Hamlet, Nina in The Seagull, Cathy in Wuthering Heights, Mary Bligh in Stormy Petrel – then got married, had a kid and retired. If anyone knows what happened to her, I’d love to hear more. End sidebar.)

As mentioned earlier, I have seen the first half of the 1959 Hamlet (or, as the credits put it, “The Tragicall Hiftorie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”). It’s relatively primitive by later standards but the gloom is appropriate to the play (Morley uses a cobweb machine to excellent effect), the acting very good, and the ghost effects are extremely effective for the time. Morley doesn’t go in for close ups much – I wonder if this rubbed off on the Australian directors he trained.

Contemporary reviews of the production were generally strong, and the ABC repeated it several times over the years. In sharp contrast, poor old Antony and Cleopatra copped a critical shellacking and appears never to have been repeated.

Morley left Australia in 1960, working for a stint in Canada before returning to London where he spent the rest of his career, some of which he discusses in this interview available online. He died in 1991.

Two very different Hamlets from the ABC, both interesting…. Where’s your version, Cate Blanchett?

The author would like to thank Jan Morley and Storry Walton for their assistance with this article. All opinions are my own.