Australian TV Plays: In Writing (7 June 1961)

Based on a play by Aussie expat Raymond Bowers which was first performed in Britain.

Premise

Amateur sportsman John Clostin returns from being overseas for six months in Australia to find his wife wants to divorce him. He is unhappy with that as his wife has inherited money and befriended James Peebles.

A police inspector becomes involved. The finale is a battle of wits between him and Clostin.

Cast

Leonard Teale as Detective Inspector Hurst
Ric Hutton as John Clostin, a county cricketer
Anne Haddy as Mrs Clostin
James Workman as Pr Bowman
Richard Parry as James Peebles
Jack Ford as Sergeant
Carolyn Keely as waitress

Original TV play

It was Bower's first television play produced - he was working as a journalist in London at the time.

It was produced for British TV in 1956 by the BBC with a cast including Bernard Lee and Terence Morgan. These two were film stars so the production was high profile.

Bowers said it was "An attempt. to avoid dramatic cliches."

TV Times said "in contrast to writing of the seamy side of Australian suburban existence, Bowers always wrote murder mysteries in sophisticated urban settings".

By April 1956 it had been filmed in Holland, Germany and France see here.

Radio

The play was also performed on Australian radio in 1961. Also in 1970.

Stage

It was adapted for the stage and had a run on the West End as The Clostin Case. It had a run in the US in 1959 see here. A Variety review said "For the American audience, a whodunit should have all the loose ends tied up and, nowadays, also contain a psychological twist. Since this British import fails on both counts, arid also hris stereotype characters. It seems a doubtful prospect, for the. U.S. market. Perhaps the plot of “The Clostin’ Case” is too complicated, or to put it the other way, not clear enough. Thanks , to cliff-hanger first and second-act curtains, the. Raymond Bowers meller has considerable suspense. But it remains a not-quite item in the author-versus-audience guessing sweepstakes. "

It ran in England in 1962 see here.

Copies of reviews are below.

Production

It was Bowers' second script done for Australian TV the first being It's the Geography That Counts (known in England as Listen James).

It was shot in Sydney. There were difficulties in cutting it down - see below. The ABC seemed to want it to run for 90s mins or 60 mins but director Kevin Shine wanted 75 mins.

It showed in Melbourne on 2 August 1961.

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald called it an "unpretentious little suspense play which several times tripped over its own excess of ingenuity" and "suppressed far too many major facts to play fair with the audience."

The TV Times said it had "an interesting final twist" but "was one of the talkiest plays I've seen, consisting largely of the cross-examination of two suspects by a detective" and was "without a single real character". It also said the production "was marred by several extraordinary technical lapses".