A collection of scenes from the plays of William Shakespeare. It was screened in two parts.
Premise
A collection of scenes from the plays of William Shakespeare.
Part One was more comic consisting of:
- the wooing scene from Taming of the Shrew
- Katherin's plea to the Royal Court in Henry VIII
- the scene with Lance and his dog from Two Gentlemen of Verona
- the church scene between Beatrice and Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing.
Part two was more serious consisting of:
- two scenes from The Merchant of Venice
- the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet- Michell as Romeo and another woman as Juliet
- the closing scene from Hamlet with Hamlet (Michel) getting stuck into his mother (Googie)
Cast (the specific roles they played is detailed in the photo below)
- Googie Withers
- Keith Michell
- Jeannette Serke
- Joan MacArthur
- Raymond Westwell
- Bruce Barry
- Alston Harvey
- Malcolm Phillips
- John Derum
Original play
The show was based on a play directed by Raymond Westwell for J.C. Williamsons with Alan Dent doing the adaptation of eleven plays.
Australian actor Keith Michell returned from his home in London to star in March 1964. "I always wanted to act in a play by an Australian," said Michell - who had not done that yet! He would get his chance with Kain.
It premiered in Melbourne on 23 April 1964, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth.
It premiered in Sydney on 22 June for three weeks.
"What a profligate waste of costumes," wrote Column 8 in Sydney Morning Herald.
The same paper's theatre critic called it "Shakespeare arranged for people who don't like Shakespeare plays."
The production lost money - John McCallum based it on Australian's not liking Shakespeare.
Production
The stars were performing in the play around Australia for JC Williamsons. William Sterling did the adaptation and directed.
It was rehearsed and filmed in one day and the ABC's studios in
Adelaide. It was filmed on 7 June 1964 in ABN-2 Studios in Adelaide.
William Sterling said "Fortunately the stage production was almost ideal for TV. I tried to place the cameras in such a way that there was very little adjustment of movement and although the studio was smaller than the stage acting area, the production transposed well."
It was broadcast the same week as the Christopher Plummer Hamlet.
Costumes - Kristian Frederikson. TV design based on stage setting by Warwick Armstrong.
Reception
The Sunday Sydney Morning Herald reviewer said it "lit up the screen... these couple of superb artists in action. My only complaint is that 30 minutes was not long enough."
One viewer called it "dull, flat and unprofitable."
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| The Age TV Guide 2 July 1964 |
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| Canberra Times 7 July 1964 p 11 |
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| Canberra Times 7 July 1964 p 11 |
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| SMH 6 July 1964 TV Guide |
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| The Age 7 Oct 1964 p 18 |
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| The Age 16 July 1964 p 29 |
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| SMH 12 July 1964 p 90 |
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| The Age TV Guide 2 July 1964 p 5 |
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| SMH 24 June 1964 p 1 |
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| SMH 5 April 1964 p 83 |
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| The Age 28 March 1964 p 5 |
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| SMH 6 June 1964 p 20 |
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| SMH 22 June 1964 p 5 |
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| SMH 7 July 1964 p 9 |
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| The Age 7 Oct 1964 p 18 |
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| SMH 22 March 1964 p 76 |
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| The Age 11 April 1964 p 80 |
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| The Age 8 July 1964 p 14 |
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| SMH TV Guide 7 Dec 1964 p 26 |
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| SMH 23 June 1964 p 10 |
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| Performing Arts Library |
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| Script |
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| Script |
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| Script |
by Stephen Vagg
September 30, 2021
Stephen Vagg’s series on forgotten Australian television plays looks at a couple of different small screen takes on Shakespeare: a 1964 film of the stage revue The First 400 Years, and a 1967 version of King Lear for schools.
The ABC were fond of doing Shakespeare on television in the old days. True, it was a little expensive (all those costumes and beards), but was culturally respectable (all those words), with a guaranteed audience (all those high school examinations), and was less likely to be criticised (all that BBC heritage).
I have written several pieces so far on different Shakespeare adaptations done by the ABC: The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, The Life and Death of Richard II, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. In this piece, I’m looking at two less typical productions of the Bard, both shot in Adelaide, incidentally: The First 400 Years and King Lear.
The First 400 Years (1964)
This was an adaptation of a stage revue by Alan Dent. I say “revue”, rather than “play”, because it consists of a series of scenes and speeches from eleven different William Shakespeare works, a sort of “greatest hits of Stratford” – the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, the wooing scene from Taming of the Shrew, the end of Hamlet, etc.
The First 400 Years was used as a star vehicle for two hugely popular actors: Keith Michell, the Adelaide boy who’d discovered fame at Stratford and Broadway, and Googie Withers, a British film star who became “Aussie Googie” when she married her dashing co-star John McCallum.
The support cast included Raymond Westwell (who also directed) and his wife Joan MacArthur, not particularly well remembered now but very respected in their day, plus a young John Derum.
The title came about in part because the work had its world premiere in Melbourne on 23 April 1964, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday (I think they may have been out a few days, but hey, when it comes to Shakespeare, part of the joy is arguing the toss).
The production toured around Australia in 1964, presented by JC Williamsons, a theatrical management not known for their Shakespeare, but like I say, this was more a star-driven revue – Shakespeare for people who don’t really like Shakespeare, as one critic put it.
The ABC arranged for The First 400 Years to be filmed in their Adelaide studios over the course of one day in June when the production was in that city (this must have tickled Michell, who began his career in Adelaide and was born in the city).
The production, which was adapted for TV and directed by William Sterling, was broadcast over two nights at 30 minutes a night.
The First 400 Years is, inevitably, a very theatrical piece of television but it is wonderful to watch Withers and Michell in action, and this is worth it for them alone. It is “greatest hits”-y but there’s nothing wrong with that. John Bell should consider doing something like this one day for some easy cash.
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| NAA William Sterling |
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| NAA William Sterling |
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| NAA William Sterling |
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| NAA William Sterling |
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| John McCallum Life with Googie |
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