Australian TV Plays: The Lark (16 Nov 1958)

According to The Age this opened "a new era in TV drama production in Melbourne."

Premise

At the trial of Joan of Arc, events are shown in flashback as to how she came to rebel against the English.

Cast

Beverly Dunn as Joan of Arc
Frank Gatliff as Cauchon
Christopher Hill as Warwick
Robert Peach as the Inquisitor
Jeffrey Hodgson as the Dauphin
John Morgan as the Promoter
Moira Carleton as Joan's mother
Mary Ward as Queen Yolande, the Dauphin's mother in law
Laura Jane Casson as Agnes Sorel, as the Dauphin's mistress
Carol Potter as the little Queen, wife of the Dauphin
Keith Hudson as Ladvenu
Ilka Brand as the Dauphin's page
Brin Newton-John as the Archbishop of Rheims
John Royle as narrator
Henry Cuthbertson as voice of Archangel

Original play

The production was based on a play by Jean Anouilh which debuted in France in 1952. You can borrow a copy here.

It was translated into English by Christopher Fry.

The London production debuted in 1955 starring Leo McKern, and Dorothy Tutin.

On Broadway the production starred Julie Harris, Christopher Plummer and Boris Karloff.

Other productions

There was an American TV version for the Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1957.

The BBC adapted it for radio in 1956 and for schools via radio in 1964.

BBC filmed it for TV in 1956. ITV filmed it in 1962.

Scenes were shot by the BBC in 1 962 documentary on Anouilh starring Beverly Dunn.

It was filmed for Canadian TV in 1962.

Production

According to The Age this was the 18th show made by the ABC in Melbourne. By my count it was 20.

Director William Sterling said he worked on the production "for some months" and promised some "controversial surprises" in the play.

It was shot in Melbourne using a cast of 24 and seven sets which occupied the entire 60 ft by 80 ft of Melbourne's Studio 32, one of the largest studios in Melbourne.

Historical research to ensure authenticity of sets and costumes was carried out by designer Jon Peters.

It starred Beverly Dunn as Joan. Dunn had played the role in Melbourne Little Theatre in 1956.(Irene Mitchell was also in this production.) She did 55 hours of rehearsals. Dunn would play the role again on radio for the BBC in 1961.

It was broadcast in a series of "live" dramas on Sunday night on ABV-2 Melbourne. In order, they were The Governess, The Last Call, The Rose without a Thorn, The Lark, Citizen of Westminster, and Enemy of the People (the last of "the season")

The NAA have photos. not online but see here.

Alan Seymour did the adaptation. Designer - John Peters. Robert Hughes - composer.

Reception

The Melbourne broadcast was recorded and shown at a meeting of the Australian Television Society which Sterling attended. The members praised Beverly Dunn's acting but some thought the final burning scene could be more realistic. Sterling said some of the lighting effects were entirely new to Australian TV and said he was happy with the production "except for minor faults which few other viewers would notice anyway."

The Melbourne TV Year book gave an "Oscar" to the A.B.C. Drama Departments in Sydney and Melbourne, for series of Sunday night plays of the calibre of “The Lark".

Melbourne TV Listener In called it "the best quality local TV we have yet seen".

Alan Seymour in a letter called it "very tricksy and mad with the bare set and the stylished lighting and though a little lumpy in place did come off in most of what it tried. So bit by bit, patiently, we've been launched into TV drama which at its worst is at least a bit more amusing than bloody radio if only becasue newer, and at its best can be very stimulating and even most moving."