Adaptation of a play by Jean Cocteau. The ABC loved their Cocteau!
Premise
In a fictitious European country, a Queen has been mourning her dead husband for the ten years since he was assassinated. A peasant-poet assassin, Stanislas, sets out to kill her. He is unable to do so after she greets him calmly and he winds up falling for the Queen, which costs him his life.
Cast
- Edward Brayshaw as the assassin Stanislas
- Margo Lee as the Queen
- Michael Duffield as Felix von Willenstein
- Christopher Hill as Christopher Von Foehn, the police chief
- Madeline Howell as Edith Von Berg, the Queen's reader
- Joe Jenkins as Tony
Original play
It was originally written in 1943 and first performed in 1946. The play made its English debut in 1946 and played on Broadway in 1947 with Tallulah Bankhead as the Queen.
You can borrow a copy of the play here.
Cocteau directed a film of this in 1948 with Jean Marais and Edwige Fuelliere, who were in the original stage production.
Other adaptations
There was an ITV version for British TV in 1957.
ABC radio did it in 1952 directed by Neil Hutchison. See here.
Production
Alan Seymour did the adaptation. William Sterling directed - Edward Brayshaw was a favourite of his.
Costumes were by John Peters. Keith Clarke did the wardrobe.
The production was shot in Melbourne in 1960 though not broadcast in
Sydney until the following year. It featured a 15 minute speech by Margo
Lee .
Reception
The Age said it was a "personal triumph" for Lee and that the "climax in the final 10 minutes gripped those who watched the play."
The TV critic for The Sydney Morning Herald praised Margo Lee's performance but thought the play "could have been more effective if there had been a little more care in the production. The camera work relied too much on ordinary close and long shots; there was nothing much, in this respect, to enliven proceedings during the queen's long vocal cadenza; and the quality of the sound-reproduction was variable."
LITV thought it had too much "good talk".
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| The Age TV Supplement 22 Dec 1960 p 3 |
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| SMH 5 March 1961 p 76 |
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| SMH 9 March 1961 p 11 |
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| The Age TV Supplement 8 Dec 1960 p 1 |
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| SMH 6 March 1961 p 12 |
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| The Age 14 Dec 1960 p 5 |
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| SMH 8 March 1961 p 16 |
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| SMH 6 March 1961 p 11 |
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| The Age 14 Dec 1960 p 52 |
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| The Age 8 Dec 1960 p 37 |
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| TV Times Qld 29 March 1962 |
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| LITV 24 Dec 1960 |
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| NLA Seymour |
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