Australian TV Plays: Brian Faull

Showing posts with label Brian Faull. Show all posts

AP#1.26 - VIPP (10 Oct 1966)

More Pat Flower!

Premise

A Very Important Political Personage faces a crisis of state. His secretary is Miss Greensleeves. Lady Montpelier runs off with the chauffeur. His wife Effie offers an ultimatum.

Cast

Raymond Westwell
Barbara Joss
Sheila Florence
Kurt Ludescher
Campbell Copelin
Denis Clinton

Production

It was directed by Brian Faull. It was shot in Melbourne. According to ABC records it was shot on 6 Sept 1966.

Reception

The Age felt the script was full of cliches and wasted the actors "and all those elaborate sets. The ABC should have another look at productions of such little value as this one."

Canberra Times 10 Oct 1966 p 15

The Age 29 Oct 1966 p 23

The Age TV Guide 6 Oct 1966 p 3

The Age TV Guide 6 Oct 1966

The Age 10 Oct 1966 TV Guide

SMH TV Guide 10 Oct 1966

The Age 15 Oct 1966 p 23

TV Times Qld 23 Nov 1966 p 1

AP#1.25 - Objector (3 Oct 1966)

Script by Tony Morphett on the Vietnam War.

Premise

A man is conscripted to fight in Vietnam. He wants to go to court to argue against his and his father, a war veteran, calls him a coward.

Cast

John Derum as the son
Syd Conabere as the father
Julie Costello as the girlfriend
Kevin McBeath as voice

Production

Morphett originally wrote the story as a short story for the Adelaide Festival Literary Contest. It was written soon after the Federal Government introduced conscription for Vietnam, but Morphett says it is not “a propagandist play.”

It was filmed in Sydney. ABC records say this happened on 10 August 1966.

Music by George Dreyfus, lighting by Leigh Hardy, technical supervision by Robert Forster, design by Gunars Jurjans.

Brian Faull produced.

Reception

The Bulletin TV critic said the "play kept wandering from prose poetry to plain Australian and back again, like a novice punter trying to pick a two-horse race without a form guide."

The Age said it was "a drama so true to life it hurt."

A different critic from the same paper said it "wasn't really a play. It was merely sort of a visual illustration of a voice told by a narrative in the background. The viewer was supposed to exercise his imagination... An actor is supposed to play a part."

The same paper later called it "a noteworthy example how a dramatist can contribute to a worthy understanding."

The Canberra Times criticised its "artificial and overblown characters".

Canberra Times 11 Oct 1966 p 11

The Age TV Guide 6 Oct 1966 p 3

The Age 29 Dec 1966 TV Guide p 2

The Age TV Guide 29 Sept 1966 p 9

smh 2 Oct 1966 p 83

The Age 8 Oct 1966 p 25

The Bulletin 15 Oct 1966 p 56

The Bulletin 8 Oct 1966 p 30

Script at NLA

AP#2.13 The Five Sided Triangle or One Too Many (11 Sept 1967)

The last episode of Australian Playhouse to air as the series (other eps aired as a standalone eg Shadow on the Wall).

Premise

A business executive, Mr Caradoc, divides his time between his wife and three mistresses.

Cast

* Raymond Westwell or Paul Eddey (accounts differ) as Mr. Caradoc

Production

It was written and directed by Brian Faull. Faull was the ABC drama director.

Recorded on 22-23 May 1967.

Producer - Brian Faull. Script assistant - Joyce Tobias. Designer - Cas van Puffelen. Technical producer - Robert Forster. Lighting - Leigh Hardy. Floor manager - Harold Fletcher. Music - George Dreyfus.

Reception

The Age said "it had a confidence, a sureness missing in the other productions of this lamentable series."

The SMH called it "a real sizzler".

Controversy

In a way. Gordon Chater, the TV star, called it a "parade of pornography... It was like something a mob of sailors would expect to see at Port Said in wartime. .. I am afraid I am getting to be a bit of a middle aged bore. The programme embarrassed me greatly. I was home with a married woman and two children as guests when the show came on. I switched it off." He added the show was "witless, nasty and sordid... There is no possible excuse for showing such a program."

Brian Faull said "Gordon Chater was the only person to telephone the ABC and complain. The play was purely for entertainment. It was meant to be amusing. Most people think it was handled with taste."