Rusty Bugles (Wednesday Theatre)

"Rusty Bugles" is a television play episode of the Australian ABC television series Wednesday Theatre which aired on 23 June 1965.[1][2][3]

"Rusty Bugles"
Wednesday Theatre episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 25
Directed byAlan Burke
Teleplay byJohn Warwick
Based onRusty Bugles
by Sumner Locke Elliott
Original air date23 June 1965 (1965-06-23)
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Cast

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Production

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It was Alan Burke's first production for the ABC since he returned from England where he had directed a TV production of The Harp in the South.[5] it was shot at the ABC's studios in Sydney. Some of the language of the play was toned down for the adaptation. Burke said "I'm very excited about the play and I feel sure viewers will react the same way after they see it on tv."[6]

It was designed by Kevin Brooks.[7]

Reception

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The critic for The Sydney Morning Herald thought the adaptation blundered by not establishing where and when the play was set, saying the director "wasted speculation while a huge cast of strange characters passed before him — too many, in fact, to be accommodated comfortably in such short playing lime." He also felt the word "flamin' " was overused.[8]

Another reviewer for the same paper noted the high use of the word "flamin" ("it got a flamin' good workout") while "the other word, which the wowsers took such exception to when the play was first staged in Sydney some 15 years ago, hardly got a look-in." However he thought "Alan Burke's production was a good, smooth job" and did "draw the pathos from the story."[9]

The TV critic for The Age said it "came through as a worthwhile piece of Australiana which one should have seen."[10]

The Bulletin said "most of the flavour" of the play came through in the adaptation.[11]

The production was repeated in March 1966.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "TODAY'S TV". The Canberra Times. 23 June 1965. p. 19. Retrieved 25 July 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "TELEVISION Old sons, new note". The Canberra Times. 18 March 1966. p. 13. Retrieved 25 July 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ Vagg, Stephen (February 18, 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  4. ^ "Two beards and a bright future". The Canberra Times. 21 September 1965. p. 13. Retrieved 25 July 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Leisure TV Drama Music Art Books Radio The Arts". The Canberra Times. 25 June 1965. p. 17. Retrieved 25 July 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Barrage of Criticism Greeted Wartime Play". TV Times. 28 July 1965. p. 9.
  7. ^ "Rusty Bugles with Expletives!". The Age. 17 June 1965. p. 13.
  8. ^ Cotton, Leicester (25 June 1965). "Too many troops spoil the plot". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 9.
  9. ^ Veitch, Jock (27 June 1965). "The Sydney Morning Herald 27 Jun 1965, page Page 83". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 84.
  10. ^ "Teletopic". The Age. 1 July 1965. p. 11.
  11. ^ "TELEVISION The Never Never". The bulletin. 3 July 1965. p. 46.
  12. ^ "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 14 March 1966. p. 15.
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