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The Winds of Green Monday

"The Winds of Green Monday"
Wednesday Theatre episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 30
Directed byOscar Whitbread
Teleplay byMichael Noonan
Original air date4 August 1965 (1965-08-04)
Running time45 mins[1]
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"The Winds of Green Monday" is a 1965 Australian television play by Michael Noonan. It aired as part of Wednesday Theatre on 4 August 1965 in Sydney and Melbourne,[2][3] and on 1 September 1965 in Brisbane.[4] It starred Terry Norris and was directed by Oscar Whitbread.[5][6]

Plot

A crew deserts a ship to find their fortune in the 1850s goldfields. After three weeks of digging and nothing to show for it, the crew get restless despite the efforts of Welshman Jones. The ship's captain turns up at their shanty and tries to exercise his authority. Only the tragic accident which causes a young apprentice to lose his mind prevents the crew from returning to the ship. The captain forms a relationship with a singer.[7][8]

Cast

  • Keith Lee as Scottish captain McKendrick
  • Terry Norris as Mate Roberts
  • Jennifer Wright as music hall singer Martha
  • Martin Magee as the young apprentice
  • George Whaley as Welshman Jones
  • Stanley Walsk as a Cockney seaman
  • Roly Barie
  • Nevil Thurgood
  • Tony McGrath

Production

It was one of 20 TV plays produced by the ABC in 1964 (and one of only three Australian scripts).[9] It was filmed in Melbourne.[3] Jennifer Wright and Stanley Walsh had just arrived in Australia from England and made their Australian TV debuts.[4]

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald praised the performances of Lee and Wright as "professional" but complained about the "stiffness of the dialogue" and said "the direction of the crowds with their rhubarb-rhubarb voices and their tinned and infuriatingly phony laughter drove us for solace across the dial."[10]

British version

The play was adapted for British TV in 1965 starring Chips Rafferty.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ "Television". Sydney Morning Herald. 4 August 1965. p. 12.
  2. ^ "Television". Sydney Morning Herald. 4 August 1965. p. 12.
  3. ^ a b "TV Guide". The Age. 29 August 1965. p. 29.
  4. ^ a b "Z cars cop turns seaman in ABC play". TV Times. 25 August 1965. p. 9.
  5. ^ "MONDAY". The Canberra Times. Vol. 39, no. 11, 223. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 2 August 1965. p. 2 (TELEVISION and radio GUIDE). Retrieved 20 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  7. ^ "'Combat' private in a ballad". The Canberra Times. Vol. 39, no. 11, 223. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 2 August 1965. p. 1 (TELEVISION and radio GUIDE). Retrieved 28 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Search for gold inspires play". The Age. 29 July 1965. p. 19.
  9. ^ "ABC Plans to Show Significant Works". The Age. 20 February 1964. p. 13.
  10. ^ "New Series are Unpredictable". Sydney Morning Herald. 6 August 1965. p. 8.
  11. ^ "The Winds of Green Monday (1965)". Archived from the original on 11 March 2016.
  12. ^ "CTVA UK". "ITV Play Of The Week" (ITV) Season 11 (1965-66). 14 March 1966. Retrieved 17 December 2022.