The King Who Wouldn't

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The King Who Wouldn't
Written byOriel Gray
Original languageEnglish

The King Who Wouldn't is a 1952 Australian play by Oriel Gray. [1]

It was highly commended in a Journalists’ Club competition for best new Australian play of 1956 (won by The Shifting Heart). The play was also known as Royal Tour.[2]

Leslie Rees called it "well ahead of its time... a thinly veiled satire on contemporary royalty... At the time this comedy appeared unplayable, or at least it was unlikely any group would play it; it might have collected production honours had it been written a few years later in the age of permissiveness or down-with-the-Establishment."[3]

The play was given a reading at Sydney's Independent Theatre in 1965.[4]

The play also may have a connection with an early revue of Gray's, Marx of Time.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Merrilee Moss, The Sacrifice of Oriel Gray (1920 - 2003): Australian Playwright, Australasian Drama Studies, Department of Arts and Critical Enquiry at La Trobe Univers, 68, April 2016, 75 - 96
  2. ^ "Actor playwright wins ₤250 award". The Age. 3 January 1957. p. 5.
  3. ^ Rees, Leslie (1987). Australian drama, 1970-1985 : a historical and critical survey. p. 313.
  4. ^ "Advertisement". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 October 1965. p. 61.
  5. ^ Marx of Time at AustLit

Bibliography[edit]

  • Gray, Oriel (1985). Exit Left: memoirs of a scarlet woman. Penguin.