Wall to Wall (Australian Playhouse)

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"Wall to Wall"
Australian Playhouse episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 6
Directed byEric Taylor
Teleplay byOriel Grey
Produced byDavid Goddard
Original air date23 May 1966 (1966-05-23)
Running time30 mins
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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"Wall to Wall" is the sixth television play episode of the first season of the Australian anthology television series Australian Playhouse.[1][2] "Wall to Wall" was written by Ann Kinloch and directed by Eric Taylor and originally aired on ABC on 23 May 1966[3][4] It starred Gwen Plumb and was shot in Sydney.[5]

Plot[edit]

Elizabeth Fletcher reflects on her lonely life on her birthday. She remembers her one chance at romance, several years previously. She goes to a dance where a man pities her and takes her home, where he is "trapped" by her father.[6]

Cast[edit]

  • Heather Christie as Elizabeth Fletcher
  • Don Crosby as Mr Fletcher
  • David Yorston as the Young Man
  • Lyndall Barbour as Mrs Fletcher
  • Gwen Plumb as the next door neighbour Mrs Cooper

Background[edit]

The play had originally been written by Adelaide writer Ann Kinloch for a 1962 competition for Channel Nine drama. However it was not used, the studio making The Valley of Water instead.[7]

Reception[edit]

The Sydney Morning Herald thought "the dialogue is so soften stilted and at times too obvious and the author's intentions towards characters or actions are frequently obscure so that after a while one waits for the end in the hope - this time unavailing - that something can be made out of it all."[8]

The Age called it "a bad play... embarrassing as it bellowed and whimpered through a predictable pattern of trite tragedies."[9] Another reviewer in the same paper called it "one of the poorest of the series. The script might have been written by a schoolboy."[10]

The Sunday The Sydney Morning Herald said Gwen Plumg "gets out nod for the week's finest performance" for her work in the show.[11]

The Bulletin' called the play "the silliest of all" the episodes of the series.[12]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "TELEVISION Helping selfidentification". The Canberra Times. 27 May 1966. p. 14. Retrieved 5 August 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Yes there are writers in Australia". TV Times. 18 May 1966. p. 9.
  3. ^ "TV Guide". The Age. 19 May 1966. p. 35.
  4. ^ "TV Guide". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 May 1966. p. 17.
  5. ^ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  6. ^ "Anguish in Suburbia". The Age. p. 18.
  7. ^ Heading, Rex (1996). Miracle on Tynte Street: The Channel Nine Story. Wakefield Press. ISBN 9781862543904.
  8. ^ "Suburban Troubles on TV". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 May 1966. p. 7.
  9. ^ "Teletopics". The Age. 26 May 1966. p. 14.
  10. ^ Monitor (28 May 1966). "Violence both real and synthetic". The Age. p. 23.
  11. ^ Marshall, Valda (29 May 1966). "Showbusiness". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 72.
  12. ^ Roberts, Frank (4 June 1966). "TELEVISION Neither Deft Nor Delightful". The Bulletin. p. 51.

External links[edit]