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Naked Possum is a 1956 Australian play by Barbara Vernon. It was her first play performed in Sydney and is one of the few Australian plays to examine the Malayan Emergency.

Reception

Leslie Rees described it as "something of a damp squib."

The Sydney Morning Herald called it "ripe old melodrama" with "stale situations and limping cliches".

However The Bulletin said "it has a remarkably attractive set.. and a most impressive performance by Owen Weingott, while the plot has sufficient intricacy and suspense to keep one guessing."

Premise

During the Malayan Emergency, Australian troops looking for Communists arrive at a temple in the jungle. They meet the widow of a murdered planter who tries to seduce the soldiers.

Original cast

• Margaret Roberts
• Owen Weingott
• Jerold Wells
• Derek Stanley

References

1. Jane Connors, 'Vernon, Barbara Mary (1916–1978)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/vernon-barbara-mary-11922/text21359, published first in hardcopy 2002, accessed online 29 July 2023.
2. Vagg, Stephen (August 27, 2022). "3 Forgotten Australian Television Plays". Filmink. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
3. Rees, Leslie (1987). Australian drama, 1970-1985 : a historical and critical survey. p. 289.
4. "Aust Play at the Independent". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 September 1956. p. 7.
5. "Women's Letters – Sydney", The Bulletin, John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues), 77 (3997), Sydney, N.S.W.: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald: 18, 19 September 1956, ISSN 0007-4039, nla.obj-694447958, retrieved 30 July 2023 – via Trove

External links

• Naked Possum at Ausstage

• 1956 plays
• 1950s Australian plays
• Works by Barbara Vernon
• Works about the Malayan Emergency