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The Man Who Shot the Albatross is a play by Ray Lawler about the Rum Rebellion, first performed in 1971 and turned into a 1972 TV movie featuring the same cast.

Cast

• Leo McKern as Captain Bligh
• Michael Aitkens
• Frederick Parslow as MacArthur
• Deidre Rubenstein as Mary Putland
• John Ewart
• Gary Day
• Peter Norton
• John Orcsik
• Frank Thring as Judge Atkins
• Simon Chilvers
• Patricia Kennedy as Sarah Benson
• Malcolm Phillips

Production

Ray Lawler's play premiered at the Princess Theatre for the Melbourne Theatre Company in 1971 and was directed by John Sumner. It marked Leo McKern's return to Australia after a number of years away. It was Lawler's first play produced in Australia for a number of years. The production toured around Australia.

The play was one two plays the ABC filmed in association with state theatre companies, with the goal of filming leading stage plays for a wider audience. Funds were provided in part from the Australia Council. According to The Bulletin: "Only a few years ago the ABC found the proposal anathema, sensing in it, perhaps, an excruciating potential for too many squashed toes. Yet arguments for the idea, backed by some recent advances in quality and popularity of local theatre, have eventually proved too strong." According to the Australia Council, the "new scheme is going to spread the best fruits of the two leading theatre companies more equitably across a nation which, after all, does help to support them".

The other stage production filmed in 1972 was the Old Tote's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

The play was considerably shortened for the television. It was presented with the assistance of the Australian Council for the Arts.

The ABC later filmed another play performed by the Melbourne Theatre Company, The Cherry Orchard.

Reception

The Age called it "intolerably dull and ill-conceived". The Sydney Sun Herald thought it was "an improvement on the stage play" but was "somewhat disappointing" and not as good as older ABC serials like Stormy Petrel.

References

1. "TV Guide". The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 March 1972. p. 25.
2. "CHANNEL 3". The Canberra Times. Vol. 46, no. 13, 079. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 25 March 1972. p. 16. Retrieved 1 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
3. "A chance to set record straight'". The Canberra Times. Vol. 46, no. 12, 965. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 12 November 1971. p. 3. Retrieved 28 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
4. "Leo McKem as Captain Bligh". The Canberra Times. Vol. 46, no. 13, 074. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 20 March 1972. p. 15. Retrieved 1 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
5. Marshall, Valda (16 January 1972). "ABC announces a big line up in 72". Sydney Sun Herald. p. 95.
6. "'Ryan's Daughter' star for Canberra stage". The Canberra Times. Vol. 46, no. 12, 960. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 6 November 1971. p. 19. Retrieved 1 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
7. "Top author says he is really an actor". The Canberra Times. Vol. 55, no. 16, 725. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 12 July 1981. p. 8. Retrieved 1 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
8. "Television – Square-eyed theatricals", The Bulletin, John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues)., 094 (4791 (29 Jan 1972)), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 1880, ISSN 0007-4039, nla.obj-1488518591, retrieved 18 June 2023 – via Trove
9. Australian Broadcasting Commission. (1963), "Television Drama", Annual Report of the Australian Broadcasting Commission., Parliamentary paper (Australia. Parliament) (1971/1972, PP no. 240 of 1972), Sydney: ABC, ISSN 0313-3222, nla.obj-1848637011, retrieved 18 June 2023 – via Trove
10. "Lawler's Albatross re-vamped for TV". The Age TV Guide. 23 March 1972. p. 1.
11. "Our taxes subsidise foreign TV firms". The Age. 30 March 1972. p. 2.
12. "It's a happening world". The Sun Herald. 2 April 1972. p. 71.

External links

• The Man Who Shot the Albatross at IMDb
• Australian productions of the play at AusStage

• 1972 television films
• 1972 films
• 1970s English-language films
• Plays by Ray Lawler
• Australian plays adapted for television