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Forgotten Australian TV plays: Everyman - FilmInk

️Dov Kornits
️Sat Oct 16 2021

by Stephen Vagg

In the early days of Australian TV drama, the ABC were not afraid to go “old school” with its productions – as in “ye olde school”, like, really going back. They did small-screen productions of plays like The Rivals (first performed 1775), The Recruiting Officer (1706), Tartuffe (1664), and Volpone (1606), as well as Shakespeare (approximately 1589 to 1613). Going even further back, the ABC adapted Sophocles’ Antigone (circa 441 BC) as well as two medieval plays, The Play of Daniel (circa 1230) and Everyman (circa 15th century). Today, I’m writing about the 1964 ABC production of Everyman.

When I think of the words “medieval theatre”, my mind usually conjures up words like “court jester”, “plague” and “disapproving priests”. Yet, there was a theatre scene – I guess entertainment options were limited at the time – and it was quite rich and varied, albeit tending to focus on one subject, i.e. God. My knowledge of this period is limited to five minutes of googling, but from what I gather, “medieval theatre” covers the one thousand year period between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the dawn of the Renaissance. During this time, stage entertainment was originally considered a Bad Thing by the Powers That Be, but over time, it was allowed as long as it promoted Christianity. There’s more to it than that, of course, but that background will do for now.

Everyman, a.k.a. The Somonyng of Everyman was a late 15th century morality play – a drama sub-genre where some protagonist who represents humanity (an “everyman” if you will) struggles between good and evil. That’s basically the plot of Everyman – Death comes to summon Everyman, and Everyman doesn’t want to go. Everyman tries to bribe Death, who won’t take the cash but will let Everyman bring a friend if he can find someone to go with him. Everyman eventually realises that, except for his Good Deeds, he must face Death alone. So, give money to the Church, audience! (I made up that last bit, but it is kind of implied.)

No one knows exactly who wrote Everyman, but it’s probably the most popular morality play. It leapt back into the public consciousness when it was performed in London in 1901 – this led to a production on Broadway of all places, followed by an American tour and a silent film version. In the 20th century it was quite popular in Australian amateur theatre circles, often being performed in cathedrals.

In 1961, the ABC had made a film of another medieval play from an unknown author, The Play of Daniel. This production, set entirely to music and filmed in the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, was directed by Colin Dean, who later said it was one of the best things he’d ever done. Unfortunately, no copy of this (to my knowledge) survives – Dean told Graham Shirley in an NFSA oral history that Paul O’Loughlin, the then acting head of drama at the ABC, ordered all the tapes to be wiped, which happened all too often at the time.

In 1964, the ABC decided to go back to the crypt, as it were, and do a version of Everyman as part of their Christmas programming (it aired on 23 December). Some scenes were shot at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, with the rest filmed at Ripponlea Studios. Chris Muir directed a very strong cast including Kevin Colson (Everyman), Wynn Roberts (Death), Norman Kaye (Discretion), Patricia Kennedy (Knowledge), Beverly Dunn (Good Deeds), Peter Aanensen (Fellowship), James Lynch (strength) and Ann Charleston (Beauty). John Antill, best known as the author of the ballet Corroboree (1946), composed the music.

Morality plays aren’t really something I tend to seek out, I only watched this because it was Australian, but it’s a very good production, beautifully shot, staged and well acted.

The author would like to thank Simon Drake of the NFSA for his assistance with this article. All opinions are my own.

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