Deserter (radio play)

1956 radio play by William Jenner

Radio show

Deserter

ABC Weekly 7 May 1955

Genre| drama play
Running time| 60 mins (8:00 pm - 9:00 pm)
Country of origin| Australia
Language(s)| English
Home station| 2FC
Syndicates| ABC
Written by| William Jenner
Directed by| Leslie Rees
Original release| May 14, 1955 (1955-05-14)

Deserter is a 1955 Australian radio play by William Jenner.

Jenner was a former sailor who later wrote the radio plays Last Trip, They Sailed on Friday and Stowaways.[1][2] He wrote it when living on a lighthouse on the Great Barrier Reef.[3]

The play was repeated later in 1955[4] and produced again in 1956.[5]

## Premise

[edit]

"Joe Belamy is a seaman in the Royal Navy, which he does not like because conditions are so much harder than in the Merchant Navy. So, when an acquaintance, Frank Butler, dies in a street accident, leaving Joe in possession of the man’s papers, Joe decides to desert and join up under Butler’s name in the Merchant Service. He is no shirker. When a bomb his ship in convoy and fails to explode, he volunteers to descend through Uie broken decks and render the bomb harmless. There is talk of the George Cross, but Joe talks the captain out of that. Is he not under an assumed name? While this is a story of adventure, the plight of Joe’s wife and child-ren left at home also occupies the playwright’s attention. Over all, it is a study of an individualist, who loves his family but pleases himself what he does."[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "A.B.C. Week of Australian Plays", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 10 March 1956, retrieved 13 February 2024 - via Trove
2. ^ "A.B.C. radio plays for the week", ABC Weekly, Sydney, 9 July 1958, retrieved 13 February 2024 - via Trove
3. ^ "Playwright's Lonely Lite", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 7 May 1955, retrieved 13 February 2024 - via Trove
4. ^ "RADIO". The Farmer and Settler. Vol. L, no. 46\. New South Wales, Australia. 5 August 1955. p. 16. Retrieved 13 February 2024 - via National Library of Australia.
5. ^ "RADIO PLAYS for NEXT WEEK A.B.C.", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 28 January 1956, retrieved 13 February 2024 - via Trove
6. ^ "RADIO PLAYS for NEXT WEEK A.B.C", ABC Weekly, Sydney: ABC, 7 May 1955, retrieved 13 February 2024 - via Trove <