Shipwreck (play)

1949 verse drama by Douglas Stewart

Shipwreck

Written by| Douglas Stewart
Based on| Batavian Mutiny
Date premiered| September 1949 (1949-09)
Place premiered| Metropolitan Theatre, Sydney
Original language| English
Genre| verse drama
Setting| off the coast of Western Australia

Shipwreck is a 1949 Australian verse drama by Douglas Stewart about the Batavian Mutiny.[1]

Leslie Rees felt the play was "disappointing in that it is a drama of tempestuous vigour rather than of true power. It is hair-raisingly startling rather than poetically elevating." Rees did think "The construction and organic development are extremely well handled. The characters are clear and distinct. But for the most part they are extremely unpleasant."[2]

## Plot

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A ship is wrecked on the West Australian coast. The play starts after the shipwreck, with over 300 people on an island. They include Lucretia, her husband Van Mylen, the captain Pelsart, a pastor, Sebastian, his daughter Judith and Pelsart's butler, Henyrock. The men are restless. Pelsart decides to return to Batavia, against advice, and also sends some men led by Hays to find water.

In the absence of Pelsart and Hays, some of the men, led by Cornelius, lead a revolt. They steal gold, massacre men, and keep women as sex slaves. Cornelius takes Lucretia after her husband is murdered, although he waits for a time. A mutineer Huyssen taunts Sebastian and the pastor kills him and his killed in turn.

Hays returns and defeats the mutineers. Pelsart returns and executes Cornelius and other mutineers. He falls dead of a heart attack before Cornelius is taken away. Hay returns to Batavia with the survivors including Lucretia.

## Book

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The play was published in 1947.[3]

## Theatre productions

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The play was produced at the Metropolitan Theatre at St Laurence Hall, Sydney in September 1949.[4][5]

It was done at the Little Theatre, Melbourne, 1951. The Age called it "the most successful and ambitious essay in drama by an Australian".[6]

The play was shown at the Union Theatre in Sydney in 1962 as part of a series of three new Australian plays under the auspices of the Elizabethan Theatre Trust. The others were Naked Island by Russell Braddon and The Break by Philip Albright.[7] Critical reception was poor.[8]

## Radio adaptations

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The play was adapted for ABC radio in 1966[9] and 1973.[10]

## References

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1. ^ "SOMETHING PERSONAL Massacre At Midnight". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 34, 170. New South Wales, Australia. 28 June 1947. p. 10. Retrieved 18 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
2. ^ Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards An Australian Drama. p. 143.
3. ^ "Dickens And His Women". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 34, 182. New South Wales, Australia. 12 July 1947. p. 10. Retrieved 18 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
4. ^ "Vivid And Violent New Play". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 34, 857. New South Wales, Australia. 9 September 1949. p. 5. Retrieved 18 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
5. ^ "THEATER". Catholic Weekly. Vol. VIII, no. 394\. New South Wales, Australia. 15 September 1949. p. 5 (Magazine Section). Retrieved 18 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
6. ^ "AUSTRALIAN PLAY". The Age. No. 29, 854. Victoria, Australia. 3 January 1951. p. 4. Retrieved 18 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
7. ^ "Australian plays at the Union Theatre". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 January 1962. p. 6.
8. ^ "Musicals outshone the plays". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 July 1962. p. 77.
9. ^ "Radio". The Age. 8 December 1966. p. 39.
10. ^ "Radio". The Age. 5 July 1973. p. 43.