A Spring Song

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A Spring Song
Written byRay Mathew
Characters
  • Dad Dennison
  • Margaret Dennison
  • Kerry Dennison
  • Helen Dennison
  • Peter
  • Geoff
Date premieredMarch 1958
Place premieredBrisbane, Queensland, Australia
Original languageEnglish
GenreDrama
Settingan outback property

A Spring Song is a 1958 drama play by Australian author Ray Mathew.

The play was published in 1961 and 1985 and was adapted for Canadian television in 1965.[1][2]

Synopsis

The play tells the story of a farming family consisting of a father, Dad Dennison, and his three daughters, Margaret, Kerry and Helen. Margaret is dying of brain cancer and falls in love with their boarder, Peter, a poet. Helen moves to Sydney. Kerry is in love with Geoff, a grazier's son, but is trapped into staying at home.

Performances

Australian productions

Mathew's play The Life of the Party had recently been a finalist in a play competition. A Spring Song was given a reading by the Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1957. The Age called the script "immature, pretentious and unskilled" but "moving in a way not often encountered in our country."[3]

It played at Gowrie Hall in Brisbane, followed by the Sydney Pocket Theatre in 1958 and the Sydney Morning Herald said it was "not a success... but there is enough thoughtfulness and originality to suggest that his [Mathews'] future will contain plays of solid importance".[4] It was the financially the most successfulplay at the Pocket theatre for 1958.[5]

It was performed at Willard Hall in Adelaide in 1963.

Since then, the play has been presented in various Australian locations, including The Playhouse, Broken Hill (1967), Taylor Street, Brisbane (1980), Stables Theatre, Sydney (1983), Studio Theatre, Melbourne (1985), Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane (1988) Newtown Theatre, Sydney (1993) and Acton Street Theatre, Canberra (1994). A 1977 NIDA production starred Annie Byron, Wayne Jarratt and Debra Lawrance and was directed by Robert Menzies.[6]

Leslie Rees called it an "underdeveloped drama" with "hints of poetic insight, of pathos and the pain of living.[7]

British productions

The play was successfully presented at the Edinburgh Festival in 1964[8] and transferred to the West End that year.[9]

The Evening Standard called it a "mellow, sentimental melodrama".[10]

Television adaptation

"A Spring Song"
Festival episode
Directed byPaul Almond
Based onplay by Ray Mathew
Original air dateMay 12, 1965 (1965-05-12)
Guest appearances
  • Zoe Caldwell as Margaret
  • Sharon Acker as Helen
  • Martha Henry as Kerry
  • John Drainie as Mr. Dennison
  • Amelia Hall as Mrs. Dennison
  • Paul Massie as Peter
  • Michael Sarrazin as Jeff

The play was broadcast in Canada on the CBC Television anthology series Festival on 12 May 1965 (1965-05-12)[11] with the story relocated to the Canadian prairies.[12] A Spring Song in Six Scenes starred Zoe Caldwell as Margaret and special guest star Paul Massie as Peter with Martha Henry (Kerry), Sharon Acker (Helen), Michael Sarrazin (Jeff), and playing Mr. and Mrs. Dennison, John Drainie and Amelia Hall.[13]

References

  1. ^ Mathew, Ray (1961). A Spring Song. St. Lucia: University of Queensland.
  2. ^ Mathew, Ray (1985). A spring song. Sydney: Currency Press in association with Playbox Theatre Company, Melbourne.
  3. ^ Grant, Bruce (31 August 1957). "A source of great richness". The Age. p. 19.
  4. ^ Browne, Lindsay (8 August 1958). "New play by Ray Mathew". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 4.
  5. ^ "Women to help with Moby Dick". The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 February 1959. p. 22.
  6. ^ "A Spring Song". AusStage.
  7. ^ Rees, Leslie (1987). The Making of Australian drama. Angus & Robertson Publishers. p. 317.
  8. ^ "Spring Song of Outback in London". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 32, no. 25. Australia, Australia. 18 November 1964. p. 13. Retrieved 26 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "Sydney Playwright's London Opening – A spring song fell with a thud". The Canberra Times. Vol. 39, no. 10, 964. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 30 September 1964. p. 21. Retrieved 26 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "This may bring a tear in Sydney". Evening Standard. 29 September 1964. p. 4.
  11. ^ "Today's TV Previews". The Gazette. Montreal. 12 May 1965. p. 12. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  12. ^ "Festival presents a spring song". The Ottawa Citizen. 8 May 1965. p. 114.
  13. ^ "Festival - 1965-05-12 - A Spring Song in Six Scenes". CBC Archive Sales. CBC / Société Radio Canada. Retrieved 26 July 2025.

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