Stand Still Time

Stand Sitll Time
Written byDymphna Cusack
Original languageEnglish
Subjectwar
Genredrama

Stand Still Time is a 1946 Australian play by Dymphna Cusack. It was adapted for radio and British television.[1]

Premise

A soldier who, having been posted missing fighting the Japanese in World War Two, presumed dead, returns three years later to find his wife married to his best friend. He leaves her with her new husband.

Production history

The play came second in a Playwrights Advisory Board competition in 1946.[2] Cusack had originally written it as a radio play.[3]

It was presented at the Irving Theatre, London, in January 1953. Cusack was living in France around this time.[4]

Radio adaptation - Eternal Now

It was adapted into a radio play, Eternal Now, which debuted on the ABC in 1946.[5]

It was adapted again for Australian commercial radio in 1955, under its title Stand Still Time.[6]

1954 British television adaptation

The play was filmed for British television.[7] The TV production aired on BBC TV Sunday 19 December 1954 at 9.00-10.30pm

The producer was Julian Amyes, the designer Roy Oxley. It was Presented again at 9.45pm on Thursday 23 December 1954. Reviews were mixed.[8]

Cast

  • Rupert Davies as Alec Roper
  • Gillian Lutyens as Margaret Roper
  • Alan Tilvern as Rod Fallaw

References

  1. ^ "Dymphna Cusack: writer Of conviction". Tribune. No. 2214. New South Wales, Australia. 11 November 1981. p. 13. Retrieved 15 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Prize-Winners in Play Contest". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 33, 798. New South Wales, Australia. 20 April 1946. p. 13. Retrieved 15 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Successful Women Playwrights". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 33, 801. New South Wales, Australia. 24 April 1946. p. 6. Retrieved 15 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Dymphna Cusack's Popularity Abroad". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 95, no. 29, 359. South Australia. 15 November 1952. p. 6. Retrieved 15 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Advance pointers". ABC Weekly. 24 August 1946. p. 12.
  6. ^ "COMMERCIAL", ABC Weekly, 17 (39), Sydney: ABC, 1 October 1955, nla.obj-1541077255, retrieved 14 March 2024 – via Trove
  7. ^ "Australian's Play on T.V." Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. No. 24, 391. New South Wales, Australia. 11 December 1954. p. 7. Retrieved 15 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Critics Disagree Oil Cusack Play". The Mercury. Vol. CLXXVI, no. 26, 205. Tasmania, Australia. 21 December 1954. p. 14. Retrieved 15 July 2023 – via National Library of Australia.